THE EXTENSION OPENED.

Otago Witness, Issue 2622, 15 June 1904, Page 27

THE EXTENSION OPENED.

A SUCCESSFUL FUNCTION.

[ The morning's expr&s?. as anticipated, i conveyed not a few from Dunechn whose intention it was to be present at the opening of the Owaka-Ratanui section of tho railway, these including tho Mayor (Mr T. R. Christie), Cr Crust, the Hon. H Gourley, Messrs J. A. Park, J. F. M. Fra<=er, T. B. Fa.irba.irn, C. R. Chapman. W. Bolt, M.L.C.. H. F. Moss W. B. M. Fea, and J. Arkle The special train despatched from Balclutha also conveyed a further detachment of visitors, among- whom were Messrs J. W. Thomson, M.H.R., D. T. Fleming. J. Tumbull, and Father O'Neill (from Milton). At Owaka, where there wag a short stoppage, the local population turned out afmo&t en ma«e, and it was a well-filled train that shortly afterwards travelled down the newly-constructed three and a-half miles of line, those on board having a view on the trip of Cathns Lake under its best conditions. On arrival at the new terminus — or Cathn's River station, as it is called — Sir J. G. "Ward and party, who had just returned from Tahakopa, were met on the platform, whero the children of tho Ratanui School, under Mr Bannerman, were drawn up to welcome the party. Sir Joseph then addressed himself briefly to the children in felicitously practical terms ; cheers, as a matter of course, and " God save the King "' following. The gathering to witness the opening ceremonial at the terminus was a very large one for the district, comprising some hundreds; and ihe weather, which had pre- , viou&ly looked very threatening, cleared up k till it was all that could be dgsii'ed. AmouK

