PAEROA-POKENO LINE.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5261, 11 April 1928, Page 3

PAEROA-POKENO LINE.

EAKLY CONSTRUCTION URGED.

DEPUTATION TO MINISTER.

The opportunity was taken by the Paovca Borough Council to wait upon the Hon. K. S. Williams, Minister of Public Works, at Paetroa on Thubsday morning and urge the necessity for the early commencement of the eonlAfuction of the Paeroa-Pokeno railway. In introducing the deputation Mr A. M. Samuel, M.P., str,esped the need for thet new line and gave it as his opinion that it would prove to be an economic proposition. He instanced how a saving of approximately one ►-hundred miles cou-ldi be made by using the new route, and- dre.w attention to the congest’on which always existed at Frankton and which would become even worse now that the East Coast line was open to Tauranga. The construction of the new line would open up a lot of ideal dairying country, and 1 also greatly assist flax production and afforestation on the Hauraki Plains. He was confident that the line would not only prove a payable one for the department, but would, be of the greatest benefit to the hundreds of settlers who would be served by the line, and also the travelling public. He understood that the construction of the line presented no great engineering difficulties, and he would ask the Minister to convey the request of the deputation to the proper authorities on his return, to Wellf ington. The Mayor of Paeroa (Mr 'W. Marshall) said he felt sure the Minister was familiar with the circumstances and he had no desire to labour the project. The matter was of great importance to the borough, and Hq asked: that it be given serious and early consideration. The Mayor allso pointed out that the forjner Minister of Public Works (the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates), when at Paeroa on a previous occasion, in reply to a deputation said that the project would not he considered until the, line to Jauranga was c. irplatei]. On receiving that reply no representations on the matter had been- made. However, that line ’f' was now opened for traffic, and the council dee-med it advisable to renew the request for the; Paeroa-Pokeno line. It seemed evident that the Public Works Department would again have to face providing relief works for the unemployed, and he suggested that the first portion of the touts might be started with such men. After referring to the ever-increasing growth of heavy .and fast-moving moton traffic and the consequent damage to thet roads, Mr •Marshall asked that the Government favourably consider thq erection of the first portion of the line from the Ngahina wharf, Puke, to the Paeroa railway station, a distance of about half a mile. I-f a railway line was constructed between those two points it should prove! a payable proposition to the Railway Department, and it would same the borough council and! the county counit heavy costs in maintaining the roads. REPLY BY MINISTER. In reply, the Minister said that the. question was not exactly one for; him to answer. All the same, the view he took of railway construction was that it was essential, before embarking on the scheme, to ascertain if thefte was a reasonable chance of the 'line being a payable proposition. Railways had to be run on a sound business footing, and he was not aware, of the data the Railway Department had in connection with the proposed linq. It was necessary to find out what the capital

cost would 1 be, and the return likely to be made. In regard to placing unemployed men on the construction of the line, the Minister pointed out that thq Public Works Department had nien of its own who had given ■ satisfactory service over a number of years, and it was his desire, to keep such men in employment ail the year round if possible.

In answer to the Minister Mr iO. G. Thornton, residiqnt Public Works engineer, said that sb far as the proposed route of the line showed, there was not a great deal of swampy country to traverse until the Pj.ako River was reached. , At that point a big bridge would also have to bq erected. He anticipated that the swamp country would prove a big proposition. The Minister assured the deputa-, 1 tion that he would take' the matter up with the Railway officials, and he would also undertake to ‘have, an in? Tvestigation made and a report submitted aJs early as possible by his departmental engineers.