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Hokitika Guardian, 28 December 1922, Page 2

Tub volume of holiday traffic to the district this season is indicative of the

fact that the isolation so long complained of, is passing hence. No doubt the fact that the Arthur’s Pass tunnel will bo in operation in a few months gives to the outside mind tho feeling that after all the Coast is not so lemote from the larger centres of the Dominion. It is evidence, too, of the volume of traffic which will patronise the through line once tho Midland Railway is in regular operation. Tho agitation which lias been going on for so long to speed up the completion of the line is fully justified, and one can bin marvel that • the Government has been so dilatory in the way of practical effort to push the works of a [joint of utility where the line will have an earning power. The Government are not at any pains outwardly to secure the earliest use of the through line. Some outward demonstration of earnestness in that respect could be made were the Government to do n,s was done at the time the North Island main trunk line was drawing to a close. The then Minister of Public Works, Sfc Will. Hnll-.Tones, placed a responsible officer in sole charge with instructions to have the line opened by a certain date. The officer was a West Coaster, Mr Furkert, now Engineer-in Chief, who had his opportunity to excel and did so with credit to him-

self and in the interests of New Zealand. All overtures to the present Minister of Public Works to fix a prospective date for the completion have failed, nor is there the evidence that the officers in charge have any special directions to get tho job through by a specific date. Indeed, the chief officers are not residential. Those on the works are subordinate to others who have their offices away from the works. There is thus not that personal touch which there should bo in the desiro to hasten on thy finishing of the great work. This year’s holiday traffic should bestiV the minfis of those >'u Authority

*to the possibilities of the traffic if efficiently entered for, in regard both to passengers and freight, and eome of | tlio “beads” should wake up and realise tlieir responsibilities in the mat- j ter. It is a great shame where so

little is required to see effective union consummated, to witness tlie lack ol official interest in tlie task of completing tlie through connection. It would appear that there was a lack in the esprit de corps of the public service when the effort to emulate the doings of the past is thus seriously wanting.

From an industrial point of view as affecting the Coast it is most important that there should be the earliest official announcement about the opening of the tunnel even for freightage. It is a reflection on the administration that very little is done outwardly to, indicate how the work progresses. Tbs public have to look for information on ! that score to the Canterbury Progress j League which sends its officer once a I month to Otirn to glean wliat be can jof the progress. Much valuable information is imparted thereby, but it is not adequate nor complete, because it. lias not the official impress. If a high officer were on the works in charge of tlie progress, be could through bis Minister, supply to the public monthly reports of the progress being made. The public have every right to know, and particularly soon the Coast, where the sawmilling industry is affected because the Canterbury buyers are keeping their storks short, realising that when the tunnel is open there will be a saving of 3s or -Is per hundred in the cost „f timber and naturally they do not 1 wish to be landed with big stocks at a high cost procured in advance of the tunnel traffic. This uncertainty is going to hit the Canterbury buying public too, for the reason that short stocks mean a lack of seasoned timbers, and it is predicted that in the coming year, Canterbury will have a distinct shortage of seasoned timber for building purposes. The economic as] oct surrounding the question £• t issue bits both sides of the Island. Here with a shortage of orders, there is a dearth of employment. Over there, with . a shortage of timber, building is restricted except with a dearer commodity, and labor suffers, or the builders have to pay high costs for houses. Tn between, all this time dry the delay, the Government is losing revenue, and the expenditure is piling up by the interest which lias to be paid on the capital invested in an unproductive work. Tlie whole situation is so plain to the average onlooker that one can but marvel at the remissness of the Government in the matter. It is an occasion for prompt and definite action to J meet a situation which is possible of considerable redemption if taken in hand tlie right way. Yet, drift, drift, drift, goes on. The public grumble, and pay, [>ay, pay. It is perhaps a not . unfamiliar state of affairs and for that reason accepting it as such the people have no better administration than they deserve.