The Globe. WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 1877.

Globe, Volume VIII, Issue 961, 25 July 1877, Page 2

The Globe. WEDNESDAY, JULY 25, 1877.

Mu Conyers, tlie Superintending Engineer of the Opened lines in the Middle Island, has arrived in Christchurch, where he intends to take up his head-quarters. The Government have determined, we believe, to proceed at once with the conversion of tho gauge throughout the province, and Mr. Conyers will, we suppose, be chiefly occupied with this work for some time to come. When this is accomplished, one great obstacle in the way of the successful utilization of our lines will be removed. H owever much the public of Canterbury may regret the course taken by the A ssembly in refusing to continue the broad gauge throughout the province, it is manifestly to the advantage of all concerned that there should be no confusion. The mixing up of the two systems —the broad and the narrow —has greatly interfered with the convenient working of the goods traffic. We are glad, therefore, to learn that the Government have determined on making the system uniform, with the least possible delay. It seems to be taken for granted that because Mr Conyers has come to Christchurch, he is about to take the active management of the Canterbury railways. The Lyttelton Times, with his usual regard for accuracy, jumps at this conclusion, apparently without due inquiry, and then proceeds to deliver an oracular opinion upon Mr. Conyers’s prospects. In to-day’s issue he says, “ The assumption by Mr. Conyers of the direct control of the Canterbury lines is an accomplished fact.” Again, in Saturday’s issue, he wrote as follows, “ Without ample rolling stock, workable regulations, and a sensible tariff, he will not do any more with the railways than Mr. Lawson did. The chances are, that as he is not accustomed i to work under difficulties, he will not ido so much.” Now the truth is that Mr. Conyers has not come to Canterbury to sink into the position of traffic I manager on our lines. He, as head of | the department, is no doubt respou- : s ible for the manner in which our traffic is worked, but his responsibility is not confined to the Canterbury railways, as he has charge of _ all the constructed lines in the Middle Island. Tho statement of our contemporary is misleading, and ought not to have been made without due inquiry. The arrival of Mr. Conyers in Christchurch i has in no way altered the relationship between himself and Mr. Lawson. The latter gentleman has still charge of the traffic, and is responsible to Mr. Conyers, as he has been some months, for the manner in which he carries out his duties. Mr. Lawson’s management is now referred, to by our contemporary as a thing of the past. It will be time enough to speak of it in that sense when that gentleman actually gives up charge of the lines, should'he ever be called on to do so. 1 n the meantime avc cannot help expressing an opinion that a little regard for the feelings of those immediately concerned should have induced our contemporary to make a few more inquiries, before jumping at the conclusion that Mr. Conyers has superseded our traffic manager. Even had Mr Conyers arrived here Avith the i Mention of assuming the direct control of the Canterbury lines, it Avould surely have been more modest on the part ot the Times —were modesty a virtue ever practised by him—to have been content to speak from experience before making the assertion that “ unless the Government places him m as good a position as he was in Otago he will not J succeed.”