WAIRARAPA RAILWAY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1563, 5 October 1912, Page 11

WAIRARAPA RAILWAY.

-— ; —»- ' THE DEVIATION PROPOSAL. Deviation of the railway between Wellington and Wairarapa is urged ■ in a petition from A. Henderson and 803 others, which was presented to the House of Representatives on Thursday by Mr. G. R. Sykes, JI.P. It is stated that reports made by the responsible officers'of the Public Works Department in 1899 show that a deviation to. avoid the fell incline and the sharp curves and steep grades between Upper* Hutt and summit could be constructed at a cost of .£300,000 to ,£IOO,000, and-that'the working expenses of the line would be diminished by the construction of such deviation to the extent of to .£13,000 per annum (equal to from three to four per cent, of the estimated \ cost), and the mileage decreased by seven miles. Petitioners submit that traffic, on the line is bound to increase, and that the question of its partial reconstruction will eventually have to be faced, and that the longer the work is postponed the greater will lie its eventual cost. It is stated-that since 1599 takings at stations betwen Mastertpn and • Featherston (inclusive) liavo increased by 36 per cent. The petition adds that if the deviation were constructed the cost of haulage.from' Wellington to Napier would be less by the Wairarapa than by the Manawatu route, and that in any case the increase in traffic from Wellington to the West Coast and for the Main Trunk line may before long necessitate the transfer of "the Hawke's Bay traffic from the Jlahawatu to the Wairarapa route.