The Daily Times. The oldest Manawatu journal: Established 1875. FRIDAY, JAN. 11, 1884. THE GORGE RAILWAY.

Manawatu Times, Volume X, Issue 1148, 11 January 1884, Page 2

The Daily Times. The oldest Manawatu journal: Established 1875. FRIDAY, JAN. 11, 1884. THE GORGE RAILWAY.

We regret to notice our Woodville contemporary writes m opposition to the proposed railway through the the Gorge. The Examiner writes, The two towns with which the Woodville people are desirous of connection are Napier and Wellington. With Napier, as its natural outlet, it should have been connected long ago ; and Wellington, as one of the leading commercial towns of the co[ lony, it ought to be connected as soon as possible. These lines completed, no necessity whatever exists for the hurried execution of the line through the Gorge." Surely this an extremely local view to take of a large colonial work. The railways are not being made to connect Woodville with Napier, or Wellington. It | is merely a coincidence that Wood- ! ville district lies m the route. The ! object is to connect the East and West Coasts with Wellington and with each other, and the PalmerstonWoodville section is the one link which will be required to make the j North Island railways a eomplpt© system. Our contemporary says, I " Woodville wants the Napier and Masterton lines completed ; if these are done no necessity whatever exists for the hurried execution of the Gorge line " — which simply means m plain English that Woodville storekeepers are afraid of competition with Palmerston, Shut them m, with Masterton 50 miles from them m one direction and Napier 80 miles m another, and Palmerston shut off by the Gorge, and they are safe irom competition. They would then be secure m their pastures, and would live on the fat of the land. But surely the interests of the North Island are not to j be subservient to the pockets of a | few people m business m Woodville; nor do we think the Minister of Public Works will allow such a minority to stand m the way of the union of the railway systems on the two Coasts. Even taking the Examiner's own ground, that Woodville needs connection with Wellington, it might be asked, Do the Woodville people wish to go by a route which is some 180 miles to Wellington, with the Rimutaka eu route, or do they pr efer,the West Coas J line which willbe about 95 miles, and all flat country ? We are convinced that even if the Government complete the MastertonWoodville line, the West Coast line will carry the whole traffic, simply because it is the shorter of the two. The Examiner admits this, for it says : — " The route via Palmerston is a nearer one than that via Masterton, and, consequently, were the Go vernment to construct the Gorge line they would simply be providing a feeder for the West Coast Railway Company'sline'at the expense of their own line via Woodville and Masterton." Just so. The moral to be drawn therefore is, that until the sale of the land between Masterton and Woodville is more advanced, the construction of the line between those places should be delayed, and the whole of the money available spent m pushing the line from Napier towards Woodville and into Palmerston, This, when accomplished, would probably lead to an amount of traffic between the two coasts not at present dreamt of, and would largely increase the revenue of the coast lines. As to the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company's interests, and the Examiner's references to that institu* tion, we may remind our contemporary that the Gorge railway was accepted as a necessity before the Company ever was thought of; and though we do not say the colony should spend money to benefit the company, we hold that Parliament should not refuse to go on with necessary works such as this because if completed they might benefit the company. The fact that the company has undertaken a large colonial work which must have been put m hand sooner or later, and has by doing so set nearly half a million of money free for other works, and is carrying out this work with an energy which has secured the high* est commendation m all quarters, should be rather an incentive to the colony to assist the company m order that other districts might follow the example set. However, it is not on such grounds as this that the claims of the Gorge railway rest. Its construction would of course be a direct and a permanent benefit to Palmerston ; but we do not rest any aiguments on local considerations. Looking as it from a broad colonial pom* of view, we urge its construction because witha out it the North Island railways will be incomplete, because it will be the i shortest route from Napier and ! Woodville to Wellington, andbecause it will lead to a very large amount of business between the two Coasts. If as the result of the Gorge line being done the Woodville-Masterton line has to be temporarily delayed, it would pay the colony to do so rather than leave a gap between Palmerston and Woodville.