MR. HALL-JONES ON RAILWAYS

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13273, 4 September 1906, Page 4

MR. HALL-JONES ON RAILWAYS

Mr. Hall-Jones told a Cheviot deputation yesterday that after the North/Island Main Trunk line was finished in 1908, the next main line to be constructed would be that between Blenheim and Christchurch. With a view of making this through service, with ferry connection, between Inyercargill and Auckland, other lines' how going on could " take a rest," and only under, exceptional circumstances would new lines be commenced. '• If this is Mr. Hall-Jones' railway policy it will require the very serious attention of our / North Island . members and, indeed, of the whole country. Marlborough has been badly used in the division of the Southern spoils, but that is no reason (why the North Is-

land should make good its deficiencies. The North Island Main Trunk has been built at the cost of the North Island, the South Island having generally received an equal amount in the allocation for such purely branch lines as the Midland and the Otago Central, with a cohort, of smaller undertakings. Does Mr. Hall-Jones mean that although Southern railway building went merrily on 'while our North Island Main Trunk was being slowly built. Northern railway building is to stop while Christchurch gets connection with Blenheim He surely cannot have this in his mind, and yet it will be Wise to anticipate the possibility of such a flagrant proposition. As for this policy as a policy Mr. Hall-Jones seems to assume that the sole purpose of a railway is to carry people from one end of the country to the other. There is equal need for railways which will open up the country. The colony can only be developed if such lines as that for the East Coast, the Stratford, the Kawhia, the Waiuku, the Helensville Northward and others are pushed forward, as they will very promptly be if the North Island receives its legitimate share of public expenditure. There are lines in the overrailwayed South Island which can carry little and lead nowhere. They should be stopped, of course. But while it is good policy to stop worthless or unpromising constructions it Would be utterly bad policy not to push on those railways which will open up some of the best and leastdeveloped parts of the colony.