LEVIN-MARTON RAILWAY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 1257, 11 June 1914, Page 3

LEVIN-MARTON RAILWAY.

The following appeared in our Levin contemporary of yesterday : lx view of another Parliamentary session and provision in this year’s Loan Bill for public works is it not time to agitate afresh for a line of rail between Levin and Mart-on? There is no more important question affecting the North Island that the shortening of the route between Wellington and Auckland, with all intervening places. This is another matter which has been kept out of public view by the (government year after year. We do not argue that the line should have been put under construction, for there is much necessary preliminary work to he seen to beforehand, but there is no reason why the construction of the line should not he considered i.; Us bearings by the (iovevnmeni and brought before Parliament in His Excellency’s speech. We have worked from the outside For years and made no progress. Let ns now work From the inside. We therefore ask Mr Massey to lace tin's question as a statesman, bring it before the House and get the voice of members on it. He may not lie well acquainted with all that has been done in the way of gathering valuable information in days gone by. but he can soon make himself master of (he facts. Over sixteen miles can be saved by doing away with the present curve stretching from Levin to Marion. This means a saving of at least an hour in the journey to every person of the thousands and thousands who travel between Wellington and Auckland, and such a saving means a great deal to those who feel the strain of such a long journey. Then, again, the wear and tear on the rolling stock with the sixteen miles traf- ( (ic that passes over the present line by way of Palmerston is enormous/and all this could be saved if a diversion was made »( Levin and the line taken through Foxton and on In Marlon. An engineer would work out some astounding figures and show that the eost of construction of a new line would not be all outlay, when the- saving of wear and tear is reckoned as an offset. We are constrained to return to this subject at the present juncture. We ask the Prime Minister to grasp it as a. statesman and bring it before Parliament. He is in the seat of power: the adverse waves of public opinion on many other questions may heat upon him, hut here is one which should he beyond parly bias, and in a manly way lie can call upon Parliament to give fair consideration to the pros and cons of the question.