South Canterbury Times. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1880.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2428, 29 December 1880, Page 2

South Canterbury Times. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1880.

The final withdrawal of the unemployed from the Albury-Fairlie Creek •section of the South Canterbury interior line nf railway is much to be regretted. The extension of this line, although it is acknowledged to be one of the most promising of the kind in New Zealand, has been progressing at a snail’s pace, its prosecution has been strongly recommended by, not only the Railway Commission, but by every impartial and competent authority who has bestowed the slightest pains in investigating the matter. The Albury line, so far as it has been completed for traffic, has proved one of the most reproductive lines in the colony. Instead of yielding a substantial loss to the revenue, like half of the Otago and Southland branch lines and the whole of the Northern lines, it gives a splendid return for the money invested. In the hands of a private company the line would he as good a paying concern as tli3 Rank of New Zealand or Professor Proctor’s astronomical lectures. And we venture to say that if private enterprise had anything to do with it, instead of being prosecuted in a dillydallying, half-hearted, spasmodic spirit, the line which is now hujig in abeyance till the harvest season is over, would ho rapidly carried into the Mackenzie country, in the face of the singular patronage extended to the Waimea plains railway and, other rotten political lines designed to improve the property of a few speculators and not to promote the interests of the community, the apathy displayed in connection with this work is something astounding. Various excuses will possibly he urged for the stoppage of this necessary work. It will he said that the resumption of the work was only determined upon in order to relieve the necessities of the unemployed, and that the advent of harvest rendered the continuance of relief works unnecessary. To such an argument we may reply that the work is one of the utmost importance to the district, that the line, so far as it has been constructed, is not only payable hut profitable, and that the leaving over of a public work so necessary for the settlers and promising for the colonial finances, is inexcusable. South Canterbury contributes a large amount to the public revenue, and though she has neither a Major Atkinson nor a Mr Whitaker among her representatives she is entitled to a fair return in the shape of public works for what she contributes. For months past money has been squandered right and left in the North Island as well as in different parts of the island we inhabit, while South Canterbury has been totally ignored. Although works of a most pressing nature have repeatedly been brought under the attention of the Government, Timaru and its surroundings are at this moment suffering from absolute neglect. The electors of the town and district are in the position of contributors to a State consultation sweep, out of which they are allowed to draw nothing hut blanks. They subscribe freely to the consolidated revenue, hut the winning tickets are reserved for a favored few in which they are not included. Because the district is naturally a productive one, the Government and the Legislature seem to think that it should live on its resources, and yield its taxes for the benefit of Joss favored localities.

The stoppage of the Albury extension is on a par with the policy that lias been pursued towards South Canterbury for several years past. The people, like the sheep of the plains, have been regularly fleeced for the benefit of other places. When public money was plentiful and loans had to be distributed, South Canterbury was the last place in New Zealand to be thought of. The Timaru railway station has been condemned again and again, just as the Albury line has been approved of. The state of both is a disgrace to successive ministries. The settlers between Albury and Fairlie Creek have been kept on the tiptoe of expectation for several seasons, believing that the line would be ready for traffic Avlieu each ensuing harvest arrived, A few miles of the line has been formed by the unemployed and again the work is hung up. This way of delaying important and reproductive works amounts to a grave scandal. The South Canterbury district has been living on hopes deferred, till the hearts of its residents have grown sick. If its representatives have not sufficient influence to induce the Government to complete the works that have been begun, then public opinion must be brought to bear on the Ministry in another way. The amount that is spent every month in maintaining a useless force of semimilitary mountebanks in Taranaki, would not only place the public works of this district in a forward conditionbut would assist in materially develop, ing our railway traffic and promoting settlement.