The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prevalebit. MONDAY, APRIL 13, 1885. Mount Somers Railway.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1512, 13 April 1885, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prevalebit. MONDAY, APRIL 13, 1885. Mount Somers Railway.

To-day the new timetable in connection with the Mount Somers branch railway came into operation, and we cannot allow the occasion to pass without congratulating the residents in the Hill district upon the more regular communication established between their terminus and the main trunk railway. The bi-weekly service maintained on this line for several years has, un- j doubtedly, been a great convenience, but it has not been sufficient to monopolise nor to materially increase the traffic between the two centres. The new arrangement by which a train will leave Cavendish each morning for Ashburton at 8.45 a.m. and return from the latter place to Cavendish at 5.5 p.m. will meet the present requirements to a much fuller extent, and it is strange, considering it will be no more costly than the bi-weekly service, that it was not inaugurated when first suggested to the Department by Mr E. G. Wright sometime ago. While referring to this matter we may again ask—when is the extension of this line to be undertaken ? It is now some weeks since His Worship the Mayor was assured by the Minister for Public Works that tenders for the completion of the line would at once be invited, but up to the present we have seen no move towards the redemption of that promise. The line was originally proposed with a view to the development of the timber and mineral wealth of the Mount Somers and Alford Forest districts ; the present traffic, passengers, grain and wool, was expected to be only subsidary to the other, and cannot for many years be sufficient to produce the favorable results which we believe would at once be obtained if the line were completed and active steps taken to utilize the natural riches surrounding the terminus.