South Canterbury Times, MONDAY, MARCH, 21, 1881.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2496, 21 March 1881, Page 2

South Canterbury Times, MONDAY, MARCH, 21, 1881.

It is extremely satisfactory to find that at length there is a prospect of justice being done to Timaru, as regards railway accommodation. The plan of a new station has been submitted to the Harbor Board, and from the tenor of the remarks made by the Hon. Mr Oliver on the occasion of his visit to Timaru the other day, it is evidently the intention of the Government to proceed at once with this much needed improvement. Mr Oliver, in explanation of- the delay that has taken place, disavows any negligence on the part of the Government, and intimates that the town would have had a suitable station long ago, but, for the compensation required by the owners of property adjacent to the present station for the increased area which the proper accommodation of the different kinds of traffic renders mdispensiblc. Now that the Break-

water and the travcllin?' shingle have removed this difficulty he proposes to erect a station at once, taking a slice of the reclaimed land on the southern foreshore for the purpose, and tints avoiding the necessity of purchasing private property at a high figure. The responsibility of cither expediting or still further delaying the erection of a new station no longer rests with the Government but with the Harbor Board, The Board has an equitable right to the reclaimed land, and ii the members choose to get their backs up they may throw very formidable obstacles in the way of the railway department; and the new station,although badly needed, may be indefinitely postponed. On the other hand, it -they take a broad and liberal view ol the proposals that Mr Oliver has submitted, the only difficulty that apparently remains in the way of removing the wretched barns that render Timaru so unprepossessing in the eyes of railway travellers, will be easily and speedily overcome. We need not insult the members of the Board by suggesting that there should be no hair-splitting or unnecessary huckstering over this affair. The traffic and business of the town has suffered in the past through the absence of a railway station commensurate with the size and importance of the district. Of this the members of the Harbor Board arc thoroughly cognisant, for most of the public bodies represented ou tbc Board have taken part in the agitation lor railway improvements which have been going on under successive Governments.

To some of them it may appear that Mr Oliver is trying to drive a hard bargain, but when the proposals have been carefully considered it will be found that he is asking nothing unfair or unreasonable. Mr Oliver submits a variety of reasons why the Harbor Board should acquiesce in his proposal that a portion of the reclaimed laud south of the Breakwater should be surrendered for railway purposes. He cites the opinion of the SolicitorGeneral that the land belongs to the Crown, and contends that if the Government thought proper they could take the land whether the Board was a consenting party or not. The Government, however, he assures the Board, have no desire to act arbitrarily, and the Board’s right in equity to the whole of the reclaimed area is conceded. But it is pointed out that the land has not been reclaimed in the usual way, entirely by artificial means, but by the action of the waves and the travelling shingle—a perfectly natural process. Then again the railway department has had to protect the line to the north of the Breakwater from the encroachments of the sea, and these encroachments have been attributed to the stoppage of the shingle by the Breakwater, and the consequent denudation of the foreshore of its natural protection. Mr Oliver submits that the surrender of the additional land required on the south of the Breakwater for station purposes will be merely quid pro quo for the expense to which the railway department has been put on the north of that structure. This is undoubtedly one of the strongest points made by the Minister, for no amount of evidence or subtle argument will enable the Board to entirely divest themselves of all responsibility in this matter.

As the question nofv rests the Harbor Board has been asked to voluntarily place a portion of the beach at the disposal of the railway department for station purposes. Beyond the area absolutely needed, the Government has no desire to encroach on the reclaimed land or to interfere with the Board’s endowment. The members of the' Board have been asked to define the area . they are willing* to abandon, and should this be found sufficient for railway accommodation, the Board’s claim to the remainder of the reclaimed land, or to any laud that may be reclaimed in the future, will not bo challenged. It would be most unwise—most detrimental to the interests of the town and district—to approach Mr Oliver’s proposals in any other than a reasonable spirit, or to throw ungenerous obstacles in the way of the Government. It has been alleged that there is a desire in ceitain quarters to have the railway station removed from its present central position. Nothing could better facilitate such an object than an attitude of obstruction at this juncture by the Harbor Board. We trust, however, that seeing there is a prospect at last of a railway station worthy of Timaru being erected, the Harbor Board will meet the Government on fair terms, and, to quote Mr Oliver’s words, “ Make a proposal such as the Government ought to accept.”

It appears that there is still a chance of the late Fire Brigade being resuscitated. Mr Turnbull who has long been identified with the Late Brigade, and therefore takes an ardent interest in its welfare as an institution, has held out a friendly hand at an opportune moment, and offered to mediate between the ox-members and the Borough Council, The ex-brigadiers have also displayed their magnanimity by offering to let by.gones be by-gones and to return once more to their duties if their demands are complied with. The members of the Borough Council meet this evening, and as they have had time to reflect over the consequences of their flat refusal to keep- faith with the firemen, we trust they will make amends for the past by acting the role of colonial Governors —oiling the machinery. On the previous occasion the Council, as we have stated, acted with haste rather than discretion, in taking the firemen at their word instead of enquiring into their grievances. Thanks to the vigilance of his Worship there has been no blood spilled as yet —the property of the brigade is intact—and if a little fair and generous consideration is extended to the late firemen the breach m- y yet be healed. The members of the Council, we presume, have no desire to treat our volunteer firemen

unfairly. Hud a little mutual forbearance and good temper been displayed in the first instance, the trouble that lias arisen would hare been impossible. The late firemen, slung' to the quick at the manner in which they bad been treated in the matter of uniform, and particuhuly their boots, made ,tbe blunder of combining a demand and a threat in the same letter. The Council, not so very unnaturally, refused to be bounced, and hence the collision. If a peaceful solution of the difficulty is to-night arrived at, it is very probable that for the future a better understanding between the Brigade and the Council will .be maintained. The Brigade has lately been suffering from want cf due encouragement. It is alleged that owing to the state of their boots some of the members have been unable to attend practice, and under such circumstances an efficient brigade could hardly be expected. At all events the Council, before rejecting the offer of mediation about to be made, will do well to consider the present unprotected state of the town, and the responsibility that will attach to their action, should a fire break out, when there is no brigade to respond to the fire-bell.