EXTENSION OF THE GREEN ISLAND RAILWAY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1325, 21 April 1877, Page 9

EXTENSION OF THE GREEN ISLAND RAILWAY.

A deputation from the Kuri Bush, Brighton, and Seaside districts waited upon the Hon. D. Reid on Monday last, for the purpose of bringing uuder the not'.ce of the General Government the disadvantages under which those districts laboured, owing to the want of adequate means of communication. Among those present were Messrs Bruce, Graham, R. Gillies, Jeffcoat, King, and Kirby. After Mr J. Graham had explained the object of the deputation, Mt Gillies pointed out that as Mr Reid was aware, the districts mentioned were placed at a great disadvantage compared with other districts, as they wers cut off from railway communication by the natural features of the country. Although there was a good level road running through most part of the district, yet, from Shaw's to Fairfield it was so mountainous as to render the road practically unavailable, and the people in the districts had great difficulty in getting their produce to market. If the Green Island Railway were extended down the valley for three miles, it would do away with the hilly portion of the road, and they would then have a comparatively level load throughout the whole of the district. " The extension of the railway over this distance of three miles would be an enormous boon to the district, and the work could be done very cheaply. The Provincial Engineer had estimated that the railway could be made over this distance at L3COO per mile. There was an unexpended vote on the Provincial Estimates of L2OOO for the extension of the Green Island Railway. He understood the Government did not intend to extend the present line up to the district road, and he must say thai according to hw judgment that was a wise decision on the part of the Government. If that vote was ! s'rill available, the deputation wished to knoar { whether the Government would not supplement it to some extent, so as to really bring the district within reach of railway communication. He further pointed out that at the present ' time the Green Island Railway was in a mea- | sure thrown away, owing to the want of this 1 proposed extension. At present it was only I used by the coal-pits, but if this extension were made it would be used by the whole of the settlers in the district. As it was at present, the people in the district went with their produce to the Abbotsford Station, and the Green Island Railway was of no use to them. Another point was that no compensation would , have to be paid for the land required for the I extension, because there were old road lines which were not yet closed, and the Public '< Works Act gave power to carry railways along ' those road lines. There was also a reserve available. The extension proposed would be . an enormous boon to a great many settlen> who ' were at present cut off from the advantages of railway communication. 1 Mr Reid quite agreed with the deputation as to the position of the railway. He never understood when the Council agreed to con- , struct the Gieen Island Railway that it was to be taken so far up the hill. He understood that ii was part of a railway that would ulti- , mately lead through all the settled districts, and he thought it would have been much better if the railway had been constructed in that direction,- and if the owners of the coalpits had been left to con- ', nect themselves with the railway. However, • the railway was there, and the question now was the expenditure of the vote in the Provin- j cial estimates. He was very doubtful whether ' it could be expended in the direction the permanent line ought to take. It would be far j better to extend the line in the proper direction than to extend it to the district road ; but he rather thought the vote had been taken for extending the line to tbe district road. He admitted it would be a great benefit to the settlers if the vote were expended in the direction suggested by the deputation. But another difficulty arose. Even if the vote could be expended in extending the railway as proposed, the vote would not be sufficient to take the line far enough to be of service; unless the vote J WB3 sufficient to take the railway past the ' mountainous part of the road it would be of no , use to the settlers. Now, it would be imnos- ' sible to obtain any money for this work beyond what was on the Provincial appropriations. He was not very sure that even that could be so ! spent," but they could not expect to get anything more from the Colonial Government. As they were avrare a petition was presented to the Geueral Assembly last session, asking to have the railway extended. The petition was considered by a Committee, and it wa3 agreed that this was a railway that should be taken in hand so soon as the Government undertook the construction of branch railways. However Government would not be able to do that for .it least two years. The vhole of the borrowing power had been exercised, and it was be-

lieved that it would take all the money available to finish the main lines. He was therefore afraid he would not be justified in holding out any hope. _ After some further conversation, the deputation withdrew.