THE EAST AND WEST COAST RAILWAY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 1446, 4 September 1885, Page 2

THE EAST AND WEST COAST RAILWAY.

The Post has the following sensible observations with regard to this proposal, with the tenor of which we entirely concur : — lf the inhabi-, tants of the districts affected really believe m the scheme to the extent they profess to do, there should be no difficulty m the way of their carrying out on the same lines as the inhabitants of Wellington have carried out the Manawatu line. Tho members interested who took part m the excursion to Plimmerton on Monday, should learn from the history of the line over a portion of which they travelled, a valuable lesson of what energy and perseverance can accomplish. They should urge their constituents to do as the merchants, tradespeople, and settlers of Wellington and the Manawatu did when the Government refused to proceed with ara lway, the construction of which they deemed essential to the prosperity of their city and district, as well as a necessary link m the Trunk line, and therefore a matter of colonial importance. Those interested subscribed a capital of 860,000, and on that foundation raised half a million of money. On the same basis a subscription of c£>3Go,ooo m the Canterbury, Nelson, and Westland district!? would, by the same process as was here adopted, produce the necessary three millions for the construction of the lines they want. Surely such a sum as might, without much trouble, be subscribed m the three districts we have named, for a work which, we are assured, will bring unbounded prosperity to those districts and prove so highly remunerative m operation. The inhabitants or those districts should cease praying to Jupiter, and should put their own shoulders to the wheel. No doubt the Directors and always obliging Secretary of the Wellington Manawatu Railway Company would readily give them the bemefit of their experience, and aid them m every way to help themselves. If Wellington had waited for the Government to have proceeded with its West Coast Railway, the Una would have been amongst those destined only for the benefit of generations yet unborn. They, however, undertook the work m a spirit of strong self-reliance, and within four years from the commencement of their work they will be reaping the full benefit of their pluck and enterprise. Let our Middle Island neighbours follow the good example set them.