TRANSPORT DEALT WITH BY PROGRESS LEAGUE THIS YEAR.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18940, 10 December 1929, Page 16

TRANSPORT DEALT WITH BY PROGRESS LEAGUE THIS YEAR.

MUCH SUCCESS HAS BEEN ATTAINED IN / VARIOUS DIRECTIONS.

Outlining the activities of the Can terburv Progress League during the year, Mr P. R. Climie, organiser of the League, said yesterday that most of the energies of the organisation had been concentrated on matters relating to transport, and that 1929 was in this respect a very successful year. The inauguration of the Lyttelton line electrification at the beginning of the year, said Mr Climie, marked the successful conclusion of a campaign waged by the Progress League almost from its inception seven years ago. The campaign was carried on strenuously by the league, which eventually interested enough people in the project to bring it to a successful end. Another railway in which the league took a great interest, and for the completion of which there was now a strong agitation, was the South Island Main Trunk line. In spite of a great diversity of opinion, the league carried through a campaign in favour of this line, with the result that the Government now stood pledged to finish the railway with all possible, haste. In main highways, too, said Mr Climie., great interest was taken by the league, especially in seeing that the money collected from the South Island is spent here in fair proportion. While the actual results fall short of the hopes of the committee dealing with Main Highways, the countless meetings and conferences accomplished a good deal, one result being that a programme involving the expenditure of £233,000 on paving 71£ miles of roads has been mapped out. To the league also falls the credit of having established the Canterbury Aero Club, which now has a larger membership than any similar club in the Dominion.

Although it has mainly been concerned with transport problems during the year, there have been many other directions in which the league has successfully exerted itself, making the year, according to the organiser, one of the most successful in the history the organisation.