OPOTIKI RAILWAY NOT OPPOSED BY WHAKATANE

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 99, 17 February 1950, Page 5

OPOTIKI RAILWAY NOT OPPOSED BY WHAKATANE

Inquiries among older residents of the town and members of various local bodies revealed yesterday that nobody could recall when Whakatane had ever opposed the railway being built to Opotiki as alleged in the reported statements of the Mayor of Opotiki, Mr T. G. Johnson, at a recent meeting of the Opotiki Chamber of Commerce. A member of several local bodies, Mr H. Brabant, said when he was approached that he could not understand such statements. To his personal knowledge he could not recall Whakatane local bodies at any time ever opppsing the railwav to Opotiki. Always Supported

A borough councillor, a member of the harbour board and other organisations in the district, Mr H. G. Warren, said that he was sure that the statements were not correct. He did not know of any time when Whakatane had objected to the railway being continued to Opotiki. In fact the Whakatane Chamber of Commerce, of which he was a member, had, at one time, sponsored a meeting of interested organisations from different centres between Gisborne and Auckland in an effort to have something done with continuing the railway.

According to Mr A. J. Canning, an old resident of the district and a former prominent figure in local body affairs the boot was on the other foot. As far as he could remember Opotiki had always been against the progress of Whakatane. “Briar town” was one of the many slighting term's it used to attach to Whakatane because of the large growth of briars in the town. Before street lights were installed “dark town” was another. However Whakatane had grown beyond that now, he added. Mr Canning said that Whakatane always ' supported the railway to Opotiki but when it/ was first planned the route wanted was across the sandhills from Matata to Whakatane, thence through a tunnel to Ohope and across Ohiwa Harbour to Opotiki. But Opotiki, Taneatua and Edgecumbe opposed that scheme and the railway went on the present route to Taneatua and has never, been a success since. Opotiki Missed Out

Opotiki missed out but it was not through Whakatane, Mr Canning added. The line was not continued because the Government of the day considered it would be uneconomical. He had been told personally by one Minister of Railways that a line from Taneatua to Opotiki would not pay for axle grease. Although other residents of the town were not so forthright in their statements as Mr Canning all agreed that it was not Whakatane that stopped the railway continuing to Opotiki. One man considered that Opotiki people had done the damage themselves when they had supported the “uneconomical route across the swampy Rangitaiki Plains.”