The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1910. RAILWAY POLICY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 927, 21 September 1910, Page 6

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1910. RAILWAY POLICY.

The deputation that waited upon the Prime. Minister on Saturday to placo before him the railway needs of the North Island, doubtless caused some anxiety in the South. This is borne out by the note of relief in the comments of the chief- . Southern newspapers. _As to the general situation, we said on Monday all that need bo said for the present, but there are one' or two points in the articles in our Southern contemporaries which call for a little notice. The deputation's object was described by the. Ohristchurch Press as the spending of "a .few millions on railways in the North Island," and the Press also expressed the; opinion that the people in this island organised the deputation as ! 'a counterblast" to what they "no doubt regard as the malevolent activities of; the South Island Kail-i way League." It is difficult to reason with the frame of mind revealed in the passages. we have quoted. It is folly, and not malevolence, that is most conspicuous in the attitude of those who fail to see that the time has come when public policy demands that railway development work shall be mainly concentrated on the North Island. There is some reason for, believing, that the Blenheim-Waipa.ra line may not- be : a bad speculation, and to it no objections have been offered from this part of the Dominion. But such schemes as the LawrenceRoxburgh line ; and ' that most indefensible and ; outrageous, of all the .-.railway projects ever put in hand in this _ country, the Midland Railway, are. in an entirely different position. ; Even the Prime Minister does not .attempt tc defend that wild-cat enterprise. He shelters himself behind the fact that, it was. begun before he became a Minister,, forgetting that for many years he stood beside ■ Mr. Sedhon in defence of the policy of wasting no more money on, it—a 'policy that he and his colleagues liavono hesitation nowadays in declaring to be impossible of . consideration. ' Thq'Otago Daily, Times, which has evidently endeavoured to be as ponciliatory as possible, declares that it is "not disposed to grudge the preferential treatment. [to the : North Island] if its needs are proportionately greater than .those of the South, Island," and it concludes with what we really must say is tho finest pica; of unconscious humour that has been contributed to the controversy.. "What we are concerned• about," it says,: "is that ' undertakings of importance in the South-Island shall not be neglected in order that under-, takings of. no commercial value in the North Island shall be vigorously' prosecuted." 'There is a legend' in Dunedin, apparently, that the. land between Napier and Gisborne is' a barren Siberian plateau of a kind that woulci terrify the people 'who' dwell.: in tho' ■ boundlessly fertile realms of garden and meadow served by the' Otago Central line or the Midland Railway. - The Ohristchurch organ, of' the Government _is also generous enough' hot_to roads and railways to this insignificant corner of the: earth. By way of proof of its;generosity it makes a statement tha.t we-do not remember evov to have seen; before.. The South Island, says this journal, _ "cheer-' fully contributes more than its share towards the; cost'of their ' const'ruc-,i tion." 'It is only a detail, of course, that nearly three-fifths of the people of the Dominion-live in this island, three-fifths of the exports are furnished, by it, and three-fifths of the imports paid for by it,/while nearly three-fifths, of the. railways' are in the South. Last> year.' £737,000 was voted for railway , If everybody got value for his contribution to this-sum, the money would have been thus divided: North, £307,980; South, £339,020. And actually the money was thus apportioned: North, .£287,500; South,: £449,500. It is very unfortunate' that' ; our contemporary will not supply itself with a few official figures before discussing this question. We have, pointed out on previous occasions that a;part from all other considerations it will "pay" the country better in every way under existing conditions to concentrate . its railway development policy on the North Island.