THE CATLINS-TAHAKOPA RAILWAY LEAGUE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14577, 16 July 1909, Page 6

THE CATLINS-TAHAKOPA RAILWAY LEAGUE.

Tub engaging optimism displayed by Mr Robert Chisholro year after year at the annual meeting of the Cutlins-Taha-kopa. llaihvay League, of which the office of president is worthily filled by him, is indeed enviable. Repeated omissions on the part of the Government fco expend fully the sums allocated by Parliament for the construction of the Catlins lino have not damped Mr Chisholm's spirits or impressed him with the necessity for regarding somewhat dubiously the Ministerial promises regarding the undertaking. Ho has satisfied himself, if no ono else, that, to whatever extent the exigencies of finance may necessitate a curtailment by the Government of its public works programme for the current year, there will at anyrate be no mider-expenditure of the vote for the Catlins line. Presupposing that the vote for the work for the year will be equal iu amount to that of last year, he says that, " taking into consideration the work going on at the Waimahaka end of the line, it is safe to predict that the total of the allocation will be expended during the currency of the year." It is not an agreeable duty to discount rosy anticipations of this description, but it would be unfortunate if the settlers should rely upon any such sanguine prediction as that which Mr Chisholm has boldiy ventured, because we fear that there is not even a remote possibility of its being realised. "What the expenditure on tho line last year was we do not yet know, but it is quite certain that it was considerably less than the sum of £80,01)0' that was voted for the work. Now, the expenditure last year, whatever its precise amount, was part of an expenditure upon public works of £2,174,558 in all, derived from a total fund of £2,558,267. For the current year, however, tho fund at tho disposal of tho Government for expenditure upon public works consists of £1,083,709. Of this £383,709 is represented by the amount carried forward from last year's account, £50,000 by the balance of the loan that was authorised last year, and 11,250,000 by the loan that was authorised in the recent short session, and of tho last-mentioned sum a quarter-million is to ba expressly devoted to tho provision of rolling stock. It will be seen, therefore, that, unless an additional loan for public works is authorised next- session, the total amount at the disposal of the Minister . of Public Works for the year is nearly £900,000 less than was available last year, In circumstances such as these, > ! it is, it will be admitted, distinctly unsafe to predict that the expenditure on the. Catlins line in the current year will exceed that in the year that is past. As tho Acting Minister I of Finance has the public

works expenditure will havo to be sharply cut down, awl it is as much as tho Catlins-Tahakopa, Railway Lca"uo can liopo for if, m the general curtailment of tho programme, the line tho interests of which are its special concern will not be unjustly treated.