ROXBURGH-LAWRENCE RAILWAY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 479, 12 April 1909, Page 5

ROXBURGH-LAWRENCE RAILWAY.

STOPPAGE OF WOKK. tnv IEI.EWtiI'JI—ITFS> AWOUATIOJO Dunedin, April 10. A citizens' mooting'of'-protest against the stoppage of tlio Roxburgh-Lawrence lino has boon convened by tlio Mayor of Dunedin. Ifc will bo held next week. Tho Lawrcnco-Itoxburgh League, at a special mooting 011 Wednesday, will enter a strong protest against tho Government's action. Christchurch, April 9. Sneaking to a reporter, Mr. J. A, Hanan, M.P. for Invercargill, ■ expressed his unqualified approval of tho coursc taken by tho Government in stopping work oil tho Lawrence-Roxburgh railway, 110 regarded the Lawrence-Roxburgh proposal as a slinmeloss waste of public monoy. "Rccouls of Parliament/' said Mr. 1-Innan, "show plainly that tho original intention was to construct a railway from Heriot to Roxburgh. A section of that railway was taken as far as Edievale, and then for reasons yet to be disclosed work was stopped at that point. That route was shorter than tlio Lawrence-Roxburgh one ; it lay through good agricultural country, and the construction work was easier. "The Lawrence-Roxburgh lino was an unwarranted item of expenditure, and any fair-minded person, aftor going over tho rival routes, must ndinit that it was tlio duty of tlio Government not to procced further 011 'tho route authorised. Sir Joseph Ward should bo conimcndcd for his action in stopping tho work, even at this late hour, as by doing so he prevents Now Zealand from being burdened with a lino which would bo permanently unpayable."