MARLBOROUGH'S ISOLATION
MUST HELP HERSELF. The position _ regarding the construction of new railways in .Marlborough is engaging the attention of all progressive residents of that province. • The bringing, down of the Public. Works Statement was' awaited with keen interest. Now the fact is realised that the Statement, .contains few prizes for Marlborough—in railway construction there is merely a carrying forward of the .£15.000 voted for the Main Trunk line last year of which only ,£133 was spent. Whether the vote will be spent this year is a question. "It is evident to us in Marlborough that the province must help herself." said Mr. AVill Lawson, organiser of the Marlborough Progress Committee, to a Dominion reporter. "The Government appears to bo averso to voting us any money. As regards the Main Trunk line, of course, nothing can bo done. .In some quarters the wish lias been ex-' pressed that Cabinet would say, straight out, whether it ever intends to completo this lino or not. Then we would kliow where we are.
"The determination to build n railway, under the Local Railways Act, from' Blenheim lo the Wairau Valley, past Tophouso >to Kawatui, on the NelsonMurcliison line appears to be growing, and local enterprise can do this.- -The line'would enable coal and timber to bo brought, into Marlborough; and when the Murchison-Westport line is completed Blenheim would be linked by rail with the West Coast. I may soy that the route through . the Upper Buller.' Gorge to ! Innngalnin is regarded as .ait impossible one by those who know the country. There is a. good route, however, up the Matakitaki and Morula Valleys and down the Inangahua to Reefton.
"The position at present is that of nine local bodies which woiild bo concerned in the formation of a- railway board for the purpose of building this railway, four have expressed approval of tlio project, while tlie others have agreed to attend a conference to consider tlie question of forming the board. "On the Nelson side, the Waimoa County Council has intimated that its •chairman will attend the conference to be held Bhortly. . "The cost of building the 80 miles 'of line necessary is, roughly, estimated at ,£500.000. "Marlborough has practically no political .influence. She is bunched off-hand with the rest of the South Island when comparison in railway matters is made. Yet even Auckland supporters have admitted to me that the province of Marl-' ■ borough has been neglected."
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Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 34, 4 November 1920, Page 5
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405MARLBOROUGH'S ISOLATION Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 34, 4 November 1920, Page 5
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