CENTRAL OTAGO TRANSPORT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26771, 14 May 1948, Page 4

CENTRAL OTAGO TRANSPORT

At Alexandra to-day . a meeting will be held to consider recommendations that might be made to the Government for bringing the Central Otago rail service up to modern standards of frequency and efficiency. The people of Central Otago have a legitimate complaint regarding the “ temporary war measure ” which is still in force on this railway, and it is. earnestly to be hoped that the delegates from other centres, including the city of Dunedin, will give something more than nominal support to the efforts that are being made to have transportation facilities to the Central improved. The prosperity of Central Otago, and its ultimate development into a rich anc} highly-productive farming region, with intensive settlement qyhen and where irrigation is possible, is essential for the progress of Dunedin as a port and a large industrial city; but neither irrigation, improved farm methods nor any other device or practice will enable Central Otago to attain its proper importance until it is served by efficient communications. The immediate problem is one of rail transport. A large portion of Central Otago is served by a railway line which is not being utilised in a manner best calculated to satisfy the needs of the people and the district. Not only passengers, but farmers desirous of forwarding, stock or other produce, are seriously inconvenienced by the infrequency of the service and the paucity of the facili- i ties it provides. At the present time a resident of Central Otago who wishes to visit Dunedin, travelling to and from the city by train, must be prepared to spend three days from home. It is true that some alternative means of travel are provided by the. bus services, but these are not always convenient or, in winter, practicable. Many of the roads, moreover, are in such a state that travel over them is both uncomfortable and exhausting. As far a*s air services are concerned Central Otago is still terra incognita to the civil aviation authorities, even though the need for an air link between Dunedin and the interior has been repeatedly stressed by organisations and individuals who regard air transport as the logical method of overcoming the natural barriers between Central Otago and the city. There are, admittedly, shortages and difficulties that must be overcome before transport facilities can be provided on the scale that both the country and city people require, but in the matter of rail facilities there is no adequate reason why Central Otago should continue to be handicapped by a service that no other provincial district would tolerate. Improvement will ' not come, however, without combined and determined agitation on the part of all the districts concerned. Whether it be railcars, or extra trains, or both, that are decided upon as being the most urgent requirements, no approach to the Government to secure them is likely to be successful unless it is assured of the full and resolute support of both town and country.