prominent local residents present wer& Messrs W. Moir, D. Dowar. G. and W. Gwynno, W. Burrows, W. J. Lory, WiLon, Scott. Houston, and Galbraith (representing Ratanui and Tahakopa). while Mr A. C. Saunders (chairman) and all the mombcrs of the Reception Oommittoo at Owaka wora also present. The interesting ceremony did not take long. Shortly before 2 p.m. Sir Joseph Ward, with Messrs M'Lean and Uhoher and J. A. Millar and E. G. Allen, II H.R's , mounted on the front of the first engine of the train, which was then driven, slowly up to the tape held across the line by Messrs T. Mackenzie and J. W. Thonson, M. H.R's., Sir Joseph then severing the tape and declaring the lino duly opened, amid cheers, after which he proceeded to make a short speech. Sir Joseph Ward, in addressing tho gathering, said it gave him great pleasure to declare the section of the railway between Owaka and Cptlin's River opened, although there were some formalities yet fa be carried out between tho Public Works and the Working Railways Departments that would prevent tho section being fully transferred to the working railways for a week or two. There would, however, be no unnecessary delay, and before long the section would be at the disposal of the people of the district. He de=ired fir=t of all to read two communications to them. The first was dated from Mongonui, June 9, and was signed "R. J. Seddon." It read thus: '"Regret I am unable to bo present to-day; am with you all in ppirit. 1 heartily congratulate the people of the district upon ths opening of the OwakaRatanui section of the railway, and I sincerely trust it will prove to bs of great service to the settlers of the district." — (Applause.) The other telegram read thus: '" Please convey my apologies to the Railway League and others for non-attendance at the function in connection, with the opening of their line, as I have only just returned from the North Island, and the session is so close at hand that I am unable to leave Wellington. I sincerely trust that settlers in the district and others interested will have an enjoyable day, and that the latest addition to the line wili do its far share toward* developing and opening up the district it is intended to serve." This was signed "J. M'Gowan. Acting-Minister of Public Works." He would also like, on behalf of the Hon. Mr Hall-Jones, Minister of Public Works, to express rogr>-t at his absence from the colony, otherwise he would, ho was certain, join heartily with them :n congratulation on the auspicious occasion now being celebrated. Now a word or two in regard to the Catiins railway. The. line originally joined the main line about a mile south of the Balclutha s.tation at a, point known as Invertiel. The first contract for formation work was let io Georsje Mackie on April 21, 1879, the length being 2 miles 40 chain*. The line was opened for traffic to Romabapa, 7 miles 11 chains from the juuetion with the main line, on November 15, 1885; to Glenomaru, 12 miles 10 chains from the junction, on July P, 1891 : to Hunt's Road, 14 miles 70 chains, on December 16, 1895; and to Owaka. 18 miles 22 chains, on June 22, 1896; and now the extension from Owaka for throe miles and a-half further on was being duly opened. The total cost of the formation of the new section was £23,000. and" the section had been one of the hea\«*st and most difficult to make in tho di-trirt. or. in fact, in connection with the construction oi railways in die colony in recent times. E« was glad to be able to compliment Mr U>sber, Hie district engineer of the Public Works Department, acd his officers and men on having carried out an excellent piece of work, which had already received the commendation of tho acting-Minister in charge of the important deportment that made the railway lines throughout the colony. The line was laid chiefly on totara and silver pine sleepers, a large portion of which were obtained in the Catiins district, and he hoped, as the line was continued further on, the settlers in the district would bo able to supply all the sleepers required for the future extension of the line. — (Applause.) That would enable them, not only to clear their land, but to convert the first splendid crop of timber into money. The difficulties of transport were so great in this bush country that, as a settler cleared his bush land, every opportunity should be piven him of disposing of sleepers to the Railway Department, so that whea the " iron horse " got within reasonable distance of his holding: he might be in the position of haying gained something on his first crop of timber. As for the name of the new station, apparently there were some who wished it called Ratanui. but in the meantime it had a magnificent name as Catlin's River. They had only to make themselves unanimous on the subject and he would do his best to give effect to their decision, but the responsibility of the name must rest with the settlers thcmsclv-es. Thanks to the kindness of Messrs Lory, Hourston, Clark, and others, he had had an opportunity of going on to Tahakopa, and he went there with tho very serious intention of doing what public men holding responsible positions desired to do in all parts of the colony, that was to see as far as possible in passing through what were the prospective possibilities of the district, and whether from a colonial point of view it would recoup the colony for outlay either on railways or roads for the benefit of those whose courage had already been shown by going to such inaccessible places. He had made up his mind on the subject, and could say without hesitation lhat the venture of carrying a railway through tho district referred to was a justifiable one. — (Cheers.) They were si'l anxious to see facilities extended to the people in regard to railways, but the three and a-half miles from Owaka having co«fc £23,000, they could see that to carry through a railway lino with the rapidity desired by most people meant a heavy expenditure. He had r.o hesitation in say ing that if there was a line that warranted more consideration than it had had in the past it was the Catlin's River line, but since the Government had been in office they would nevertheless find that there had been by comparison a very active prosecution of the making of this railway from its inception. In this district; o£ immense tei movies of bush timber, a great deal of it milling timber, they ■would, moreover, find, planted sparsely it was uue, the very sort of settlement the Government had been urging, for they hadi been urging the acquisition "of large estates that could be cut up to enable men io come on them and establish homes for themselves and their families; and in this district were found large, areas of Crown, lands untouehtd, wVi'ch ccu'd b". placed! at the diap-sV of 0.-ttl.srs The settlers ofi me district, hrv,-,, , P ~ u 'o ne . vor expect to get the full rcwaid of theu- labours v unless they had scuae means oi coavesini

