LEVIN-MARTON DEVIATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2147, 8 July 1920, Page 3

LEVIN-MARTON DEVIATION.

PALMIER STON PRESS COMMENTS.

The revival of the agitation for linking-up the Main Trunk line between Marlon, or Great ford, and Levin does not find favour with our Palmerston contemporaries, who fear that it will prejudice, the proposed Palmerston deviation to relieve the congestion there. The Standard savs:—“ .... The

Marion to Levin deviation proposal is a far more formidable undertaking than that embodied in the RailAvay Department’s proposal to relieve the congested traffic at Palmerston North, and it is absurd to urge it as an alternative to the latter, because it could not, and Avonld not, obviate the necessity for making the alterations the Department has decided upon as absolutely essential to the future safely of the Palmerston railway traffic. Beyond this the adoption of the Sanson Conference proposals would sidetrack the two important towns of Palmerston North and Feilding, and would greatly inconvenience a very considerable proportion of the North Island people For years

,there has been a tremendous congestion of railway Irallic in Palmerston North, and the authorities have been at iheir wits end to know how to cope with a situation which is not without serious danger to tin* public. For nearly two miles the railway runs through (he most thickly populated portion of the town, with level crossings at ten points between Main Street West and Napier Road, all of which constitute danger points to the public using them. In and around the present station yards there is no longer room for expansion, and even were a considerable portion of the Irallic diverted (as suggested by our Eoxton and Sanson friends), it would not relieve Ihejßailway Department of the necessity it is under to provide the increased accommodation which will he afforded (lie town, when its proposals for taking (he line from Longlmrn round to the Boundary road station, become effective. Under such circumstances it seems unfortunate that members of Parliament representing adjoining constituencies should lend themselves to an agitation which can only delay a. very necessary improvement, the absence of which is retarding the progress of Palmerston North, and the abandonment of which would defer other much needed improvements for 20 years at least. And what is true of Palmerston is (me also to 2 certain extent of Feilding. the progress and prosperity of which will he similarly affected. It has been assumed by those who are supporting the Marlon to Levin deviation that its cost will not exceed that of the proposed improvements and deviation from Longlmrn lo the Boundary Road station site, and thence to the. existing railway at Terrace End, hut these gentlemen are admittedly working in (he dark, and ean have no reliable data upon which to base their estimates of cost. We have no desire lo urge merely selfish considerations in our advocacy and support of (ho scheme which Mr McVilly placed before the Palmerston North Borough Council last month, nor to charge those who are opposed to it with acting from motives of self-interest, ft is, however, obvious that much of the advocacy of the Marlon to Levin deviation proceeds from interested parties, who, perhaps not unreasonably, have been'dreaming dreams and seeing visions of rejuvenated townships, too long left lying in the backwash from more progressive centres which have outstripped them in the race for progress, and whose prosperity they not unnaturally envy afar off. [From whence does Palmerston 'derive its prosperity?.—Ed.ll.J The Sanson Conference was composed of ‘delegates of local bodies and chambers of commerce in towns and areas concerned’ with the proposal to deviate the line between Levin and Marlon. But, apart from Eoxton and Marlon, the ‘towns’ referred lo do not seem to have concerned themselves very seriously in the project, the local speakers at the Conference coming from those towns only. One of the speakers urged ‘lliu dissipation of parochial views,’ Iml, there- is more than a suspicion that parochialism largely intlnciiced both ins remarks and the support he is giving to the scheme. [Our contemporary should tapn ‘parochialism. — Ed.lL] .... Whatever the

future uuiy hove in store, the present is certainly an inopportune t ime for pressing the Marlon to Levin project. The latter town appears to have no direct interest in the proposal, as it was unrepresented hy any of the speakers at the Sanson Conference. [This statement is incorrect. Levin was represented by its Mayor and a Chamber of Commerce delegate, who look a keen interest: in the discussion. We can assure our contemporary that Levin is as keenly enthusiastic as any centre interested in the linking up of the Main Trunk line. —Ed.lL] One of the questions Ministers will have to decide is whether the interests of the many, as constituted hy the peoples of the greater portion of the Xorth Island in general, and of Palmerston Xorth and Fcihling in particular, should he subordinated to those of the few, as represented ],y the peoples of Foxton and Martun. [A very important point, upon which we are in fall agreement. — Ed.lL] There should he no difficulty in coming to a decision on thatpoint, and the urgent necessity for HU improved scheme for handling the railway traffic at Palmerston Xorth is so apparent that it would he little short of .criminal were Ministers to order the Department to abandon its plans for dealing with a

