RAILWAY BOARD TO VISIT LINE.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 146, 22 June 1931, Page 5

RAILWAY BOARD TO VISIT LINE.

WILL HEAR STRONG CASE FOR S.I. MAIN TRUNK.

A strong case for the completion of the South Island Main Trunk railway will be placed before the Railway Board when it makes its investigation into the question of whether the line should be proceeded with. Construction work on the uncompleted section between Parnassus and Wharanui was begun by the Ward Government in 1929, and though it has met with a good deal of criticism, mainly from North Island interests. the advocates of the railway are still strongly of the opinion that its completion is thoroughly justified.

The Canterbury Progress League has taken a leading part in urging the claims of the railway, and the question of the action to be taken in presenting evidence before the Railway Board will be discussed at a meeting of the executive of the league on Wednesday evening. It is probable that the Canterbury League will combine with the Marlborough and South Marlborough Progress Leagues in regard to the matter, a conference of representatives of the three bodies having been held at Kaikoura a week ago to discuss the railway.

The construction of the line has been vigorously urged for a number of years by the Canterbury League. A complete survey of the benefits which the completion of the gap between Wharanui and Parnassus would confer on the Dominion generally was made by the league, and the outcome of the investigation was a report strongly favouring the institution of the work. “ A Short Circuit.”

Mr J. E. Strachan, who has taken a very keen interest in the line, said on Saturday that he had always believed that it should be completed and the present trade depression did not make him change his opinion. The real solution of a trade depression was the bet12r organisation of the means of production and distribution. The completion of the line was a necessary part of that organisation as far as the Dominion was concerned. Marlborough and Nelson were under-developed and always would be so long as there was a short circuit in the transport system. “ The railway will, I believe, result in closer settlement and increased production in the northern districts of the South Island," said Mr Strachan. “ Ultimately, the whole railway system of the Dominion must be worked as a single unit with the rolling stock transferred by train ferry. The completion of the South Island Main Trunk is a step in that direction. If the Clifford Bay harbour project should *be feasible, it will remove the last doubt as to whether the line will pay.” A National Work. One of the strong claims made in connection with the work is that it is of a national rather than a local character. Emphasis is laid upon the point that the completion of the line is necessary in order that there shall be a main trunk system from the Bluff to the far north, the connection between tjLe two islands being made by a fkst fefrty ser* vice. This aspect of the matter was touched upon by Mr Mervyn Stevenson.

chairman of the Transport Committee of the Canterbury Progress League. He said that he was still as strongly in favour of the railway as he had ever

been. His idea was that there should be a trunk railway from one end of the Dominion to the other, and that, in the future, feeder buses would connect with it. Mr D. Reese, a member of the Railway Board, said on Saturday that he was not in a position to give any information as to the intentions of the bbard in regard to the holding of the inquiry. The board would meet in Wellington on Wednesday and would later leave on an inspection ,df the route of the railway.