THE COLONIST. Published Daily-Mornings. Nelson, Saturday, July 20, 1907. THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

Colonist, Volume XLIX, Issue 11993, 20 July 1907, Page 2

THE COLONIST. Published Daily-Mornings. Nelson, Saturday, July 20, 1907. THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

On the fourthjof the present month a deputation, of Canterbury, Nekon and Westland members of both Houses of Parliament met and waited upon the Acting-Minister for Public Works, the Hon. Mr MeGdwah 1 . Amongst the members present were Mr R. McKenzie and Mr J; Graham, but according to the reports we have seen the latter aid not speak. At the preliminary meeting, Mr E. Me Kenzie moved "That this meeting of Canterbury, West Coast and Nelson members strongly urges upon the I Government the vigorous prosecution to completion of the Midland railway, and recommends that tenders be accepted for the Arthur Pass tunnel. " He said that the tunnel would requiie the use of very expensive plant, costing probably £150, 000, and for that reason he believed that the tender of a firm accustomed to such work'should be accepted. The people of Nelson were* just as anxious to get the Midland line completed as were the people of Canterbury and Westland, as some fifty-nine miles of line through easy country would connect Nelson and Gieymoutn. This motion having been carried, the members of the deputation proceeded to an interview with the Minister, when Mr Guinness read the resolution pre* viously adopted, and several members addressed the Minister, among them Mr R. McKenzie, who said the Arthur Pass tunnel was the^key to the position, and the sooner it was put through the better. A million of money had been sunk in tbe line, and would be largely unproductive until the tunnel was finished. £ When the^ line was carried through to Nelson it would complete the trunk linea of the Colony, and would open up several hundred thousand acres of Crown lands in the Nelson province. The line would be as payable a one as any line in New Zealand. Nothing urther was said on behalf of the Nelson* Reef ton section, and the Minister, in reply, said the position was that some very heavy work had to be undertaken in carrying the line from the Broken River to Cass. An expensive bridge had to be constructed over Sloven's Creek. Tenders had been received for the tunnel, but while they had not been considered by the Cabinet, he understood that they were unsatisfactory on account of the money required. His own opinion was, he said, that not much coal would be hauled across the ranges, because carriage by sea would be cheaper. The Government would not be true to their trust if they would hand over to any contractor a present of £100,000. He promised to place the whole matter before the Government, but added, "My information is that the tenders are unsatisfactory. " There will be a very considerable sum of money re- j quired for the completion of the lino between Broken Eiver and the Cass. We should have to spend £125,000 on that bit alone. The cost of taking the line through that part of the country is a very serious item, indeed, and the amount of money available for public works will be the main consideration. The sum of £876,706 had been spent up to March 31st last, and the amount spent on that portion last year was 3H.39, 522. The member's of the deputation jyere not at all satisfied with the result of I their interview, and it ap-peared-extremely unlikely that the Government would accept a tender "or close on £600,000 when the estimate was £534, 000, especially in view )f the faot disclosed by the Minister ihat an expenditure of £125,000 is leeded -to extend the line to the 3asa,. .-.." , . _. _ -..-..■. No wonder it came as a surprise vhen it was announced in the Finanijal Statement that a tender for the

Arthur Pas 3 tunnel hau i.cc.i au cepted, the amount being £599,794. This action will necessitate a vote of something like £100,000 a year for this tunnel, and as the work to the (Jass will need to be pushed on with a vote of at least a quarter of a million sterling will be needed this year for a short section. As a considerable Vote will of necessity be required for the North. Island Truck line, and we are told that- £350,000 is needed for additions to open lines, it is at once app arent that the acceptance of this contract" means that many presingly urgent developmental works will have to be deferred, with the natural consequence that settlement will be checked and production deferred. Seeing that for some months past passengers have been able to travel between Greymouth and Christchurch in a single day, and that five years, at least, must elapse before through trains can run, we are firmly convinced that the best interests of the Colony would have been served by the delaying of the construction of the tunnel till after the completion of the North Island Trunk railway, and by the expenditure, meanwhile, of as large of sum as possible in the prosecution of other works Jwhich would have the immediate effect of encouraging settlement and production. The extension of the Nelson section from Tadmor through the Buller Valley would ensure the profitable occupation of hundreds of thousands of acres of Crown lands and the construction of that line is due under a solemn obligation on the part of the Colony under the con trace t entered into between the General Government and the Nelson Provincial Council, whereby the latter refrained from proceeding with the bonstriiotion of the Neison-Cobden railway at the request of the General Government, which feared that the Provincial Scheme would affect the financial arrangements of the Colony in respect to the Public Works Scheme, and upon the solemn undertaking that v Nelson did give way the General Government would construct the line. la fulfilment of"" that undertaking Nelson has a claim which no honorable men could ignore, and besides that, there is no doubt the construction of the line promises advantages to the whole Colony such as the construction of no other line can offer. 2 It is surprising that our members have not fought more strenuously than they have done for the'rights of the people of this portion of the Colony, but if the people are true to themselves they will insist that their interests are considered, so that they may no longer be left to languish.