In the Light of Common Sense,

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16154, 7 March 1918, Page 6

In the Light of Common Sense,

It is a groat misfortune that so much political claptrap is talked in connexion with Lyttelton harbour, and that persons who aro most voluble regarding tho supposed requirements of the port, and the management of the traffic between the port and tho city, are usually those who are least qualified to express an opinion on the subject. Simply because a ship canal for Christchurch is supposed to be a good election cry, it is practically certain that a certain number of candidates for election to tho Board will continuo to use it for all it is worth, no matter how often the futility of the proposal is demonstrated from a common-sense, business point of view. So long as this clamour is kept up, and tho voters aro imposed upon by tho ignoramuses who uso ;t for electioneering purposes, fuller attention is apt to bo diverted from really practical reforms, and the progress of the port and city is obstructed in consequenec.

In these circumstanccs we welcome the report which the Board's secretary and engineer, Mr Cyrus Williams, has drawn up, dealing with tho suggested remedies for the disabilities of the Lyttelton railway. It is a clsar, commonsense review of tho whole position, and as such merits careful study by our readers. Tho course for those who desire to soe the city and port progress is perfectly plain. To j agitate for the creation of a ship canal or a now port, or the making of a tunnel or cutting through the hills for a motor road to carry the traffic between tho two ports is merely beating the air. The real remedy for - present disabilities is the duplication of the railway tunnel, with improved layout of Lyttelton railway yard and improvements to tho Christchurch railway station, goods sheds, and railway yard, as proposed in tho report of the General Manager for Railways, dated Ist August, 1914. The electrification of the lino is desirable, but by no means essential. The doubling of the present tunnel, or the cutting of a parallel tunnel with cross ventilation and tho uso of cok© instead of coal would reduce tho smoko nuisanco to a minimum, pending tho adoption of electricity as motivo power for the railways. The duplication of the tunnel and the improvement of the railway arrangements at each end ought to have been undertaken years ngo by tho Government, as a mere matter of business.' It ought to bo one of tho first works undertaken after the completion of tho Otira tunnel, when it will bo moro than ever necessary; in • fact, looking at it from a business

point of view, any private railway company would earn,* on both works and endeavour to get both finished about tho same time. Tho League established to G et the tunnel finished, ought not, in our opinion, to disband until tho railway facilities between Christchurch and Lyttelton have ' been brought up to date. Public attention should bo concentrated on these two points. Any clamour for a ship canal or second port, or any other form of ■crying for the moon, merely gives the Government an excuse for delay, and puts oli indefinitely the only really practicable and effective measure of relief.