MISTAKEN CONCILIATION.

Wanganui Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14065, 20 August 1913, Page 4

MISTAKEN CONCILIATION.

We are not surprised, therefore, that he N.Z. Herald, the mouthpiece of the Massey Party in the northern province, should take the. Auckland League to task for its mistaken,idea that the .South Island must always and all the time be conciliated. Men who are actively’ advocating rival schemes in the North, who have no hesitation in setting up the claims of one northern distmet against tho claims of another northern district, are, iays our contemporary, seemingly afraid to whisper the truth about the Otira tunnel or to hint that any northern railway project can, without presumption, bo ranked nrvt in national importance while the tunnel remains unfinished. Grave references were made to the unwisdom -of “agitating” against a work which has gone four-fifths of its way. It may ho as well, proceeds the Herald, to say that there has been no agitation against the Otira tunnel, nor was the resolution rejected at the meeting at all a- necessary part of the case for northern-railways. Tho point of importance was contained in a clause of another resolution expressing the opinion that if tlie modest amounts asked by the League for northern railways would not he available without stopping tho tunnel then the tunnel should be stopped. This clause was hurriedly withdrawn lest offence should tie given to the South. Why this tender solicitude for tho South? Is it not time that northern delegates - to railway leagues should cease to hold to the idea that the South Island is entitled to huge railway votes' because, it is the South Island? The South- Island is already 450 odd miles of railway ahead of the North Island; Ms railways are earning .£340 per. mile, compared with £606 per mile earned in the North; tho railway profits in tho North are’ approaching 5 per cent, oil the cost of -construction, while the southern lines rejoice the heart of tho .Minister when they can earn a trille over 3 per cent! If these facts are not sufficient ty induce northern delegates tb put forward their claims without- fear of offending the South then we may expect the Minister for Public Works

-who has never been accused of hiding tho Southern light under a bushel—to give ns many plausible reasons for building more railways to earn ,£340 a mile- while districts in which JJ6OO a mile can ho easily earned are-loft lamenting.