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Hokitika Guardian, 21 October 1921, Page 2

Tnr. modest “growl” at the meeting of the' I’rogross League on Tuesday night, as to the delay, if not neglect, of the Public Works Department, in regard to public works in tin* tar veith of Westland, was. perhaps all overdue The far south district- being tlm region beyond the motor road- suffers from its isolation in a way no other part of the district has to put up v. ith It is a long time now since an official of the Department other than tic listVie't overseer has been in the far south, and like a ship continuously at, sea without its regular docking nver- ( haul, it. is suffering very ell from the neglect of proper attention. For instance, in regard to works authorised by Parliament, the member or the | Irteal body succeeds ill securing the votes, but tlm Department negleas to | expend them. For how many years j we wonder has the vote for liruce Pay ,I.'Hiding appeared and re-appeared on the Estimates? So. also, with Slippery Face deviation —a necessary work at the weakest spot on the whole main south, road. These works are deferred time and again on one pretext >r >n- ' other, and the district suffers. In rcgd.nl to local works, also, the settlers I would be glad of an official visit from a responsible officer to see to their n ipiiremeiits. 'I he tract of country is largely crown lands. It is a range of territory well worth opening up yet its isolation is intensified by the manner in which Public Works officers slum the district. Tito uppor portion of Sout-l) Westland is so flonvisliing

now, that there is every justification to expect more attention to the lower portion, and tire -League has not moved a moment too soon ill the matter. What should be done is a concentration of public feeling from tlm.-e inteiestcd and affected in securing a visit of tile M-ngineer-in-Cbief or the M''liter himself to s<v exactly what is mud ieipiired for the advancement of the locality. Tun report of Mr defines at tin* I’ro-gi-oss League meeting this week with regard to the enterprise of Messrs Stuart and Chapman Ltd. in rushing their railway south, is a reminder md as we also take it. nil appreciation of the solid enterprise going forward in the southern district. The company has shown its bona lidos and confidence in the future of the district by the large capital expenditure ineurr’d n the work to tap the Waitsha ' re As. It is an enterprise which could not be undertaken without- money, and in expenditure of this kind we have an ox,ample of the indisp'-nsihle val ie of capital for district devlopment. It is a thousand pities of course the Government did not do the work by nm-iupg the railway south. The fart that Hie Government did not do so is 'in 1 ”tNtiimding instance of the misgo"'inmcut dealt out to 'Westland, in fact to tlio Dominion at large, for the loss is really a national one. In th» absence of Government confidence in ; their own laiulod estate, privat l on* cenood in and it will ffttru it,

lerpiisv sniipi-u in I' reward—and good luck to it. 1 here* is a very prosperous air about A\ esllaml just now, and we owe it very largely tii what private enterprise is 'hiing not only in regard to tile .•wwinil’inu industry, but also in respect to the new era in dredging, and to the expansion of pastoral settlement. The railway to the AVaitaha and the erection of Kakapotahi bridge for which the local body accepted a lender with very little loss of time, will Wing the south nearer to ns. It is consolidating interests and establishing means for (piicker and cheaper transit, thus building up the fortunes of the south verv greatly. Ilte occasion : s worth remarking upon and gives the p- unise of more rapid progress still in the near future*.