TRADE WITH WESTLAND

Hokitika Guardian, 14 December 1923, Page 4

TRADE WITH WESTLAND

(Gliristch u rc h I’rc . Canterbury people will find in the ppnmd port- oi the We.-l la in I CiiauiGreyminith citizen-; who me (•.. i >ml to the railway euimexiou v, itii ( auterhtiry have probably p gstiadcd some Jieuple that there i- a .-libanntial body of nmi-CaiiU-rbury feeling a is - I In' to explain that the Tibetans are not very numerous, and we haw had no difficulty in deiliolisi rating that Lite opposition to the full eiaimaiile use oi the .Midland railway i, L.ecd titi.m report of the Chtimhir of Commerce make it i leaf that ratietml l a in " men on t he We- 1 Coast re.' la • ■ - iiy over the completion of the railway, recognise that i: i t lireuj.a It: • railway that We.-t land's prosperity will grow, anti (ordudl/ -a;; xo ; x th 1 of us in Canterbury who have been endeavouring io make i; difficult lor the Government to refuse tint: special necessary if the railway and Westland are In flourish together. 'I kero i, nobody in Canterbury who is ncqici'ni" t with the history of the agitat ion lor the railway who does not know that that agitation was throughout in.-pired by concern tor Westland's interest.-;

rather than by concern for Canterbury’s. It is most gratifying, therefore, to Canterbury people to hear th6' Westland Chamber of Commerce saying that the West Coast’s expectations in regard to the benefits the line would bring are ill a fair way to he realised, and that even the short period that has elapsed since the tunnel was opened has been long enough to shot'.- that the line will 1 e a chief factor governing the continuous advance of the Western province. The report of the Chamber deal.; very simply, candidly, and clearly with | the problem of westward freights, ‘di ; will be of advantage, of course," the report says, ‘‘to rereive goods oil the best freight renditions possible." Here the essence of the problem is plainly stated, and it is impossible for the Clreymouth opponents of the railway to meet this statement with any rational i omiter-.irgiimeiit. The report of the Chamber declares that there can he only goodwill in Westland towards the movement for more advantageous enni|M.nlitive freights westward, and that the. Chamber would not. b ■ doing its duty were it not to give any assistance it can give to Canterbury in the agitation for cheaper , freights. When he was in Creymouili some weeks ago some (ireymoitilt business men—members of the Chamber ot j Commerce spoke so strongly to "Mr j Conies against the granting of hack- ! loading rates on moivltnndise railed j westward that the Minister was Opposed to Canterbury in ibis matter. We hop? he will not overlook the evidence of the Chamber’s report that he was mistaken, lie wdl do veil, also, to take note of the ( bald r - vigi rolls censure of ih" atrociously poor railway service between * ■reyinotili arid Hokitika. l.verxoue goes in Hokitika by rad ret mus Irotn Westland amazed and indignant that when one rent lies (1 reymoiith one can go on to Hokitika only under conditions which echo'd to lie up-to-date fai hack in last century. After Mr Coates’s recent visit, the train from Oreyiuouth tv Hokitika was “speeded up" to siteli an extent Hint the time of arrival was not inueli later than the time-table hour. This means that the rate of travel was increased to rather over twelve miles an hour! As the ( hand, ■r's report drily remarks, that was something to lie grateful fur. If the Kailway Department has any scllrespert. it will apply itself to the task, not a. very arduous one. of modernising its methods in Westland.