ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 986, 17 June 1879, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

—« s THE WINDSOR-LIVINGSTONE RAILWAY. TO THE EDITOR OF THE OAMARU MAIL. : Sje,—The threatening aspect of the • weather on"" Saturday last prevented ir ; e from attending the opening ceremony, but I have no cause to regret my absence, . for judging by your report I perceive that one element necessary to epsure success to the undertaking was absent,'whilst that 1 very element was turned to 'accdunt on 1 the previous Saturday by the influential, : cunning, and pious projectors of £Ke rival route to Naseby via StrathrTaieri. Posr " sibly it may have been deemed politic iro* 1

mediately after the close of the exhaustive, and flowery, but presumptuous, speech of the Chairman of the Maniototo County Council to atone for some of his rliapsodi® flights and delicious imagery by appealing to a Higher Power to enable the projectors to consummate the scheme which they had not to initiate. But whatever may have been the object there is no doubt that the element referred to was largely used, for as I perceive by the report inthe Otago "Witness of the 14th instant '• the Rev. "VV. Will engaged in prayer/' Task you, sir, why the proceedings on Saturday last were conducted with such seeming disregard to those observances which in a Christian community we deem necessary on occasions of even less importance. Do the projectors, engineers, and workmen, for a moment suppose (although I believe they fondly hope it) that the snort of our little iron horse will echo through the quiet solitudes of Naseby before the howl of the StrathTaieri brass-bound monster proclaims by his bellowing that he has first reached th« coveted goal. Let us therefore be up and doing; it is never too late to mend. Our intention is to lay common cheap iron rails on a narrow-gauge single line ; but after they are laid, why not fervently desire that the gauge should change to a broad one, the line be doubled, and the fails become steel. The heaviest grade on oiu line is one in fifty, but this is a trifle compared with most of the grades on the Strath-Taieri route. The curves on both will, I understand, be frequent and very sharp, and the cuttings and fillings enormous, whilst the tunnelling to be done on the Strath-Taieri line will involve frightful expenditure; but all these difficulties have already melted, or will in due time melt, •■way before the constructors of the StrathTaieri line, who, at their opening ceremony, took all necessary precautions to. ensure success. They have literally removed mountains, made " the crooked straight, and the rough places plain." This indeed is engineering, and cheap at the price.—l an;, itc. Vekku.u Sap.