THE OTAGO THE DAILY SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1907. THE OTAGO RAILWAYS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13960, 20 July 1907, Page 8

THE OTAGO THE DAILY SATURDAY, JULY 20, 1907. THE OTAGO RAILWAYS.

The deputation which interviewed Sir Joseph Ward on 'Thursday afternoon with the object of impressing upou him the claims of the Oatlins-Tahakopa railway received, as its members- no doubt fully anticipated, a non-com-niittal reply. Railway . construction prospects in Otago. may be taken to be at present influenced by these considerations, that while there is unity in a protest against a reduction in the aggregate expenditure on railways in tho province, those most interested in the Catlin's River and Lawrence-Roxburgh lilies, assuming that construction work on the. Otago Central, line is to cease for a time, make a general claim for tho expenditure 011 each of the other two unfinished lines of half the total lailway rote for Otago, while the supporters of the Otago Central railway, especially those who reside in the TJppor Clutlia, are not disposed to acquiesce in any assumptions of that cessation as necessarily inevitable. It may be taken for granted that 110 difficulty will be inade over tho authorisation of further construction work 011 the Catlins line since Sir Joseph Ward reassured the recent deputation on that point. "The importance of the claims of the Catlin's River line has been repeatedly urged, and if the- chairman of the League which aims at furthering its interests suggested to the Prime Minister that £75,000 would be an appropriate vote, for that line this year, the amount is more.modest than that which the Lawrence-Roxburgh Railway League -aims at getting- placed on the Estimates for the active construction of the line whose interests- it is specially looking after. The appropriations for Otago railways for the year 1906-7 unfortunately showed a considerable decrease on those for the preceding year, and the activity of the Otago Railway Leagues is called for in the taking of timely 'steps to at least avert a continuation ,of this shrinkage. Assuming that there will this year be a large reduction on the appropriations for the Otago Central line, it is clear that if the province is to receive justice in the matter of railway construction a much greater generosity of expenditure must be accorded the Catlin's River and Lawrence-Roxburgh lines than lias been accorded them in the past. It 110 more than last year's reduced .vote be set aside 1 this year for Otygo railways, even that would permit of a- doubling of the separate votes given last year to each of these lines and yet allow a margin to keep the Otago Central line 011 the Estimates. As for the Otago Central extension from Clyde, the most interesting of recent contributions to the discussion of tliis question comes from Mr Horn, the chairman of the Vincent County Council, who is one of the strongest champions of, the cause of the people of the Upper Clutlia Valley. Mr Horn lias set out the economic reasons why the line should be continued, to Hawea very fully and ably in an article which we published last Thursday. _ We do not propose to go into the statistics which Mr Horn has adduced to prove his case, but we have no doubt they have been carefully prepared and will bear critical investigation. His -estimate that, with the advent of the railway and the cutting up of rims, the revenue of the Crown would be increased by over £50,000 is .one of the potent arguments with which lie supports his contention that it will pay the Government to construct the line, and he calculates that the rating value of the ridings that would be seryed thereby would be increased by nearly a million sterling. But there hag never been any serious question as to the desirability that the line should ultimately go through to Hawea, and its temporary stoppage has never been correctly deemed other than a matter of expediency. There is room for satisfaction in the fact that the interview which Mr Horn and the members for Wakatipu and Mount Ida had this.week with the Acting Minister of Public Works was of an encouraging nature all tilings considered. The Minister said that any promise made by Mr Hall-Jones as to the special survey of an alternative route for the line between Clyde and Cromwell would be .given effect to. The immediate carrying out of such a survey would give the settlers of the Upper Clutha confidence in the future intentions of the Government with respect to the line, and some assurance that Clyde is not to be made a halting place any longer thar. is necessary. lAs there is a reasonable prospect that that great absorber of railway appropriations, the North Island Main Trunk railway, will be completed by the end of the next financial year, it should be possible that in two years' time, by reason of the large amount of xeleased expenditure, a new .era of generosity should characterise the apportionment of allocations to the different. Otago lines, and the Government will then find the claims of the Otago Central line hard to ignore.