SOUTH ISLAND RAILWAYS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVI, Issue 89, 19 August 1913, Page 3

SOUTH ISLAND RAILWAYS.

DEPUTATION TO PRIME MINISTER [Per Press Association.] Wellington, August 18. A deputation representing the South Island Main Trunk Railway League and- Kaikoura bodies urged on the Prime Minister the necessity othe completion of the South Island Main Trunk line, a matter of 90 miles between Parnassus and Ward, and :V ;ked that £IO,OOO be placed on the estimates for the railway and £20,000 for roads and bridges. It was poinv cd "out that the rivers in the Kaikoura district were the only ones not bridged between Blenheim and the Bluff, and that 35 miles of the line between Picton and Ward had taken 35 years te complete. Mr Massey, in reply, said that v contract was already let to bridge ono of the worst of the rivers, and that the completion of the line wa i only a matter of time and money. Mr Fraser had promised a grant on tin estimates for bidding the dangerom rivers. He added that application; for public works this session were six or seven times as great as the money available. Th o Minister reminded the deputation that some £14,000 was spent on trunk lines last year; om stretch of line of ten miles his engin eers estimated would cost on an aver age of £20,000 a mile, so that they must ho careful to choose the lies' route and that inquiry was now heitu made. Ho had seen many grave mis takes in New Zealand, and did no* want his name to he associated witl any such mistakes.