THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY 27tu MARCH, 1903. SOUTHLAND RAILWAYS.

Southland Times, Issue 19006, 27 March 1903, Page 2

THE Southland Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY 27tu MARCH, 1903. SOUTHLAND RAILWAYS.

To-day tho Honourable. 3Fr PlallJones is going over the ground between the O.waka and Waiiunhaka extremities of the Seaward Bush railway with a party of gentlemen representing both Invercargill and Dunddin. Tho visit is fraught with the utmost importance to Southland, for it .should settle a." question that has retarded tho progress of the Seaward Bush lino for 3'cars. The object the Minister of Public Works has. in himself traversing the -ground is to gather such, information aa will enable him to decide whether the- line should proceed l'rojft Waiiuahaka by way of Tokonui or the; JVaimahatka Valley. To those "who have taken ..an interest in this line it is known that this question of routes is a vexed one, so vexed, ? indeed, that for some years the Minister > has said that~he was not able to come to a decision on it, a«d that nothing cotild bp ddne to the line ui}til it w.as decided. The position is fthat the Minister has moved uneasily between the horns of a dilemma. Yielding to pressure at this end, he promised to push the railway forward with all speed and to take it via Tokonui. The promise, \yo beliove, was made in good faith, and Mr Hall Jonos believed at tho time thai— he would be able to keep it. But tho surveyors of the Department reported (1) thafHh'e Tokonui'route offered serious engineering obstacles,, to the railway/, and added to its length ; and (2)' that the natural route' of tKe railway was' along the Waimahaka Valley. / MiHall Jones was at once in difficulties. He could not "set aside the ' advice of experts .who were / quite disinterested, nor could he lightly throw over the Tokonui people and proceed with thft, construction, of the Jinp by the Waimahaka Valley. Only two courses of action were open to him, and he could take neither. Consequently he did nothing, and Waimahaka remains the terminus fit the lino *from this end. In this deadlock liirkecfthe gravest danger to Invercargill and Southland. - While' nothing was (being done- at tl'o .Waimahaka end, tho activity of * the Dunedin people secured, the expenclisure of substantial sums at the the Catlins end. The line is creeping on from that : point towards Waikawa, and it is evident that unless progress is made from this end tiie Collins branch, will one day tap a large 1 'district whose nat,ural qen,tre is Invcrcarijill, and draw off a large trade which is our proper possession. Fully alive to this menace, the" Southland Railway League initiated and sustained an agitation during last session with the object of hastening a settlement of the route difficulty mid a beginning^with the work of ! construction beyond Waimahaka. v l'hey importunod the Minister at every opportunity, both directly and through the Southland members, with th,e result that Mr Hall Jones undertook ,to Mve further surveys .made and 'to visit the district himself. "He is now** carrying out that undertaking, and what is required of liim is that ho' shall no longer hesitate between the rival routes. The Southland Railway League have made it plain that they do not press for the Tokonui route against the advice of the' engineers, but that/4 hey do urgently contend that the railway should be proceeded with by - one route or the other without delay. The Waikawa people have been at the trouble to send delegates to Tnvercargill to" make it clear that they do not insist upon the Tokonui route or nothing. What they want is thu raihyay and that soon, and if the Minister, acting upon expert advice, favours tho Waimahaka routo, they will protest against any agitation that will prevent him from commencing operations. The Railway League and the Waikawa committee are at one on this point, they regard the question of routo as subordinate to the necessity for immediate action, and they leave thn route to the unfettered choice of the Minister, providing only that he ' shall at once select one or tho other,; The Hon. the Minister, therefore, has jio .f Ui'ther. excuse. for procrastination, and an aii^OT Reeling \yi3,l be exciteU ■ throughout " -districts -ih another year goes bjr and 'lea v,es ; tjie railway 'still "hung up" ob? the^rouje difficulty. The conditions thav" "'-have prevailpd for throe yearns cannot be suffered to continue. The votes passed annually for, the ;j3eaward. Bush line have been expended at the OwaUp. end. and the. line there is stead™, ily advancing tip^'ards- a district into which it is ..essential that the Invercargill section should get first. Tho expenditure upon the, works at Owaka has-been unjust Ho Jnvercar-. . gill~it.. "could >not have taken place" had not the Minister been able to retort upon all critics that fho Southland people could not ..agivu uiipii thejHWte. '-'-Tho Southland poo-pie-have^\ade ft sufficiently:;, plain .that they leave the route, to Min■ißtbri\OTKl,rcquiiw that hje shall ■ "grant tliem"^ justice.. , They, will now eyp.eet frpni^Mi;. Hall " Jones that he' shall' ■i\6\v ;, decide betweej^ his engineers mid th^yTqkon.u.i- ' P^P 1 ?' ld 'iuihoi-ise.' t He " cbm'mencementiibf -■ wo't;k a* "Wainmhaka. -Southlta'd- has, 'an 1 - indis--

putable clajim to the bulk of tile money voted for this lino during tho next three or four years, by which time the Waikawa and surrounding districts should be in enjoyment of that communication with Invercargill which the Minister is pledged to give them as expeditiously as possible.