DAY BY DAY.

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 16094, 18 September 1924, Page 4

DAY BY DAY.

The offer of the Bank of New Zea-

£1,125,000 Loan from Bank of N.Z.

land to advance £1,125,000 at 5£ per cent, for 10 years should

ease the financial situation materially, and remove misgivings as to the hardship-that will accrue from the lifting of the moratorium, as the money is to be devoted to strengthening the finance of the State Advances Department. The raising of the loan locally will have the additional advantage .of effecting substantial savings in flotation and transmission expenses. The terms proffered are most favourable, for while the loan is specified for a definite time, the Government is to the option of paying it off at any time within that period on giving reasonable notice, so the Dominion will be enabled to take advantage of any favourable turn in the money market. That the Bank has voluntarily come to tlii assistance of the Government is a most satisfactory development, and its action should enable a review of the recent decision regarding the moratorium, enabling the business of the Dominion to revert more rapidly to normal conditions.

Canterbury people are clamouring for the duplication and

Canterbury and Its Harbour.

electrification of the Lyttelton tunnel, and the agitation is jus-

tillable. The present tunnel was' bored in the opening days of Canterbury's history, being carried out by the Provincial Government. I.t was : a great work for a small community to undertake, and that it did so speaks volumes for the enterprise and tenacity of purpose of those who so .firmly laid the foundations' of the Southern Province. It was the tunnel which made progress in Canterbury possible. That the "hole in the hill" has sufficed to meet the needs of Canterbury up to the present is remarkable, but the time has arrived when it will no longer do so, and if Canterbury is to continue to develop better facilities for communication with the Provincial port are imperative. Up to comparatively recently there were many who advocated the creation of an inland port for Christchurch, the scheme being that vessels should come via Sumner estuary by canal to Christchurch. The scheme has been relegated to the background as 1 too costly and visionary, and the demand now is that the tunnel shall be duplicated and electrified. This would be much less costly than the inland harbour idea; it presents no engineering difficulties, and would ensure ample harbour accommodation for Canterbury's needs for many years to come. It was what Mr Hiley, a former Railway Commissioner, recommended. The time has arrived when it is imperative in the interests of Canterbury primarily, and of the Dominion generally, that something be done. It is essentially a national work, and cannot be regarded as in any way a parochial demand.