The Waitatapeka Railway Deviation.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 68, 28 October 1875, Page 6

The Waitatapeka Railway Deviation.

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The^nnedin <&aniby£ of Commerce and the * Daily; Times ? have : been-; coming" down rather'^ heavily' :upb)ttj the: Waitepekaj folks for their endeavors: to secure to -themselves V share in !the advantages'^: of the" Southern*; .TVuiik Railway. action of the Chamber, and ' Daily' Times '; can proceed solelyj front^^lg^jf^ce^'or'froTn-what is worse,, a selfish desire to obtain for themselves

the benefit of -a -completed line at the cost* of depriving of that benefit a ; district 1 equally dependant upon railway communication, with any other, and •which perhaps more than' any other south of "Balclutha Would benefit the railway revenue, and so help to ( meet the cost of construction. It is* quite evident that. tiie members of the.Chamber and the writer in the Times' know nothing of the matter at issue between'the Waitepeka settlers and the Public Works Department Like thie Chief Railway: Enjgin^r,; they . have given.forxH an.opinion without travers-** ing the disputed routes, and have failed! to consider as the basis of their opinion what the Railway Department of the Governmehtis bound' to consider, viz., what is most -conducive, to -the,, public good;- £rst, as accommodating the largest nutober, and, ' secondly; as securing 'tiie largest return to the railway revenue, both of which are secured by thißWai^apeJia deviation at a cost so' littleto the originals expense as would speedily be 'rec-Jupdd by thepassepger arid goods tr^p that' would-be, secured to the railway; The Dnnedin- objectors to thudeviatidn seem to look at tje** matter spiely from a Dunedin point of viewi^-viar.-j ■; the* view of having the through;" liiae; ; -dprnpletecr. as early as possible, -that the merchandise belonging to the member-Kof the Chamber of Commerce jn&y be*; the , mpre.easily and the. more Teadily disjtosed of. Surely if they, are' Entitled to "look, after their •own- intWesfs, so are. the people, of the Waitepeka/ arid surrounding districts. Th^ie latter . must bear the burden of •raflway construction as well-* as 'the former. There would have been some show of seh**e in /the"c onduct ot those objectors to this, deviation had they uroposed that,, as for their own benefit . they deprecated the ]\H& being .berried b^ "Waitepeka^ they -would pay to the railway^nd„ian^amouiit,.equal to the burden of railway debt that falls, to the shared of settlers' deprived of railway communication,' with the f view of . a find beiiig commenced '"ior the con- _ struction of a branch line for their accommodation*.^ '^rhey*^ have not done •so 5 hfad it been otherwise the charge of .selfishness, of seeking their- own in^terests, could not.hav^been laid to their; .door." Their, opposition to the Waite- " Tpeka route might have had some excuse for it if there had no where else along .the route.of railway been any deviation .from- the- straightest and shortest line fbr the benefit ot particular places. . The •r aute . -through- • Tokomairiro and from Stirling to Balclutha shows that the » shortest nnd- straitest .course is -not the rale^of railway- construction. The - deviation to give - ; railway advan- . vantages to ..the- latter is greater •"■considerably in length and coet; and in adding to the through construction cost ofthe line, and to-- the cost of through traffic than what -the Waitepeka deviation would involve. We are at a loss to •see therefore why there should be opposition, to this l-pitter on the score of cost. But it remains to be seen whether the line as at length projected {after serious' blunders by the District Engineer) will prove less expensive than that by Waitepeka Everyone acquainted with the nature and lie of the country is 'satisfied that k wjll be more expensive, and will take longer time to consjhruct, and when constructed will have more zig-zags^ and gradients, more in number and heavier than the Waite- { peka Kne. From Balclutha to Warepa this would run on a dead level ; and the rise at Warepa is not greater than several that must be encountered along the route chosen by the engineer, and chosen after he found the route impracticable which he originally contrasted with the Waitepeka line in his famous letter to the M.H.R. of the district. .We hold that the Waitepeka people are ' justly entitled from every point of view in using all means to secure the adoption of the Waitepeka route, and that a great injustice will be done to them, as well . as considerable loss occasioned to the revenue from the railway, if any other route be finally adopted. It is not they that are to blame ior any delay in the construction of the through line^ but those who are opposing them in their wishes. But there need be no delay. - The inspection hy Mr Richardson agreed to by the House of Representatives, will not occupy a very deadly time, and so soon as the inspection is made the work can go on. Had Mr Hichardson agreed to the proposal of the Waitepeka settlers, that tenders for both lines be called for, seeing that complete surveys ot both are in the iiands of the department, there would have been no necessity for. the motion that was adopted by the House. That .proposal was made by the settlers in the fill cpnsviction that the Waitepeka - route would 4>rove the cheapest, but if otherwise they would be content that the other be adopted, believing however that the small sum saved on construction- would be more than counterbalanced by the loss which the dimi- 1

iiished traffic would occasion, to . the >.ff«MaTo*-.t-jr'.n -in: „-\\p T.,<f<» "■a;-.*-** .} i *n*tW> i -t->*y» -^^ip^l returns of profit. JFpr it, is ; not fl^ai^peka alone -whose trafficn-will rbei lu^eViiefl froW.the railw^ but thWtraffic' 'o£the whole district extending to Catlins, than which there f are few more/ thickly settled^ ■(ir from which mdrb^ traffic could be Expected. .