EAST AND WEST COAST RAILWAY.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1467, 7 November 1884, Page 2

EAST AND WEST COAST RAILWAY.

(Chf'Lstcliurch Press.) Eef erring to ilie Arthur's Pass route, our contemporary says : — TJlia ist' ttie Hue which was selected by the Gomruissiou appoiuted in 1883 by the late Government to report upon •' the probable cost and economical and commercial value of the dilTerenl lines of railway for the connection of the provincial district of Canterbury with the West Coast of the Middle island." Iv their report they state that, Bruniierton being regarded as the point necessary to be reich^Y * li-ie by Arthur's Pass would. W'.'df. mare use than any one which VW;nt'by\, oue of the .Northern passes. Thfl '. distance, they point out, '• from JJruiiriuitou to Ouristchurcli, by way of Arthur's Pass, 'is eleven miles shorter than by way ofHurunui, while for places south of Iloileston the distance by Arthur's Pass is forty-ono shorter than by Hurinui." Agaiu, " the shorter live has a decided fed- | vantage as regards the freight ou pr6duce and maintenance "of therouxl; many thousands of pounds would be saved yearly on these two items of expenditure. . . Besides? . the advantage of shortness possessed by the j Arthur's Pass route over that by the 1 Hui-unui, it would have the use of the i present codch road in the conveyance 1 or men and material for construction ; '■ whereas if the Hurunui route were : adopted no work could be undertaken ( ; simultaneously along the line until a ; tolerably good road was formed from

Horsley Downs to tka Tcreinakau river." The commissioners admit that the engineering difficulties are greater by this route than by the other. " The Otira Valley presents a rougher descent than the upper part of the Teremakau valley ; and on the tea miles at the Waiuiakariri gorge there are difficulties of a serious nature, chiefly in tue ibiui of lofty bri4gea.anU precipitous rocky hill sides." Tiiore

are two Hues via Arthur* a Pass mentioned in the report ; one the Arthur's Pass Lake Lyndon line. Both are described as starting from Brunnerton, going up the Arnold to Lako Brunuer; theuco along the west side of the lake to the south side of tho Toreniakan river ; then along tho Teremakau, Otira, Bealey, and Waimakariri rivers to Goldney's saddle. At this point the lines separate. The. foomer fallows Sloven's creek and

Broken nver to the north side of the Wuiinakariri, and thence down that river to a point on the Oxford atfd Malvern railway. The Lyndon hue is carried from Goldney's saddle via Lako Pearson and Ciaigieburn to- Lake Lyndon, and thence by the Acheron river and the Hororata Plains to tho Whitecliffs branch. The Waiinakarhi Gorge line is estimated in the report of the Commissioners to cost £2;030, 000, and the Lake Lyndon line • £1, 587,000, although it is sixteen miles longer. The Commissioner* are of opinion, however, that the Gorge line might on a re-estimate be found to be capable of being constructed for aoon» sid^rably smaller amount, and wo understand that recent surveys have placed the cost at something like jjl, 500,000. In inserting the Hue '• via Arthur's Pass " on the Bill we are not aware whether it is the Waimakariri Gorge route or the Lake Lyndon route that has been decided on, or whether the point is still an open question. But the reasons which influ'endecl thu Commission last year in recommending tlio Arthur's Pass line have, it would appear, induced the • House. &> insert thai li:ui i;\ the Bill. .s%s•,' "\ m issioh eoMsifl'-rf-l. they siid, " tin- suftjeot of routes o? s .lv, with tiitviokji^fc'ot determining the most; Suitable direction, in which tn oi.ioct the centre of producLinn d-" Ji<« w .at with the eentrtnyf demand. ■ M <"^. I'.-^Ht." Looked, at frota

I'iis mint of vi«w, they selected the Arh'iu 's P^s lin°. B-nnrterton they as thjce:itfe of production on f .i t l "W^t- Cm-!;. fvt.-l t.bey recommenclrd •''.. *■;-.;-> "n' rV-.^nsitsi should be -,!..-.] ;, . M . n^i;.n with Mie cenf:vp ." !-ui 1 1 ': i tire e^sfc by the shortest •o^ible 1-vifr.e. We mu>t leave to VT^f 1 ,.... ;v.-*u.!r» fh^coMsideraHon of tIK-S->n'j^ whiih this dpcisinn of th" H'.i.'isA -.vill W-e upon the future pruSp^cts'of the line, in the event of the Legislative Council passing tho measure