The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1929. THE WEAK LINK

Southland Times, Issue 20794, 7 June 1929, Page 6

The Southland Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. Luceo Non Uro. FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 1929. THE WEAK LINK

“The completion of the South Island Main Trunk line is as justifiable as the building of the North Island Main Trunk.” A statement of this kind shows how completely advocates of the Government’s railway policy can misunderstand the conditions existing to-day. It has been made bj* way of answer to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce’s doubts about the advisability of going on with the WharanuiParnassus section, and it is some evidence of the poor arguments available. Let us look at the two positions. Before the North Island Main Trunk line was completed, the two main cities in the South Island were connected by railway and the two main ports were similarly linked. The South Eland was provided with a railway connecting Dunedin with Christchurch, Bluff with Lyttelton. In the North Island the two main centres, the two main ports were separated. When the Main Trunk was completed the journey between Auckland and Wellington was substantially shortened, and traffic was definitely increased. The connecting of those two points was strategically sound, it was necessary. Can the link between Bluff and Picton or Dunedin and Picton be put in the same category? Can it be argued that the Parnassus-Wharanui section will open up country which can be likened to the country served by the section which completed the North Island Main Trunk? The argument is preposterous. When the North Islanders sought to have Auckland linked with Wellington they were arguing for the linking of two important ports of ingress and egress, and for a definite shortening of travel-time, the need for which was shown at once because the coastal service operated by steamers was dropped immediately. Will anyone argue that the Lyttelton-Wellington service will be dropped at once if Christchurch is linked by rail with Picton? Two millions is required for the link between Wharanui and Parnassus, but it will not pay, it will not give a service much, if any, quicker, and it will not provide a cheaper route. In these essentials it differs from the case of the North Island Main Trunk line and the variations are vital. The section linking Wellington and Auckland was strong; the section linking Christchurch with Picton is weak. If politics can be set aside the absurdity of pushing on this section as a business proposition, as a moral impetus and as a strategic need can be seen at once.