THE REMOVAL OF THE CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF RAILWAYS, MR CONYERS.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1728, 3 September 1879, Page 2

THE REMOVAL OF THE CHIEF COMMISSIONER OF RAILWAYS, MR CONYERS.

TO TUB EDITOE OF THE PEESS. Sib, —I should like to know on what basis the Dunedinitcs claim the right of having the Chief Commissioner’s office removed to Dunedin. Have they the traffic which produces the largest revenue ? Are their shipping facilities superior to ours ? Is theirs the most central position when the railway scheme is completed ? If they could answer these questions in the affirmative I should then consider their claim not unreasonable, but as they must be answered in our favor, I consider the Commissioner’s head-quarter# are located in the proper place.

Mr Conyers came here in [the capacity o£ Chief Engineer of the Canterbury Railways, and for the purpose, it was said, of reorganising our somewhat mismanaged railway affairs. Some time after, the Government, by resolution of the House, appointed a Chief Commissioner of Railways for each island. Mr Conyers was appointed for the South, with head-quarters at Christchurch, and Mr Lawson for the North, with head quarters at Wellington. I don't believe that the least pressure was brought to bear by tho Canterbury people to influence the in their -action, who no doubt considered Christchurch the proper place to benefit tho public service. If Mr. Conyers still held the same position as when in Dunedin, their claim would then be more reasonable, but being appointed to the higher office of Chief Commissioner for the whole island his head- quarters should be here for the reasons above stated.

It is not Mr Conyers, but the head-quarters of the Chief Commissioner’s office, with all the interest and picking* they are anxious to grasp, to belpto maintain their boasted position of being the chief city in New Zealand a little longer. They also want the workshops for the same reason. They would like to manufacture our rolling stock and do the repairs of our plant, thereby stimulating their greatness at our expense. I well remember fit tho opening of the line twelve months ago, speakers congratulated one another on the happy prospect of a closer union, and tho disappearance of provincial jealousy. lam sorry to say these hopes will not be realised. The grasping proclivities of our neighbors will not permit it. 1 If we were quietly to submit to these encroachments on our rights, and allow them to aggrandise themselves at our expense, then all would be well; but it is time to be on the alert and watch our interests, or else they will suck our life blood from us. Our members should be more unanimous in looking after our interest. It is considered that good statesmanship is to study the interest of the colony as a whole. If the whole Parliament was imbued with fluch sentiments, I would be of tho same opinion; but it seems the primary object of most members is to get all they can for their own locality, if ever so unjust to other parts. We are now about to elect a representative whose aim has been, ever since he had a voice in Parliament, to humble ns, because our energy in fostering our natural resources has pushed us ahead of others. Tho same time he deludes some people into the belief that they have been trampled upon and retarded in their progress, when everybody knows that every nine farmers out of ten (some of them owning large fortunes) have been laboring men, who, through being saving and industrious, have attained their present position, and thfi same opportunity is still open to anyone who likes to persevere. Yours, &0.,. Filch.