The Sun MONDAY, MAY 19, 1919. ANOTHER MINISTER WON OVER.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume VI, Issue 1641, 19 May 1919, Page 6

The Sun MONDAY, MAY 19, 1919. ANOTHER MINISTER WON OVER.

The Minister of Mines and Agriculture (Hon. W. D. S. Mac Donald) has gone, has seen, and been conquered. His visit to the West Coast, he told a deputation, convinced him of the urgent necessity for the speedy completion of the tunnel. As things are nowadays, that is a brave admission for a politicif . representing a North-Island constituency. The tunnel is anathema in the Auckland province,! where it. is regarded as a sink into which thousands of pounds are uselessly poured annually by the Government. It exasperates pur domineering friends of the north to see Canterbury and Westland pushing their claims to departmental preference when, the exorbitant demands of Auckland have not, been satisfied. It is this self-assurance, greed, and stern parochialness which evokes our admiration of Mr MacDonald's frank confession. Therein he has dared the thunderbolts of Auckland's ; editors, who <can be fluently vituperative on the Midland Railway; question when the spirit moves them. But the Minister I recognised the need for tact in thus announcing his conversion. Anticipating remonstrances and abuse, he took care to throw his critics a sop or two in advance. His peace of -mind would" not bo worth a moment's purchase if he extolled the tunnel' scheme without making kindly reference to the railway wants of other provinces. So he conceded that the "Auckland lines are very important, especially the connection with Napier." Discreet Mr Mac Donald, thus to distribute his favours with a discriminating hand! However, what Auckland may say or do now that the Minister has avowed his advocacy of the Midland Rail way,, need not trouble us further. The important result from Canterbury's.point of view is that a ; member of Gabinet has discovered for himself that the-comple-tion of the tunnel is a national concern. His evidence as to the dairying potentialities of the West Coast will open the eyes of those who have depreciated the Coast without ever visiting it; The Minister, confirms \yhat The gun revealed some; four years ago. A representative of this paper, himself a practical farmer, made a special journey over the range, and astonished .-many people by reporting that the finest dairying country in the Dominion was" not to be found in. Taranaki, buton the West Coast. Mr Mac Donald, who also is a practical agriculturist, obviously is impressed by the latent wealth which is waiting to be tapped. And not only in the quality of its dairy land does the Coast lead: the Minister said on Saturday that few districts in New Zealand possessed as much. Once trains are running regularly through . the "hole in the hill," these fat lands will begin to pour out their riches in earnest. Ministers have never ceased insisting on the necessity for increased production.; Beyond the Alps is a field,, largely virgin, which only awaits railway connection to return this country handsome dividends. It is a pity that one Government after \another has not troubled to acquaint itself of the real position. For years past the undertaking has dragged on haphazardly, Ministers and public alike showing a supreme indifference to the project, though it had cost the Dominion a lot of money, and was a considerable amount every year. America would have had the line open and earning interest, at least, years ago. It is too late in the day to cry over spilt milk. A more profitable policy would be to keep Ministers up to the mark, now that it has been demonstrated to them that it will pay the country to hasten completion of the work. Fortunately, the v activities of the champions; of. the line are being directed: toward that end. Cabinet

has come to see that Canterbury Is ifl deadly earnest, and will -waylay Ministers and badger Parliament until the Public Works Department gives way and multiplies the workers engaged. The Minister-fn-Charge manages to raise mountains of difficulties when urged to speed up. Either he pleads that he I cannot obtain more men, or he refuses to make the wages more attractive on the ground that to do so would deplete the primary and other industries of labour. Neither reply is satisfactory, as Sir William Fraser arid his colleagues have been told. It has been estimated by men competent to judge that the employment of another 100 men would put forward Hue opening of the tunnel by two years. If not the Minister, Cabinet, then is bound to respect such an opinion, and ought to act upon it. The additional expense incurred by thus increasing the complement at Arthur's Pass would be more than compensated by the traffic that would be handled.

DAMNED IN ADVANCE. It is good to know that the Coal Commission's report is at last in the hands of the Government printer. Most unfortunately, however, the Minister of Mines himself is far from encouraging as to its contents. TO judge from his very guarded remarks on Saturday, there; is a chance that it may prove voluminous . and general rather than practical and realisable. One of its merits apparently is that it will give people "a better idea of the difficulties of the coalmining industry"—a clear enough suggestion at the outset that the Government is not to be blamed for soaring prices and ah increasing shortage in supply. Air Mac Donald is satisfied, too, that the report will contain "information of interest to consumers." But the thing above all the consumer wants to know is when the supply will increase and the price return to normal. Unless there is some indication of that in the book the Minister is a sanguine reviewer. And finally, and very strangely, the Minister seems to have no.idea at all of'.converting words into deeds in a progressive policy of reorganisation. "How far the improvements suggested can be given effect to, I do not know." If that does not mean that no one else knows, it suggests that Mr Mac Donald himself is as good as hopeless. In short, though; we Write without any knowledge but a crumb or too dropped by a Minister in a train,' we shall be. a good deal surprised- if the report leads anywhere at all. It has cost a lot of moneys and been prepared, we have no doubt, with minute and scientific care. The fact that the Commissioners had the assistance throughout of Dr Hight, of Canterbury College, should be a guarantee that the qua document, is free of hasty generalisations and illdigested . information. But . the country-has been waiting for reform and not for a bookg On the. showing of the Minister himself, it would not be wise to wait too hopefully.