The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, JULY 5, 1877

Oamaru Mail, Volume II, Issue 374, 5 July 1877, Page 2

The Evening Mail. THURSDAY, JULY 5, 1877

A specious argument has been introduced into the Interior Railway agitation by the enemies of the Oamaru - Naseby route that calls for some comment. It is asserted that Oamaru would not provide a suitable market for the produce of the interior. Even supposing that to be the case, it would not be imperative for the settlers to part with their rjroduce in Oamaru, if thei'e happened to be no demand for the particular kind they had to sell. Our shipping facilities would enable them, after having looked about them for the best market, to ship to either Christchurch or Dimedin, or elsewhere, if necessary. It should be taken into consideration that although Dunedin possesses t!:e advantages of a large number of luryers and great consumption, yet it is already fed from sources at present sufficiently numerous to keep prices always low. If the grain growers of the interior were necessi-

tated to send their produce to Dunedin via Strath-Taieri, wliat with railway charges on a lengthy line, the probabilities of a glut in the Dunedin market, and other expenses with which they are all well acquainted, they would soon tire of the experiment. Again, the settlers m the far north-west would never be able to compete in price with the numerous farmers of the Taieri and other graingrowing districts contiguous to Dunedin. The latter could watch the market and drop their produce in at an opportune moment with a tithe of the expense of carriage by rail, whilst the former would in a grert measure b ; ; compelled to take their chance. If there happened to be. no sale for their produce, except a" starvation prices, they would be necessitated to store and watch for a favourable opportunity to sel!, which might only occur when their wares had eaten up their value in charges for storage and other expenses. The matter would be entirely different in the case of the Oamaru-Xaseby line, which would be tno natural highway for the Interior. In Oamaru the settlers would not have to contend with disreputable combinations such as that which occurred amongst the Dunedin millers a few months ago, and which we brought to light much to the discomfiture and chagrin of those grab-alls. In Dunedin a system of compact is carried on in which farmers come oif second btst. There is another view to take of the matter. It is only reasonable to suppose that the towns to the westward of Oamaru will have their own flour mills, ai; I that, instead of sending all the raw grain to market, a very great proportion of it will be ground into flour, tie. We need scarcely point out that the millers of the interior would stand a very poor show in competition with those of Dunedin to which we have alluded, if thsy were compelled to send their flour by a line the length of that proposed by way of Strath-Taieri. We have thrown out these fow hints with the hope that the settlers of the interior will see that the only route that can possibly benefit them to the extent they desire is that to Oamaru, and than tiie tdternatives proposed would be worthless for their purposes. The Strath-Taieri line cannot be made in less than double the distance that would be travelled by the line to Oamaru.