The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1909. BRANCH RAILWAYS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13834, 20 February 1909, Page 4

The Timaru Herald SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1909. BRANCH RAILWAYS.

The reply given yesterday by the Hon. Minister of; Railways to ouv representative's remark about the desire for some railway extensions in this district —"They have Buckley's chance of getting them" —may as well be understood as decisive as well as decided. It was the reply, that might have been expected, "just now," when the Public Works Fund has so many prior calls to satisfy, and the fund itself is not plethoric. There being seventeen pieces of railway in hand now, these, the Minister says, must-be finished before others are taken in hand. Concentration of effort is a, sound policy, and Mr Millar is to be commended for adopting that line. His statement that there is only '"Buckley's chance " of getting any branch railways constructed in this district must however be taken , with a qualification—"just now." The time will come when, as a result; of concentration of effort, the fragments of lines now in hand will be completed, and then it will be the duty of those who earnestly desire to see the railway facilities of South Canterbury increased, to be able to urge " r>rior claims," as against later applications for extensions. That is to say, whatever could be done in the way of preparing claims if there was a. good chance of gaining ili-m immediately, should be done without delay Sir order to be in readiness when the obstacles hinted at in the phrase " Buckley's chance " have been removed bv lapse of time, completion of works in h;uid, and provision of the needful funds. There is a great deal to be done. It will be useless to merely ask for railways or to petition for them. There must be study of maps and of natural configurations, of distributions of farm lands (and of mineral lands, if any), of converging roads, and so forth ; an accumulation of precise information that will take • time and patience to collect; and such 'as a railway engineer who might be sent to inspect the country would have to be furnished with. If Mr Millar retains the post of Minister of Railways, and can stick to the construction policy lie spoke of yesterday, the advocates of any branch railway would have this encouragement, that if they did get their petition granted, and the work commenced, the young men among them would not become grey wliilo waiting for its completion, as has been the case with some branch lines in the past.