Otago Central Railway.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 440, 1 September 1904, Page 5

Otago Central Railway.

A. well-attended meeting of the Incal of the Otago Central Bailwiy League was h«ld in the Public Library on Monday evening last, when the chairman (Mr Jas Rivers) occupied the chair. [q explaining the nature of the <-::> ess for which the meeting was ill*-' the chairman stated that the

i ne table about to be adopted in runningthe trsins over the new section of the line was such that the coach service would be thereby impeded and the service woulJ not be a great deal better than at present. The present time table wouhl be adhered to by the department, and in addition one hour and twenty minutes were to be taken between Ida Valley and Ophir, a distance of thirteen miles, which would make the time of arrival at Ophir 4.20 p.m. Mr Rivers a'so thought that the present was an opportune time to request the Minister for Railways to have the line declared a main line, thereby doing away with the excessive charges for general merchandise, made by the Department on branch lines for this class of goods Several speakers were of the opinion that it was rather premature to ask the Minister for Railways to fix any time table until the line had been finally taken over by the Railways Department. The league had previously approached the Mini-ter on this very point, and they now had his assurance C that the matter would receive con- , sideratdon when the Department took over the working of the Ida ValleyOphir section. There was no evidence that this would be done until the official opening, which will not take place for a month or more, and they were inclined to think that the present time table was only a temporary arrangement. It was finally moved by Mr Spencer and seconded by Mr C Richards—That the secretary be instructed to write to the Minister for Railways, referring to his letter of May 30fch, r» accleration of train service and asking that the league's former request may not be overlooked when the time t«b!e is being revised on the faking over of the Ida-Vallev section of the

line from the Public Works Department Carried, Resolved that the '-Her be forwarded to the Minister through Mr J Bennet, M.H.R. for the district, and that a copy be sen' to the league in Dunedin. Moved by Mr Grimstone, seconded by Mr Gloss —That the other centres (Clyde and Cromwell) be communicated with, with a view to taking joint morion, and that the secretary delay «*n«li.ig the above letter until replies from these centres are received, —Carried.

The opinion was expressed by a number of gentlemen present that the time occupied by the coaches in covering the various distances could easily be reduced, more easily perhaps than the train time, and Mr Bartholomew moved —That it be respectfully pointed out to the Postmaster General that the time alloted (3hr lQmin) for the journey from Ophir to Alexandra under the new arrangements to come into force on the Ist Sepetember, is in our opinion excessive; and that it be also pointed out that under present arrangements the contractor's time is 2hi 40min. for the same distance, which can easily be covered in 2Jhours. — Carried, Moved by Mr Eraser, and seconded by Mr Ryan—That before sending the above to the Postmaster General, the following deputation wait on Mr Craig on Thursday with a view to seeing if some arrangement can be arrived at with regard to the time table:—Messrs Rivers, Young, Eraser, Bartholomew, Grimstone .and Pocock. Resolved that this meeting stand adjourned tall this evening at 8 p m. A vote of thanks to the Chairman terminated the meeting.