Southland's Day.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18371, 2 May 1925, Page 12

Southland's Day.

There is a tonic in the story which we publish to-day from Southland. Yesterday wo had a report of the opening of thirteen miles of railway, constructed without the assistance of the Government: this morning we have an account of the completion, after many difficulties and disappointments, of a hydro-ejectric scheme costing fifteen hundred thousand • pounds—launched like the railway project by the people of the district themselves, and carried through to its official opening on a sustained wave of local enthusiasm. Just what measure of success these two projects will have at fir?t it is impossible to say: it is improbable that tho capital and workiftg charges of Monowai, estimated at £IBO,OOO a year, will be met out of revenue for some time, but farmers and settlers have "signed "up" freely throughout the whole area to be served, and it is estimated that what consumers do not provide in revenue will be met by a rate of one penny in the pound. If that estimate is oversanguine, tho fact remains that the province is confident of its ability to win through, and of the immense fillip this new source of power will give to agriculture and industry generally. These are bold enterprises and dreams for a community of seventy thousand soub, and the rest of the Dominion canfiot afford to remain indifferent to them. In Canterbury we arc certainly not indifferent, but shall watch Monowai especially with close and sympathetic interest.