THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1909 RAILWAY MATTERS.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 173, 15 July 1909, Page 2

THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1909 RAILWAY MATTERS.

AS an example of cool assurance and a capacity for assuming a knowledge entirely superior to that of the people moat intimately concerned, the reply of the General Manager of Railways to the Te Kuuiti Chamber of Commerce takes high rank. While xdmitting in general the necessity for increased railway accommodation at Te Kuiti, the bead of the Department, with a recklessness borne of the sense of superiority referred to, picks out the standing eyesore of the town and describes the stock yards as "adequate for the requirements." It is just this sort of monumental assurance on matters which the authorities fail to grasp, or upon which they are wrongly informed, which leads the public to decry departmentalism and hold it up to scorn. It may interest the General Manager of Railways to learn that, besides being small and out of date the stock yards are placed in an entirely unsuitable position. The situation contributes much to the insanitary state of a town,which cannot boast.

of much in the matter of sanitation. The trucking and untrucking of stock in the centre of the main street, from yards which ,are entirely too small, besdies being a nuisance, is a positive danger to the public. A further significant fact is that the yards are situated not on railway ground, but on that portion of the public street which is enclosed by the railway fence, and the local authorities have refrained hitherto from enforcing their right,and making the Department remove the railway fence back to its proper boundary. This latitude on the part of the local authorities has been taken advantage of by the Department to keep the yards in their present unsuitable position, but in view of the unsympathetic and autocratic attitude adopted by the Departmen it would be as well if the local body took steps to enforce their rights immediately. The stock traffic at the railway station is constantly increasing, and the nuisance is growing in proportion. There is also a danger that a Department which shows Buch a lack of consideration for the needs of the residents in this respect may endeavour to claim the road as its own. In order to remove the matter beyond doubt the sooner the Department is enlightened on the subject the better and the sooner may we look for some show of activity in respect to railway improvements ni general.