OTAGO RAILWAYS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5307, 29 March 1878, Page 6

OTAGO RAILWAYS.

(From the Daily Times.)

The important work of filling in the gaps in the arterial line of railway in the Provincial District of Otago has for some time past been energetically prosecuted. With something like certainty it may now be said that through railway communication from Dunedin to Christchurch will be established about the middle of May, and before that time the Clinton section of the south line should be completed, in which case there will be a line of railway complete from Lyttelton to Invercargill. The section of the northward line from Blueskin to Waikouaiti has been pushed on rapidly by the contractors, Messrs. D. Proudfoot and McKay. It is expected that by the end of the week the rails will be laid to the Maori Kaik, and the small tunnel at Waikouaiti is fast approaching completion. The rails have been laid through the tunnel; its side walls have been built, and thereof will be finished iu the course of a week or two. The next section of the line is in the hands of the Government, and fair progress has been made with it. The bridges are all finished—the engine ' has been running over them for some time—and the rails have been laid from the Bendigo Hotel to near the Maori Kaik at Waikouaiti. In the course of ten days there will be only a gap of sixty chains on the railway between Dunedin and Waikouaiti, and that gap will be filled up before the end of the month. On the Kartigi section the contractors, Messrs McKenzie and Pai .ley, have been, it appears, making every effort to comply with the terms of tluir contract, A large number of men have been employed at work on this section from fouro’clock in the morning till it was dark iu the evening, and the line is now ready to be opened from Moeraki to the Horse Range. The bridges are almost finished, aud the contractors promise to have the line ready to be opened to Palmerston by the end of the present month. Should the weather continue favorable.it may be expected that before the beginning of April the Kail way Department will be able to run trains from Dunedin to Waikouaiti, and from Palmerston to Christchurch, leaving only a gap on the main line of eight miles, which it will not take more than a few weeks to fill up, and complete the railway communication between Dunedin and Christchurch.

On the line south of Dunedin, the contract between the Balclutha Bridge and the township is almost finished. Home few weeks ago this section of the line was opened, but the buildings were not then erected. Satisfactory progress has been made with the work of the next section, which has bean performed under the supervision of the Government officers. On this part of the line there have been constantly at work from 70 to SO men, who applied to the Government for work as unemployed. The line is now being ballasted, and can be finished within two mouths. It appears probable that the next section, the Clinton contract, will retard the opening of the line. Only about 100 men are engaged upon a work which shou'd be undertaken with four times that number. The local papers have expressed their opinion that the progress of the work is not satisfactory. Until this contract is finished, the line to Invercargill cannot be opened, so that its progress is a matter of public interest. The work should be prosecuted with all possible despatch.