DOGGED CAMPAIGN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19979, 3 July 1939, Page 13

DOGGED CAMPAIGN

RAILWAY ADVOCACY EFFORTS NOW REWARDED GISBORNE THE REAL GOAL SYMPATHY OF CABINET (Herald Special Reporter.) Reaping the first fruits of a dogged and sustained campaign to secure the benefits of railway communications for the East Coast, leading public figures from the Hawke’s Bay, Wairoa, and Gisborne districts took with. much pleasure the opportunity given them in Wairoa on Saturday to voice thenappreciation of the attitude of the Government towards the line, and of the especially helpful work of the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, and the Minister of Railways, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan. Addressing a welcome to the official party, Mr. H. L. Harker, Mayor of Wairoa, stated that it was with a full heart that the people of Wairoa greeted the gift of something they had waited for for many years.

One would need the oratorical gifts of the late Timi Kara (Sir James' Carroll) to do justice to that sentiment, Mr. Harker declared, and to express thow thankful the people of Wairoa and of the whole East Coast felt concerning the completion of this link. The benefits that woud accrue from railway connection with the main centres were, he considered, illimitable, but at a glance it was possible to enumerate many that would be deeply appreciated. To those who had been instrumental in giving Wairoa its railway connection, he extended the most heartfelt gratitude. Day For All To Remember

Mr. A. T. Carroll, chairman of the Wairoa County Council, joined with the Mayor in welcoming all the visitors who had come to do justice to a great and" memorable occasion in Wairoa’s history. It should be a day which all would remember during their time. He especially welcomed the Ministers and Members of Parliament, and Messrs. G. H. Mackley, general manager of railways, and «- • Wood, engineer-in-charge of the Public Works Department, and also those who had come from neighbouring districts to do honour to the occasion. The district was most appreciative of the message sent by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, and of the confidence shown by the Government in its future in completing. the Wairoa section of the East Coast Main Trunk line. He hoped that the whole line would be completed at a record early date. The Hon. R. Semple, and the officers and men of his department deserved the greatest credit for the speed with which the link had been completed; to the Railways Department, in its turn, the public of the Last Coast must extend its confidence and support in order to ensure the success of thcliiic in operation.

Comfortable Travel By Railcar Having had the privilege of travelling from Wellington in one of the railcars, he could speak in the highest terms of their comfort, speed, and convenience. The day of Wairoa s isolation was gone, and the time had come to look for enormous development in the early future, concluded Mr. Carroll. (Cheers and applause.) Mr. E. L. Cullen, member for Hawke's Bay, also associated himself fully with the welcome offered to the Ministers, whom he thanked for sparing the time to visit the district. The celebration of the opening of the railway to Wairoa should be a memorable day for Wairoa and indeed the whole of Hawke’s Bay. In earlier days the river was the entrance to the Wairoa -district, ami many present could recall the years in which the suspension of shipping services completely isolated the district. The speaker paid a tribute to those who had worked for the initiation of the railway, and in this connection lie mentioned particularly Mr. Thos Lambert, one of those whose efforts were bearing fruit now. Aerodrome is Wairoa’s Need Mr. Cullen took the opportunity to suggest to the members of the Cab-

inet that an aerodrome in Wairoa would otter the final assurance against isolation through flood or other disaster, and lie mentioned the importance ’ of ithe Waikarcmoana hydroelectric scheme, in the service of the whole Dominion. He referred to the fine work of the Maori people of tne district, and welcomed Sir Apirana Ngata as a representative of the whole native race in this generation, in the same degree as Sir James Carroll was in his.

Speaking as one who had playcl some part in the agitation to have the railway from Napier to Gisborne built, Mr. D. W. Coleman, M.P., Gisborne, expressed the keenest pleasure in joining in the congratulations to the Ministers, the Government, and the people of Wairoa on the completion of the line to this stage. Wairoa was now linked with the rest oi the Dominion by an important service, and he had no need to remind those present of the difficulties that had had to be overcome by the way.

Stoppage and Resumption Sir Joseph Ward, when lie put the work in hand in 1929, had said that he would undertake it so that no later Government would dare to stop it. Of course, added Mr. Coleman, a later Government had stopped construction, but with the advent of the Labour Government, the resumption had been placed in the hands of the Hon. R. Semple, as Minister of Public Works. The people of Wairoa and the whole East Coast would express the greatest satisfaction in seeing this portion of the line finished and handed over 1o the Minister of Railways, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan. The time had come, he said, to show that the line was appreciated, by the manner in which they supported it. Wairoa was starting with the most modern and up-to-date railway facilities in New Zealand, and it was up to the public to stand by the service and so fulfil the promise made when the district committees were agitating for the resumption of the work on the line.