THE COLONIAL RAILWAYS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIII, Issue 44, 20 February 1878, Page 4

THE COLONIAL RAILWAYS.

The Southland Times supplements ifs report of the banquet to the Hon. Mr Larnach by publishing the following :— Mr Cafruthers, the Engineer-in-Chief, while responding to the toast of " Our Railway System," said that on this occasion he had had an opportunity of seeing more of the district than during ony previous visit which he had made to Southland. He had travelled through the Western district, and had no idea there waa such a wealthy district in New Zealand aa we had here. The railway system of the colony was progressing. With the assistance of Mr Conyers, he had come from Christchurch to Oamaru ; a dialaace of upwards of 150 miles, ia five and a half hours, travelling at the rate of thirty miles ao hour. Between Amberley (in Canterbury) and Kingston there were only three 'creak* of seventy, miles altogether, and thesa he hoped would bo done away with, if not before the next session of Parliament sU ailevonts (if i)>? talk goes on in the eamo way ae ii di:i last year), beforo it rises. The Western district linea hid iu a manner dropped into his department He ha-! had nothing to do -wiih th-ir design or witb carrying thi?:n out iuauy way— il^t having been the work oi she Provincial Goveroment of Chsgo. He had come down now for iho purpose of making himself thoroughly acquainted with tha lines. The Riverton liuo would bo oponed very shortly, nnd the Government had isaued instructions that the railway to Otautau should ho carried on with evory rapidity. Until tho Riverton line was finished, it would bo impossible to maka much p- ogress wiih the line lo Otautsu, but if thay coul I save any time by shipping sleepers round to Riverton that would be done. There would be no further delay; over". thing was b.iug pushed on. The General Government had been blamed for not having a sufficiency of »oiling Btock, but they bad had to draft a large quantity on to the Provincial lines, which were very insufficiently equipped, aud tbia had to a certain extent been a strain oa the resources of the General Government, which previously they had nothing to With, IJ& proposed in four moaths

coming from Christohurch to Dunedin in eight and a half hours, and at tho end of twelve months, travellers would leave Christchurch at six o'olock in the morning, nnd dina with tho people of Invercargill at eight o'clock in the evening. The colony had spent last yenr, on railway construction, over a million of money, which waa just about as much ag could bo expended advantageously. When they spsnt more money, they result waa that they ran up she price of labor, and what they gained in one place wa9 lost in another. HJe wanted to acquit himself of tho charge of dawdling; in not having the lines finished. He was not quite sure but what it was a good policy to go on at a moderate pace. In the course of his remarks Mr Blair aaid (hat the railway system of New Zealand might have its faults, but on the whole he believed it to be a sound one. They had gone in for having their bread buttered thin. They were only beginning; there would be plenty of work for generations to come. On the way down they had completed another link in the chain (tbe Balclulha bridge) '.which binds Dunedin aud Invercargill. Some people down here looked upon Duuedin as a monster which was going to swallow them all up; but he could assure them that the DuneJin folk looked upon the Southland district as their backbone— - the more it -grows ia length the more will Dunedin increase aud prosper. A. the end of the year they would have 1000 miles of railway finished, which waa more than they had in Vicloria.