Wanganui Chronicle AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1882.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIV, Issue 9662, 8 November 1882, Page 2

Wanganui Chronicle AND PATEA-RANGITIKEI ADVERTISER. "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1882.

The agitation in connection •with, the rival railway routes in the Middle Island is rather increasing than diminishing, and though, the Otago people are to a great extent holding aloof from the strife, those in Canterbury, Nelson, Marlborough, and Westland are thoroughly in. earnest, and will no doubt endeavour that their respective views on the great question are clearly and exhaustively placed before the Eoyal Commission -which has now commenced its sittings. Eor some little time after the appointment of the Commission there prevailed in Canterbury and Westland a strange misapprehension as to the scope of its duties. It was thought that these included an inquiry and decision as to the best railway route between the East and West Coasts, whereas the business of the Commission is limited to taking evidence and reporting concerning the rival routes by which it has been , proposed to carry the maiu trunk line to its northern terminus either at Picton or Nelson. Quite recently this misapprehension was alluded to in the leading columns of the Lyttelton Times, and we iunderstand that since then some steps have been taken to induce the Government to enlarge the terms of the Commission so as to cause it to embrace an east and west coast railway inquiry, and to make it an instruction to the Commissioners to ' travel over and examine the line ! which was to have been followed if " the company, - which collapsed some I time back, had gone on with the ' work. We do not suppose these re- j quests will be complied with. The ] money voted last session was for the main trunk line northwards, and the ■ only question left open was the route ' — that is, , -whether the line should run J along the east coast to Picton or : should go inland to the Tophouse ■ and thence be continued to Nelson. \ But although the scope of the Com- i mission is narrower than the people 1 of Westland and Inangahua, and a ' large proportion of the people of Canterbury, would like to have seen it, it is difficult to understand how the Commissioners can altogether ignore this question of the east and west coast railway when dealing with the question of the- route to be followed by tho main trunk line northwards. If it were merely, a matter of mileage or of gradients,: or of expenditure, that had to be considered, the Commissioners would have no difficulty in shutting ont all evidence with regard to the east and west coast railway ; but we apprehend that they have to base their report on ; something more than engineering ■ considerations, or those relating to j

expenditure. It may be that, having reference both to mileage and first cost, the east coast route has the advantage, and nevertheless it may not be the one which ought to meet with the approval of the Commissioners. Gradients and mileage and first cost have all to be considered, but only side by side with other points, such as the character of the country through which the line will pass, the quantity of land which will be available for settlement, and the probable amount and character of the traffic which jna'y be depended on. If the Commissioners find that they must concern .themselves with such considerations as these, they will, we think, speedily discover that there is a great deal to be said in favour of the Tophouse route for the main trunk line of railway, for by its adoption a much larger area of" land would be available, a very much larger population would be served, and the route, as far as the Tophouee, would be that which would.be pursued if a railway were to be constructed to Reefton and thence westerly to Greymouth and the other towns on the West Coast. Within the last day or two we have received a copy of a pamphlet notes by Mr John Tinline, entitled upon and comparative statistics in relation to the East Coast and inland lines of route of the PictonHurunui Eailway. Mr Tinline is a very old Middle Island settler, and has a thorough knowledge of the country and its capabilities. He gives the preference in a very decided manner to the inland or Central route, and he backs up his opinion by a mass of statistical information which it will be very difficult" for the advocates of the .East Coast line to set on one side. The information relative to each of the lines is first set out in detail, so that great facility is afforded for checking its [accuracy, and then in a subsequent table it is summarised. We notice that in each case Mr Tinline makes Picton the terminus, and no doubt before the lapse of many years there will be a line from the Top house leading to Nelson and another to Picton. But it is a question which ought to be constructed first. The southern point at which the East Coast and Central lines diverge is at Waipara, about ten miles, we believe, to the north of Amberley. Taking the East Coast line first we find that the freehold land along its course is 577,424 acres ; Crown lands held under lease 395,575 acres ; Crown lands not yet taken up estimated at— nil; total 972,999 acres. The stock is given as follows : — sheep, 526,557 ; cattle, 2253 ; horses, 1226. On the central line the figures are :— Freehold land, 795,621 acres ; Crown lands held under lease, 1,385,139 acres; Crown lands not taken up, estimated at 899,240 acres. The stock along the central line is — sheep, 928,843 ; cattle, 6964 ; horses, 2084. There is also a comparative return of the population which would be beneficially affected by each of the proposed linos of J railway, the numbers being taken from the census rotums of 1881. On the East Coast line the population is set down at 6822 ; on the ' Central line at 23,055. But if to the latter be added the population of Westland, Grey, Inangahua, and Buller, the railways of which district would join the Central line, the total of persons who would be beneficially affected is 47,269 as against 6822 on the East Coast line. The figures, then, as they at present stand, are all in favour of tho adoption of the Central line ; but in the future, as the country is opened up and settlement progresses the relative importance-of the Central will be yet more strongly marked. A scheme in which many thousands of our fellows-colonists take a deep interest, and which would require an enormous expenditure of public money to carry out, cannot and ought not to be a matter of indifference to those portions of the community residing at a distance, and therefore presumably less directly concerned in the issue. With regard to the expenditure all are interested to tho extent that all would be called on to assist in paying the_ public creditor if on its completion the scheme should prove a commercial failure.