ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE

Dunstan Times, Issue 552, 15 November 1872, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE

—o— We do not identify ourselves with the ■ opinions that may be expressed by our correspondents. ] o THE RAILWAY QUESTION.

(TO THE EDITOR OF THE DUN’ST AN TIMES. ) Sir, —I have observed with unraixed pleasure the determined stand you have taken on the railway question. The residents of the Dunstan have hitherto been too supine and permitted a much larger expenditure of public money on far less important localities without resistance or comment. I trust this lethargy is finally dispelled, and every member of the community will do bis utmost to secure justice for the Central Goldfields. As I take it, the question is not between lines via Tuapcka and Waipabi, but between the Waipabi line and no railway at all, and would never have been mooted but for the grasping selfishness of the business men of Tuapeka. Reduced to this issue there can be neither doubt nor hesitation on the part of anyone. There is one important advantage to he derived from railway communication which has been hitherto overlooked in the discussions in your columns. I refer to the immense amount of capital it will unlock and render at once available for investment in productive enterprises, such as mining, &o. At present every storekeeper is compelled to keep on baud a stock representing hundreds and often thousands of pounds. He must do this for the convenience of his customers who are not likely to wait fur the tedious process of waggon carriage from Dunedin to be gone through. With railway carriage a single day’s delay is all that is requisite, and the necessity for locking up capital in dead stock done away with. Th's released capital will find ready and profitable employment in this district at any rate in mining enterpnzs, and both employ labour and increase the general prosperity. I am, &c., STOREKEEPER. Roxburgh, Nov. 7, 1872.