The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1878.

Kumara Times, Issue 597, 27 August 1878, Page 2

The Kumara Times. Published Every Evening. TUESDAY, AUGUST 27, 1878.

The agitation in favor of the Southern line of-railway via Dunedin, to connect this and the East Coast, has / if we except a few agitators in Dunedin, died a natural death, and even its greatest supporters must, under existing circumstances, have ere this awakened to the fallacy of the proposed route. Advocating, as our Hokitika friends are at present, a line between their township and Greymouth, we feel assured they will command the hearty support and cooperation of all the residents, not only of. this, but all the intervening townships, between the places named. Should the construction of the line be proceeded with, we may reasonably expect that the original route as surveyed will not be adhered to, travelling as it does over the beach, the whole beach, and nothing but the beach. The Distiict Engineer in referring to this line in his report furnished to the Hokitika and Greymouth Public’ Works Committee last November, says : “ The route surveyed is the only practicable one; the country inland of it through Waimea and Kutuara being too steep to admit of a railway with reasonable grades.” And in another report the following words occur :. “ The general course of the proposed railway would be parallel to the sea-coast throughout, at an average of 20 chains therefrom.” Now with all due deference to that gentleman’s engineering skill, we must take exception to this portion of his report, and at the same time are strongly of opinion that in making this sutvey, the inland line was only a secondary consideration, as the probabilities at that time of its ever being required

were, we must admit, of the remotest nature. Now, however, the matter assumes a different aspect, and to make this line beneficial to the residents of the inland towns and also remunerative to the Government, it is perfectly evident it must pass through or in close proximity to the various centres of population scattered as they are between Grcymoulh and Hokitika. We may say, and in this we are borne out by persons with a thoroughly practical knowledge of the country, that the construction of the line after mossing the Terernakau river ' through Kumara, Goldshorough, Stafford Town, and via Arahura to Hokitika is not so fraught with engineering difficulties as the report of the District Engineer would lead many to suppose. On this subject we shall have more to say oh a future occasion, but in the meantime we would forcibly impress on the inhabitants of this and the adjacent townships the necessity of not alone supporting the proposed line between Hokitika and Greymouth, bat in so doing to distinctly advocate that the route shall be an inland one, and thereby benefit the inajoiity of the people residing, as they chiefly . do, between the northern and southern towns.