RAILWAY COMMUNICATION.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 215, 11 April 1873, Page 6

RAILWAY COMMUNICATION.

'\Tiie Parliamentary survey of the line from Moeraki to Dunedin has commenced ** —thus /ran the telegram in ft late issue. It was never intended, in the original Public Works'Schetne, to break the continuous line of rail communication at Moeraki; but, not unnaturally, the extreme apathy with regard to this line shown in Dunedin, tempted the Government to attend to other districts first that were more clamorous It would be curious to enquire—if such enquiry could bs accu-. rate—where this plethora of wealth that Dunedin is just now suffering from has come, and what proportion has accrued from the. harbor, and what from the Interior ? The members of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce take, apparently, a sea view only of the profits they expect to make on the commodities exchanged. The oufv practical limit to the extension of the G-oldhelds is .the high rate of living woich, from carrier's heavy charges and bad roads, is very much above that current down; the country. If goods could be delivered in Naseby at railway rates; prices wou'd fall, double the population could be maintained on the ground, and thousands of acres of auriferous ground at present untouched would uulock their secrets on the application of the only infallible key—cheap necessaries of life. Of course, the survey of a line of railway does not • mean its speedy completioh, or even commencement; still, .it sjibws that, if; a reasonable amounti of pressure is brought to bear oh the i Government by the people, it will, at no distant date, be; an accomplis'ied fact. When the main line of rail vav is thus made complete, attention will have to be drawn to the construction of feeders, to bring produce down, to be sent by the main line to the port of' shipment; and, in return, to supplv the country with what, so far, is beyond its own producing power. Oamaru, fortunate in an energetic member, ha* secured such'a feeder from the Waitaki district. The Shag Valley, though perhaps not of equal extent, certainly offers as large an area of good agricultural land, and if any tieedin'* line would prove reproductive, it would be one opening up this fine extent of country. If something of the kind is not done soon, a large amount of money will have to be thrown a.vav on the roads. Even now, with the slight falls bt. autumn rain, the road is verv seriously cut up. What it will be like. . in the winter we can hardly imagine. If there ia a speedy prospect of fv branch li?ie of rail being laid up t< Waihemo or thereabouts, we might pin up with this studird neglect of our- interests. If not, no time should be lost in urging that the worst portions of the road should be put in reasonable order. The deputation from the Trade Association that waited on the Superintendent were promised thai this should be seen to, but we know that often promises are forgotton, especially where no subsequent interest is taken as to the possibilities of a practical mode of carrying out such promises. In this case, the best way may be to have a respectable sum placed on the Estimates, early in the session, -for the purpose. We com-, mend the matter to the attention of our respected members in the Provincial Council.. Now, while every constituency is on the alert to get what it can, Mountldashouldmake her voice heard. She owes it to herself, at least,stpinsist tnat her representatives urge her interests in season-and out of season. <