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Hokitika Guardian, 7 June 1929, Page 4

The Rt. Hon the Prime Minister is continuing his vigorous pre-sessional campaign, and wherever lie goes' in his numerous speeches he is hitting theright nail on the head. His retort courteous to the Auckland Chamber of commerce, the members of which went out of their way to oppose the completion of the South Island main trunk railway, left little to be desired. Sir Joseph, however, might have reminded his wou.d-be Auckland mentors, .hat it was Liberal Party which <om pie ted the North Island main trunk railway, and did so expeditiously, and neither from Auckland nor from the South Island had there been opposition to that undertaking. Sir .Joseph might also have told the deputation that it was he who sanctioned the completion of the East and AVesl Coast railway in the face of considerable opposition aiid threats from Auckland, and further that the wisdom ho displayed was justified by the fact hat the tunnel link was carrying now even more than had been estimated, and that special adjustments in the working of the through traffic- were necessary to cope with the volume of trade the tunnel transit had rendered possible. Yet Auckland opposition to the Otira Tunnel had been maintained to the very end. Sir Joseph might also have referred to the enormous expenditure on railways going on in and around Auckland City, and he might reasonably ask was that part of the Dominion to he favoured with the entire railway expenditure. Surely the South Island towards which the trend of population was now swinging, was entitled to a share of the public expenditure on necessary railways works to link up isolated services and make them part of a whole. • The value of that policy has been well demonstrated by the success of the Midland railway, and Sir Joseph showed he was master of the details of the railway reports by the experts prepared for the guidance of the Government in settling its policy. We can recall the time when it was said the railway to Ross would not pay 1 That was another line sponsored by the Liberals, and for its lenegth it must be one of the best earning sections in the Dominion, while through its. service large industrial operations are possible which would hot be the case were there not the railway facilities for the timber ‘ransport. Altogether, it is clear Sir Tosepli is on excellent and well chosen ground when lie talks about completing the main lines of the Dominion.