SOUTH ISLAND MAIN TRUNK LINE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 187, 4 May 1920, Page 7

SOUTH ISLAND MAIN TRUNK LINE

Sir,—ln his letter which appeared in your issue of May I,' Mr. W. j. Gaudin shows that he- is conversant with the needs of Marlborough and wishes that province well, though ho still places tho completion of file Blenheim-Clirist-church railway towards the' end of the list of Marlborough's requirements. The people of Marlborough nut it at the beginning of the list, for the following reasons:

To build ' the lino from Blenheim to the coast, would nrean that instead of 80-odd' miles, which is the distance between the railheads on the South Island Main Trunk line, about 180 miles of lino would have to bo built, from Blenheim to Westport, a good-deal of it in tho rough country of the Bullor Gorge. This line would automatically link Nelson with the Coast, too, since the proposed route must pass Glenhope, tho present terminus of the Nelson system. By the time the lino was completed, Canterbury would'be well established in trade with the , West Coast, via the Otira .tunnel. So that three provinces would be rivals for the trade of a eoinparatiyely small population, who are able to' grow a good deal of foodstuffs now and aro -extending their farming activities every day." And still Marlborough would be right off the main route' of traffic betweon north and south.

Provinces .that, bto detached, or semidetached, from arterial route!: are at an economic disadvantage. Marlborough realises this andbelieves that with the South Triinlv. line built and a fast ferry between Picton and Wellington, an increasing population would .soon causo other benefits, including the proposed West Coast railway, to materialise. Canterbury's advocacy of the completion of tho line . through Otira tunnel, More competing the line front Christc.hurch to Blenheim, has been used as an argument for Marlborough also pressing for connection with the Coast in preferenceto tlu* Main Trunk linn. But would Canterbury have dono.this if there remained .a gap of over SO miles in tho Dnneilin-Christchureh railway? Canterbury has what Marlborough is entitled to, namely, rail connection with the south and daily fiailings between her main nort and We!l : ngton. Marlborough's most urgent need is population, and the pwple of Marlborough b-'liove that the -completion of tho South Island Main Trunk lino will do mora than anything else to cause nu influx of settlers and business men. To them it seems strange that while _ no protest ; s raised in Wellington against the building of many miles of railway in the far north of Auckland, thero are numbers in the capital who claim that there is no need to push on with tho uncompleted lino between Blenheim and Chvistchnreh. Tli? West Coast railway advocated by Mr. Gaudin is a worthy project. If construction were begun at both ends, it would opon up the Wairau Valley at one end, and link Westport, which is an isolated town, with the West Coast and Canterbury systems, at InangaliUH Junction at the other end. It would pay well,, even as it was being built, which is more than many lines in course of construction are doing. But it is not of vital importance to Marlborough, as the South Island Main Trunk lino certainly is.—l am, etc., WILT, LAWSON.