situation which has become little short of scandalous,” The Palmerston Times comments as follows: —“ .... For our

part we are quite prepared, under all (he circumstances, to take the conference at its face value. Air Newman, M.P., put the matter in a nutshell when he said, in effect, that this was not a time to spend money on railway deviations, but as the Railway Department proposed to mmake improvements in the vicinity of Palmerston North, now was the time for those having interests along the Levin-Greatford route to push (heir barrows and see whether they could induce the Government to divert the expenditure in their direction [and so relieve the congestion at Palmerston N., and prosecute a work of national importance. — Ed.ll.]. With this end in view, it was decided to carry a deputation to Parliament to work up an agitation against the Palmerston deviation, and in favour of the Levin-Great-ford route. Those present know perfectly well that they have not the faintest, chance, of inducing the Government or Parliament to authorise the last-named work. fVliat they hope is that if they ean block the Palmerston deviation now they may he able to induce Parliament at some later date to accede to their desires. The fact that the General Manager of New Zealand Railways and his officials regard the Palmerston nevialion as a work of imperative necessity, and that a Royal Commission reported to Parliament in 191(i that the advantages of the Levin-Great-ford deviation were not such as to justify its construction, were not stressed unduly at Saturday’s conference. It skipped lightly over difficulties, and was quite prepared to believe the Mayor of Marion when lie airily proclaimed that, including llio building of bridges over the Manawalu and Rangitikei rivers, llio Levin- Groat ford deviation would cost a trifle of £200,000 to £250,000. In fact, from a ‘commonsense point of view’ the underla king would he hi saving to the Government,’ Naturally enough, the probable expenditure of building a track over the swampy section of the proposed route, the compensation which would have to he paid to landowners, and so on, were not. referred to. That the bridges alone were likely to cost: a quarter of a million at present prices weighed little Avilh these amateur engineers. Neither were they concerned as to how other districts were likely to view their paper scheme. They had no thought of the uncompleted railways in Auckland, Taranaki, and the South Island. The long-promis-ed Napier-Gishorne line did not come into their ‘national’ calculations. Neither had they any thought for (he people of the Bairarapa labouring under the perpetual nightmare of the Rinmlaka incline. They took no heed of the fact that there arc scores of (daces in New Zealand in which deviations of existing railways could he made to save haulage and expedile main trunk passenger services, all of them as important, and some more so. than the line which they not unnaturally desire should run past their own hack doors. [Then why worry about the Ealmerslon deviation? —Ed.lL] Be said before, amlAvc repeat, that the nett result of this agitation on the part of Sir James B’ilson and his partisans can only he —il il has any effect at all —lo prevent the Railway Department from carrying out very urgent and .essential Avorlcs in the vicinitv of Palmerston. This will not effect Palmerston North as a town very materially, hut it will help in the congestion of this very much over-congested railway centre. [lt will have the opposite eiCc. ( .t Ed.lL] The effect will eventually he to hold up the prompt distribution of the goods of merchants and the stock and produce of farmers trading through Palmerston to the various centres. Messrs Newman and Field, and the Mayors ol the different villages in this vicinity aniy regard such a contingency quite light hearledly, but we can assure them that the officers of the Railway Department do not. As to a coni; parmon of the cost and advantage of the two schemes, that has been carefully considered by the experts, and their verdict is on record. It is uncompromisingly Javonrahle, on every ground, to the Palmerston deviation proposal. The mallei' has already been considered by Cabinet, has been placed before Minister- by iheir Railway advisers in a manner which leaves no ground for sideflopping —that is to say, from a purely business point of view. It remains to he seen whether the Minifter of Railways, armed with this advise and with the evidence, will come boldly out and place the question before Parliament in its true hearings, or whether he will palter to the paroehialists and delay a very essential work for an interminable period. We have got an impression that Mr Massey will lay all the cards on the table. If he does so the Levin-Greatford agitators will he glad to scuttle into their holes and pull their holes in after them.'’