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Hokitika Guardian, 7 November 1931, Page 4

It would appear t'hat at least one section of the Westport public feel strongly regarding the stoppage of the railway; works. According to a newspaper report, the scholarly Mayor of Westport ■in reporting on the abortive result of the deputation to Wellington expressed a degree of pique largely to be expected from such a source. Mr Ilarkness is reported to have declared that the only redress opeu for the community was to vote Labour at the forthcoming elections ! The Mayor very foolishly put all the blame on the Government. He overlooked the fact that Parliament had agreed to the setting up of an independent ißairway Board, and that it was the report of the Board which had settled the fate of the railway and not the dictum of the Government. As a matter of fact the distr.ct represented bv the Prime Minister and another strong supporter of the Government, had to submit also to an unfavourable report from the Board. There was therefore no favouritism to he credited, for the averse decision. 1 On trie contrary'the Board supplied on independent report, and the House was entitled fo receive it in good faith. Mr Forbes was able to put the position to the House in respect to the general financial

position of the country, and to most people prepared 'to accept the facts of the case, the decision of the Board appeared to be the inevitable result of u close study of the economic position, both n-esent and immediately prospective. The cure proposed by Mr Harkness is iO place Jaioour in power with a mandate to proceed with public works proved to be economically unsound. Something more logical might have been accepted from the source of such a pokey, but evidently the Mayor of Westport is not ore to put his country before has district where the necessity for such patriotism arises. The experience in Various parts of the Empire of late doer not favour the acceptance of a Labour Government as a panacea for the political fls we suffer from. Great Britain has given an answer .and shown the way to deal with extravagant Labour in office,! and that example is not likely to be .lost on New Zealand, despite the reckless advice of the Mayor of Westport.