The Globe. FRIDAY, JULY 2, 1875.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 329, 2 July 1875, Page 2

The Globe. FRIDAY, JULY 2, 1875.

A test general impression appears to exist amongst the inhabitants of Christchurch that the Provincial Executive contemplates erecting the new passenger station in close proximity to the present one. We have no doubt that the site of the projected new station is receiving the careful consideration of the Ministry, but we are not so far in their confidence as to be aware whether any definite decision has been arrived at, and at present nothing of the kind has been made public. After the public have been led for so long to expect that a more central site than that of the present station would be chosen for the new terminus, it would be a misfortune to find that the Executive had determined to have the railway station permanently fixed near its present admittedly distant and inconvenient site. The present passenger station has always been regarded as a temporary one, to be replaced by a permanent structure in such a as the exigencies of the public service, and -convenience for the increased passenger traffic resulting from the extension oi the iiuei of railway North and South

should demons'rate as most suitable. When the contract for the construction of a railway from Lyttelton to Christchurch, including the formation of the necessary tunnel, was entered into, it was expected that the work would require many years for its completion, and it was considered necessary to open the portion of the line from Christchurch to Ferry-mead as quickly as possible. The present Christchurch railway station was therefore erected as being the most suitable point for arrival and departure, more particularly as, at that time, the proposed Northern extension of the line of railway was intended to traverse the Sandhills to the Eastward of the city, though this idea was afterwards abandoned on account ot insuperable engineering difficulties. The rapid extension of the lines of railway, both Northward and Southward, by the General Government, and the consequent remarkable development of the goods and passenger traffic, coupled with the fact that both the railway lines now in use pass the city upon its Southern (boundary, diverging at Addington has left the present railway station in a most inconvenient site. It is wedged in between the inlet and outlet of the vast goods and passenger traffic, to the daily inconvenience of the general public and the Railway employees, besides being at such a distance from the centre of the city, as involves an unnecessary loss of time, and an increase of expense, to those whose business leads them to it.

A consideration of these facts, and the necessity of a change in the site of the station, formed the subjects of a report from the officers in charge of the Railways, which was submitted to the Provincial Council last year, the result being that a sura of £IO,OOO was placed on the estimates, which was voted, to carry out the recommendations of the Railway Engineer for a new station to be erected near Colombo street. There can be no doubt but that, had it not been for the greatly increased demands upon the Railway department resulting from change of gauge, &c, considerable progress would have been made in the erection of the new station at the present moment. We cannot but think that those who have given this important subject a fair and candid consideration must own to the justness of the feeling of dissatisfaction felt by the general public at the idea of a question, long supposed to have been definitely settled, being again re-opened and possibly reversed.