CLOSER RELATIONS

Hokitika Guardian, 26 August 1920, Page 4

CLOSER RELATIONS

(Lyttelton Times)

There are few districts in the world having contiguous boundaries which exhibit such a marked difference in climate, industries and products as do Canterbury and Westland. The great mountain chain which, divides the provinces Ims hitherto been more than n boundary; it has been a barrier which has handicapped trade and intercourse to sttcli n extent that the West Coast remains to this day a terra incognito to a very large percentage of Canterbury people. With the completion of the Otira-Bealey section of tho Midland Railway the two provinces will bo brought into much closer relations, for each can supply much that the other lacks. In sending a representative deputation of some of its leading members to tour the West Const and investigate its manifold resources tho Canterbury Progress League is doing something in advance to make the future commercial and social relationship of east and west both profitable and pleasant. Tho tour which is now being made is a very necessary prelude to interprovincial trade, and wo shall be disappointed if it does not do a. goocl deal to improve the friendship and cement tho community of interest which at present exist between tho provinces. Both Westland and Canterbury hope to benefit materially by railway communication, and they also hope to falsify the doleful predictions of those North Island critics who say that tho Otira tunnel and the lino of which it is a part will never pay interest. If this island had enjoyed the lavish expenditure on railway construction which the North Island enjoys and has enjoyed it would not now be possible for northerners to cast doubts on the ability of Canterbury and Westland to provide sufficient traffic to warrant their connection by rail. The South Island lias lagged behind the North in population and prosperity very largely through lack of development, and it is ungenerous for the more favoured island to begrudge us the facilities for improving our position. The existence of such an attitude in the north is the best of possible reasons for a strong alliance of the southern provinces and such an alliance can best bo brought' about by such friendly pilgrimages as the Progress League is now conducting on the West Coast. It is to bo hoped that beforo the Otira tunnel is completed an invitation will be given to the West Coasters to return the visit. Canterbury can show them finest agricultural country in New Zealand, and some of the finest farms in the world, and if the visitors get homesick we can even produce a coal mine or two. When both provinces are fully informed regarding each other’s resources they will be well prepared to show the North Island that the territory south of Cook Strait is by no means a played-out country.