THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

Colonist, Volume XLVII, Issue 11432, 11 September 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

CANTERBURY AND WEST ■ COAST DEPUTATION. Wellington, August 28. A large and thoroughly representative deputation from Canterbury and the West Coast waited on the Premier this afternoon, and urged upon the Government the necessity for pushing on with the completion of the Midland Railway, and in ' particular the advisability of letting a contract for the construction of the Summit tunnel. Several members of Parliament accompanied the deputation, the Canterbury section of which was introduced by Mr Taylor, and the West Coast section •by' Mr Guinness. The selected • speakers were Mr H. Quane, representing the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce; Mr J. Petrie, the Mayor of Greymouth; Mr J. O'Halloran, of the Canterbury Farmers' Union; Mr J. Mandl, the Mayor of Hokitika ; Mr A. G. Howland, Industrial Association and Employers' Association of Canterbury; Mr J. Grimmond, of West-land County ; Mr W. H. Cooper, of Ghristchurch City Council. Severn) others also spoke, and the burden oi the speeches was that the through line should be completed at the earliest possible moment, so that it should become reproductive; that when the bush was cleared there would be an extensive area of valuable land suitable for close settlement on the West Coast; that the productiveness of the West Coast did not by any means "depend on the yield of gold, coal, etc. ; that Canterbury wanted to be entirely independent of sea carriage iniobtaining-,»t3 supplies of timber and coal from the West Coast; that after its very long isolation the West Coast was entitled to be placed in touch per medium of a railway line with r other;parts of the Colony ; that : there was every reason to believe that when the line was completed it would "prove to be as gond a paying line as!, there was in New Zealand; that § the through line would soon cause a large increase in settlement and population on the West Coast ; that it was hoped that the line would be completed within five years; and that the work of constructing the ' SHmmit tunnel should be let by contract. In the course of his reply; Mr Seddon expressed regret that the Midland line had not been completed years ago. It was a misfortune that the line had been given into the hands of a private'company, for if it had* been kept,*under the public'works policy initiated by the late Sir J. Yogel it would have been constructed long ago. He went on to say that!takingtjinto consideration the ' amount of revenue contributed by Canterbury to the West Coast, those parts of the Colony had really a stronger claim to expenditure on public works than any other portions of New Zealand. He admitted that the arguments in favor of completing the line were overwhelming, and that the work ought to be gone on with more expeditiously. Affce'f leflgthy consideration, the tunnel, about five mlies in length, had been agreed upon, and tenders had been let for bridges on the Otira side that would bring the linS up to . the tunnel's mouth. Preparations had been made for calling for tenders for the tunnel, and the Government'was of opinion that it was a class of work that should be, as a whole, let by He indicated also that traction through the tunnel would have to be by electrical power. The Premier went on to say that only a certain amount of money would be available for public works, ' but he was not anxious on the point, and there would baa fair allocation. While there should be fair allocation, however, he would aay that, taking the small expenditure on the Mid • land railway in the past, compared with the outlay on the Otago Central and North Island Main Trunk lines, if there was fa little more this year for the Midland line, the most fastidious could not complain. It was not'asking too much to have the lina finished within the next sis years. It was not known what difficulties might be met with in boring the tunnel^ and he thought if the work was completed in six years, it would be just about as much as could be done. Hefbelieved when the line was through it would prove one ov tho best paying sections in thfl Colony. The Premier took occasion to apologiee for the absence of the Minister for Public Works, who]! was busy putting the finishing touches on the Public Works Statement. A PROTEST, Mr R. McKenzie, M.H.R., who was present at this afternoon's Midland Railway deputation, entered a strong protest on the ground that the extension of the Nelson section of the Midland line had been overlooked in this agitation. He didn't know, he said, whether this was a West Coast swindle or not,but Nelon would not 'allow Canterbury and Westland to ?ob it.