The Dominion THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1919. A BAR TO PROGRESS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 309, 25 September 1919, Page 6

The Dominion THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1919. A BAR TO PROGRESS

Amongst questions that claim the immediate attention of .the Government few are more important than that of devising measures to improve the communications linking Wellington with the interior country. The people of Wellington province are entitled to an early and definite pronouncement on thia Isubject ,and will have themselves to thank if / they allow the session to end without obtaining it.. There is no question of making any unreasonable demand upon tho Government or asking it to perform "impossibilities. An immediate start upon the work of comprehensively improving the roads and railways running out of Wellington may be for the moment. impracticable, but no more time ought to be lost in putting matters in train for the commencement of_ the actual work as soon, as conditions wil{ permit. Had past Governments shown such energy and foresight as the case plainly demands, there would be available clear-cut plans-for the substitution .within a reasonable period of good roads and railways for those which now inadequately link the capital of the Dominion with the extensive territory it serves as a port.and depot, Under such plans , provision would, of course, be madc : .to undertake works ift_ their order ,of urgency, and 'this would mean'first and foremost specific nrfiposals for the deviation nf the Rimutaka- railway. As a hindrance to free _ communication and progress this line is pre-emin-ent even, in the range-of wretchedly bad communications which have been allowed too long to impede the development of the city and province. Specific proposals by the Government for the improvement of the ' llimutaka railway would thus afford an indication that it perceives the necessity of removing the intolerable handicap •now impospd on Wellington province and its chief port. In the absence of such tiroposals—and nothing has been heard on the subject this session- from the Minister of Public WoitKS or any other member of _ the Government—there is an evident danger that past neglect may continue. ■ "'

It is possible that the Minister of Public Works is preparing to spring a pleasant surprise in this matter by- announcing that the Kimutaka railway deviation has been given the foremost place to which it is .entitled amongst urgent works'to be urjdertaWn at the earliest opportunity. IP on the other, hand he and his colleagues aire of opinion that the worjt is one which may -be indefinitely postponed tliev are inviting a storm of public condemnation. .It is not in doubt .that but for the war pressure of public opinion would before now have compelled the Government to undertake the construction of a railway into the Wairarapa capable of adequately ' meeting transport demands. The war made the postponement of the work inevitable, 'but even in war, conditions it should have been possible to lay out the new route and put everything in order for the construction of the line as soon as labour and material were available, borne suggestions may be made that in a period of financial stringency, arid one in which many, heavy demands have to be met,- works like the Eimutaka deviation are bound to be postponed. . Such attempts will not hold water. The needs of the day are economy, where economy,is possible,-and increased production. Nothing is more absolutely incompatible with sound national economy than, the maintenance between the ports and productive areas of a country of such communications as make cheap and unrestricted . transport. impossible. It is evident that such communications tend in a most serious degree to limit productive enterprise. All the expenditure judiciously made in raising the roads and railways which connect "Wellington with the Wairarapa and tba Manawatu to a reasonable standard of efficiency would yield a full return in cheapened transport and in the impetus' given to production. It is first and foremost sound. economy that dictates the prosecution of these works with as little delay as possible, and the consideration is. nowhere of greater weight than as it applies to the Rimutaka line. There ip a danger, well brought out in the interesting articles by Mr. Coleman Phillips which have appeared recently in The Dominion, that even now insufficient heed may be given to the lessons taught by past mistakes and that something less than a full remedy may 'be sought for the shortcomings of the existing transnovt service into the Wairarapa. While the detail questions involved must bo left to experts, the broad aim undoubtedly ought to be, as Mh. Coleman Phillips contends, to substitute for the existine railway one laid over the hn*<- -'mi-/. The practical consideration raised is, of course, that th n best_route may not be that nvor whi.dh it is cheapest in; the firrt instance to construct a new railway. It is necessary- to look well ahead and-to consider only such a ■'•mite as will entail the lowest working costs -•"id afford free scovn for any nossiblo exnansion of traffic. By at once v s n tting up a commission cou'd be relied unon to uive du" weight to such considerations the Government would take a first and practical stcn towards solving a transport problem which ought to have been solved long ago.