Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1920. LEVIN-MARTON DEVIATION.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2148, 10 July 1920, Page 2

Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1920. LEVIN-MARTON DEVIATION.

OUR Palmerston morning’ contemporary lakes a very pessimistic view oC the result of the Prime Minister’s reply to the deputation which waited upon him in so far as the Palmerston proposed deviation is concerned. The deputation made out a good case for the linking -up of the Main Trunk line between Marton or'Great ford and Levin, and Mr Massey was enlightened upon one or two vilal points of national importance which are self-evident to any one who has given consideration to the matter. This link must he constructed lo save the necessity of duplicating the line between] Wellington and Palmerston. Its construction meets with the 'approval of all districts "north and west of Marlon, from whence will come an insistent agitation until the work is put in hand. The charge of parochialism in connection with (his work is utterly absurd. In fad, the editor of our Palmerston morning contemporary will forgive us for reminding^him that as editor of the Wellington Times he was a strong advocate of the Marton-Levin connection. The Prime .Minister and Minister for Public Works will make an inspection of (he proposed route after the present session. In the meantime the League should continue the agitation until success is achieved.

THE Palmerston Times, in commenting upon the deputation which waited upon the Prime, Minister. ,-avs: —“We do not wish to say ‘we told you so,’ but, knowing politicians as we do, we had no hesitation in predicting that as soon as the Levin-Great ford agitation was pushed home it would be all U.P. with the Palmerston deviation proposal. Mr Nash, M.P., has been fooled and badly fooled, and some of the optimists who jumped in and began speculating in futures will have some nice’ corner sections on their hands for quite a little time yet! Our member thought he could trust the Dig Strong Man Massey to lake a delinite stand and get in behind his otlicial advisers who recommended the Palmerston deviation as a work ol urgent necessity. Mr Nash knew that the matter had been discussed by Cabinet with all the cards on the (able, and that it was recognised by all the Ministers that a deviation at Palmerston wasthe only means of stopping a serious blockage in the North Island main frank systems. He heard.Mr McVilly impress upon the Palmerston Borough Councillors that the work was regarded as of imperative urgency by his Department, and had: heard him say that only by complete unanimity in regard to details —hitherto somewhat controversial —could the undertaking be put in hand. Mr Nash knew .also that an undertaking had been given by Mr Massey (hat the necessary Authorisation Bill would receive Government support when it came, before the House. Very naturally our member was elated at the rale at which the, preliminaries appeared to be proceeding. And when Mr McVilly, in an interview in the South, expressed (he opinion that the two most important works in New Zealand were yard extensions at Lyttelton and the deviation at: Palmerston North, he very naturally concluded that the wprk only awaited the formality of endorsement by fhe House of Representatives. . .

. . . And Die upshot of it is that “nothing can be done Ibis session, or, indeed, until the Great One himself has followed the processions which have already gone over the Leyin-Grealiord route and found it quite inexpedient and unjustifiable from the national point of view.

. . . If wo could draw a cartoon, it would depict the old parochial campaigners with their lingers well in’ the treacle and happy smiles upon their faces, with a despondent small boy assauging his grief with the corner of bis apron in thedim background. Of course, this sort of thing is not business or efficiency or connuonsen.se, it is polm tics —with the emphasis on the last syllabic. Meanwhile the gentlemen who are working up an agitation to keep the Palmerston raihvay station in the vicinity of Main Street needn’t bother further. Deviations are off!”

THE Palmerston Standard is naturally chagrined and disappointed at the turn affairs have taken. It says Eoxfcon would he better employed in concentrating upon the development of the port. The port needs the concentration of the whole district, and is irrelevant to the railway link. Then the Standard urges a new scheme in preference to the Marton-Levin deviation. Onr contemporary says:—“If the idea is merely to shorten the distance between Auckland and Wellington, a considerably greater saving in mileage could be accomplished by carrying the railway out from Eeilding along the Kimbolton road, by way of Kimbolton, Pemberton, Rangiwahia and Ruahine, to somewhere in the vicinity of Mangaweka.” This, however, would neither relieve the congestion at, or detour round, Palmerston,