iheir products to a market. Going to and coming back from Tahakopa he had had experience of two of their roads (the only onces available), and if these were the best specimens they had got in and out of the district he had just visited, he had great sympathy with the people who had to convey their products to market over the existing roads. There was a natural desireairong tho people for railway facilities, and though the present or any other Administration that strove to meet that desire might be criticised and preached at as too progressive, if it did otherwise it -woxi.d not Be doing its best for tho settlors of the cnlony, and in this matter he had no sympathy with a "funking policy." He wished to impress on them tlfe fact that the whole national debt of the colony, amounting to 53 millions, was not a3 much as one company had borrowed and put into one line of railways throughout Canada; and yet (they would find people in. New Zealand, on© of the most resourceful countries possible, with a population of 850,000, and exports valu-ed at about 16 millions, actually ,ivere so pessimistic and so afraid to see v forward movement in the colony's development as to preach and criticise on this indebtedness of 53 millions, which covered 3our millions advanced to settlers, three millions of land purchased, covered railways, public buildings, and telegraphs, etc. •If these things were all put into the scale and viewed, the whole total for the people of the colony did not, as he had said, reach the amount one company borrowed to make on-e trunk railway in Canada. He did notadvocate the borrowing of very large sums of money, nor more than was consistent ■with the common sens© and practical judgment of sensible nie-n, applied to the solution of the nroblem of the future # government of this" colony and the lequirements of its people. He did not advocate the borrowing of millions, but the Government of the colony for many years to come would require to affect its financial policy in a direction that would give facilities, by railways at present not made at all, to people who were going on the larad in different portions of the colony. It was often noticeable that the people who had got such facilities to their own doors were the first to cry out " .Stop there," but advantages they had themselves they should reason-. »,bly allow the Government to extend to others. His visit to thi3 district had, he admitted,' been in many respects a surprise to him, and he would tell his colleagues, who had not been through it. what bo had seen, and when moneys were being allocated for the railways of the colony he was not afraid to say that he would join those who rwere fighting for a further extension of the Catlins railway. The original intention was jto connect this railway from the WaimaShaka, and the original intention should be carried out faithfully. Eighteen liffi.es -of railways were being at present made in the colony. The three principal of these were the North Island Trunk, the Otago Central, and the Midland railways (referring to them from the asuoct of their costing a great deal bf money/ The policy of the country should be to complete the North Island trunk line without more than absolutely necessary delay, and it should carry the Dtago Central to the point where it should remain' fo^ as, least the next 25 or 50 jveare, and should also give the people of the Canterubry Plains and the "West Coast Communication" through tho Midland railway ?rithout prolonging its construction over a long perod. In the meantme there was resulting a loss of interest on dead capital and in the way of settlement and consequent productiveness. of these three works were of a national character. It was idle for anyone to talk now of not completing such a work as the Midland railway after it had, been years in progress, and most erroneous assumptions wore sometimes circulated with the idea of conveying the" impression that on the West Coast there was nothing but barrenness after all. , r As ne . knew from experience, some of the finest bush territory in the colony was to be found there, with the fineet of soil after clearing 1 . No , other three railways ■were Jikely to be put in hand for years to come that would run into anything like tho money any one of these three, had already cost the colony. Were the policy adopted of finishing these three lines within a few years at the outside, they would then be in a position of being able to devote £500,600 or £600,000 out of ordinary revenue for the making ot railways and roads, and more vigour would bo shown in the completing of side-linos, such as the Catling line. Such was a rational policy. He advised them all to have confidence in their own country, and in their own district. He had been assured that the members of, tho Catlin's River Railway League jiad had great difficulty in creating an interest in a work just as important as the Otago Central line, and it was extraordinary that in 1904- they had to com© to Oaclins to realise that the slow progress in developing this part of the country was due to the slowness of thoso in the city to realise the importance of this work. In conclusion, lie would say he felt sure that their portion of the colony had a great future before it, a wonderful future for ifs timber industry, and an equally successful dairying industry. Tho next time they met for a similar function to thai day's might it be five or 10 miles further on.— (Uhee-rs.) Cheers were then given for Sir Joseph Ward and in celebration of the opening, which concluded this part of the day's proceedings, and shortly pftc-rwards the train, crowded with the Ministerial party and visitors, returned to Owaka.