Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVI, Issue 8701, 21 December 1899, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21.

A RAILWAY POLICY, The Hon. J. G. Ward's rehabilitation of himself in the commercial world removes moat, of the objections to his reinstatement in the Ministry, though had he been replaced in hia original position of Colonial Treasurer there would have been many who would have, retained misgivings and mistrusted him who was termed " a wizard of finance." The member for Mataura, it must be admitted, is a shrewd, energetic, and capable business' man. He may be a plunger, and as such unqualified for the Treasury benches, but if there is anyone in the Ministerial party who can make a success of the portfolios of railways and post and telegraphs it is he. Every official in the latter service swears by him as the best P.M.G. New Zealand has ever had, and the public are indebted to him for a number of concessions introduced during his previous term of office. Mr Ward is committed to the principle of the penny post, and we venture to think will not be long in offioe before this reform in postal rates is conceded to the public. He has also promised a substantial reduction in the passenger fares upon our railways, and if experience of previous reduction goes for anything this will be followed by an increase of traffic that will prevent any loss of revenue. Mr Ward holds the common sense view that these great services of the post and telegraphs and the railways should not be used to grind taxation out of the people, but should be run primarily for the public convenience and simply be made to pay for themselves. There is another reason why we are inclined to view his return to the Ministry again in the capacity of Minister of Railways with favor. It is that after many yearß he is the first Minister or member who has come before the country with a clearly defined and real live railway policy. It is a policy which we can heartily commend. Anyone who knows the rugged unproductive country through which the Midland and Central Otago railways are how beiug carried, will realise the delays and tremendous expenditure that must be inourred before they are. completed, also the improbability of their paying interest on a heavy capital cost ; yet as the lines are now leading to nowhere it is necessary they should be completed. Mr Ward discards the obsolete bugbear about a break of guage, and conies to the rescue with a scheme of light railways, with the object of bringing the lines immediately to the paying point. Mr Ward tins travelled a good deal and Been light railways in operation, and no doubt has studied the economies of his schemes. The railway policy which he sketched out at Winton was, lie deolared, entirely his own. He had conferred with no member of the Ministry, but placed it before his constituents, believing that that was the proper thing to do. In the North Island there was one missing link. The North Island Trunk Railway had been provided by a special loan, which, however, although ear-marked, had been to some extent diverted from the purpose, and the line was not completed. It was the duty of the Colony in the general interest to carry this line through, auJ ' establish railway communication between Auckland and Wellington. There were vast resources iv the North Island, and the people of that part of the colony had been wrongly treated l-y the diversion of the loan. There was also ihe Midland Railway. It should also be completed, but not in the same manner as the North Island Trunk line.. The Midland should be constructed to completion on the two-foofc guage syßtem. Tbi • was the only way in which the line would be of service to Canterbury, by takin? it through the OlirA Gorge instead of tunnelling through the mountains. The Otago Central should also be carried on to the projected terminus as a narrow-guage. line. It should be converted into a twofoot guage from its present projected terminus to Wanaka, and this could bo completed iv sixteen months. A light line should also bo carried round the head of the Lake from Kingston to Q.ueenstowu, and that could be constructed in twelve months. There should also be a line from Otautau via the Waiau to Manapouri, and that also could be completed in twelve months. The whole cost, exclusive of the North Island Trunk line, would, in Mr Ward's opinion, be £250,000 —certainly not more than £300,000 would be needed to build the railways and provide rolling stock. He had seen the twofoot gauge at work. It could carry goods and passengers at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. These lines would give the inerior of Otago and the back settlers new life and hope. They would open the way to the Lakes, and that was all that was necessary to induce thousands of people to visit them. How many, he asked, would go' if they could travel in comfortablyequipped trains at the rate of fifteen miles an hour and without the present distressing concomitants of travel ? % In the paat too little attention had been paid to the valuable aissllgEhe colony had in her scenery. KfUif§3ealand was unrivalled as far. m najinrtl' beauty and grandeur of scenerjrwere concerned. Were they going to stand idly by and refuse to open it up to the; world and make it known until the present generation had passed awa.y ? The narrow-gauge railway would have the de : ;•?: sired effect. The lines would repay the 1! colony over and over again, and if it were P

lesired in the future to replace the narrow >y a broader gauge the conversion to the itandard gauge of 3ft 6in would be a praciically simple matter, aud there would be 10 loss on the original outlay. There was 10 ono, he asserted, prepared at the prelent timo to advocate a huge loan to carry jroad-gaugo line 3 all over the colony, but mmeasurable benefits would beconferred on Canterbury, Otago, and Southland if tno lines he had indicated were completed, as ihey might be at about £1200 a mile. He ivas prepared to advocate this for the reason he had given, and because he believed that fresh blood and spirit would thus be infused into those who had long been asking for means of transit for themaelves and for their products — the settlers of the interior.