BETTER IN WHAKATANE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 46, 6 February 1945, Page 5

BETTER IN WHAKATANE

TRIBUTE FROM TAURANGA

RAIL & SHIPPING COMMISSION

The following- sub-leader from last Wednesday's issue of the Bay of Plenty Times (Tauranga) is a direct tribute to the business acumen of this town with regard to the significance of the forthcoming sitting of the Rail and Shipping Commission which is to take place in this town

next week:—

"It is a matter for regret that the Tauranga Borough Council decided to take no action in the matter of the Government Commission which is to sit in Tauranga next week to take evidence concerning rail and shipping freights. Freights on goods to and from the Bay of Plenty are of vital concern to every citizen in the area for these costs enter into

the ultimate prices of every importable consumed and are a charge against the exportables produced. Local bodies as the representatives of the people should therefore bestir themselves in the public, interest and not leave the job to other people.

They do these things better in Wha'katane where the local bodies have been so insistent that the Commission has agreed to transfer one of its sitting days* from Tauranga to that town. What is-Whakatane's gain is Tauranga's loss } and the people of Tauranga will hold their borough council responsible for failing to grasp an opportunity to benefit. them when it presented itself. It is of no avail to argue that freight rates are at present reasonable and therefore do not concern the borough or its citizens. It is an open secret that the present freight rates are uneconomic. If the shipping service be discontinued the Railways Department will be in a position to recoup some of its losses by higher charges and then it w r ill be_ too late."