A PESSIMISTIC VIEW.

Gisborne Times, Volume VII, Issue 453, 24 June 1902, Page 1

A PESSIMISTIC VIEW.

(To the Editor of the Times).

Sir,—The opening of the GisborneOnnond railway marks quite an event in the history of the district, but it is an event which, in the opinion of many, might have been advantageously postponed for some ten or fifteen years, or until there was a probability of the line being , pushed through to some point where it might have a chance of earning expenses. Perhaps in addition to the time-table the Department will also he kind enough to publish a monthly statement of receipts and expenditure so that people ijnay have an opportunity of knowing jwhat will have to be paid for their new toy. On the day of the official opening, 'we shall no doubt be treated to some very flowery speeches from prominent cit zens pointing out the {brilliant vista wh ch is now opening for us owing to the inauguration of the first railway on the East Coast jPeninsula. Here are a few facts ‘which those orators may find it convenient to omit' Tlie line lias now crawled across the, flats at the rate of about four miles a year where its almost only work will be to haul a few hundred yards of gravel for the roads. No one is optimistic enough to suppose that, in any other way will It be able to earn a tithe of the expenditure, and the costly buildings and plant on the Waikanae will probably be about as much use as the big crane which stands on the other side of the creek. The nearest point where there is a possibility of getting any freight worth mentioning is Te Karaka, to reach which place another eight miles of line has, to be imade, and this length includes ja t veryheavy bridge over the Waipaoa river, pnd a large amount of tunnelling. This work will probably take another four years. To attain the miserably small distance already reaeffld has cost about £50,000, and it is safe to say that had .the expenditure-been five instead of fifty, thousand. the result would not have justified the expense. The railway works as at present cartied on are not merely a negative good, but a positive detriment to the progress of the district, and for this reason : that the amount expended on isolated lines like this is deducted from the total amount allocated to the district, and therefore there is so much the less to spend on useful works. Tiie amount already spent on tiiis line would have made and bridged two hundred miles of average cart road which, judicially placed, would have opened. a very large area for settlement. The town also has not derived nearly as much benefit as it might have done from the expenditure, as at 'least two-tlvirds of railway votes go out of the place for the purchase of material.

In the meantime scarcely a day passes but we hear o£ mail coaches bogged in impassable roads, of uncleared water-tables, broken culverts, and bridges and cuttings blocked by slips. <lt is nob too much to sav that the whole road system of the district is going to destruction. Also there are scores of unemployed roadmen unable to find work at their business, and it is rumored that the men now at work on the railway are to be dismissed as soon as the line is tairen over, and while all these men are idle the County Council and the Road Department are, perhaps not dead —but sleeping- It is common enough to hear people saying, “ Oh, but there will tie plenty of road and railway work going before the election comes on,” but both roadmen and country settlers may be trusted to see that any such clumsy bribe as that is treated as it deserves to be.—l am, etc., TRAVELLER.

(We hope that our correspondent's pessimistic anticipations will soon be shown by experience to be groundless. —Ed. Times).