OUR RAILWAYS : WHAT THE LATE COMMISSIONER FOR THE SOUTH ISLAND RAILWAYS SAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9172, 29 September 1888, Page 3

OUR RAILWAYS : WHAT THE LATE COMMISSIONER FOR THE SOUTH ISLAND RAILWAYS SAYS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—By the mail just to hand I am in receipt of a letter from Mr. W. Conyere, G.E., who was formerly commissioner for the railways of the South Island, in which he says:—" I was pleased to see by the papers that you and your friends were prepared to lease the Auckland lines with a view to fully testing the new system. lam very sorry you did not succeed in obtaining a lease, being fully satisfied as to the result; the more I stuc'y and weigh the matter the more convinced I am of the soundness of the scheme." "Do not abandon the thing, it must come. I am confident it can be made a success." "If the Auckland lines could be leased at something over the percentage they now earn, an enormous sum could be cleared, and, what is of Dior© importance*, the country could be settled and its resources developed." "The Whar.garei-Kamo line is very surprising, you ought to feel highly pleased with it." "It is a pity the offer to lease was not made earlier in the session, it must be brought forward next time. . Unless something is done very soon the country cannot* possibly bear the constantly increasing burthen. I doubt if the Government realise the importance of the question. If they did, I am sure something would soon be done." It is now nearly four years since I first submitted my proposals to Mr. Conyers. I know he has studied them closely, has carefully watched the contest? all through, and this is his matured judgment. In January, 1885, he signed a statement to the effect that the adoption of my scheme would add at least another £200,000 per annum to the revenue from passenger fares alone, and he gave strong evidence before the Railway Committee in 1886 to the same effect.—l am, etc., Samuel Vaile. Auckland, 27th September, 1888.