THE RAILWAY DEVIATION

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2346, 25 October 1921, Page 2

THE RAILWAY DEVIATION

Mr W. 11. Field, M.P., has again given notice in the House of Representatives to move for a return showing, in detail, the cost of the recent Royal Commission on the proposed railway deviation at Palmerston North. In commenting on this, the M.D. Times says:—He should also ask for a statement as to who was responsible for the setting up of the Commission. The Railway Department and the Government were so satisfied with the- ui’gonoy of the deviation that they placed the work upon the list of important authorisations. But the strings were pulled by somebody, to delay the undertaking, and to put the country to the cost of an expensive Commission. Who were the wire-pullers'? Was the member for Otaki one of them? If he was not, the Government- should exonerate him of all responsibility. If he was, then it should be made clear that the member who asks for the cost of the Commission was one of those who pressed the Government to incur the needless expenditure. Had the report of the Commission favoured the Levin-Greatford deviation, Mr Field and his colleague, the member for Manawntu, would probably have had nothing to say about the cost to the country. The request of the member for Otaki appears to be inspired by a dog-in r file-manger spirit that is characteristic of the parish 1111111)1 politician, but is unworthy of one who has at heart the welfare of the Dominion as a whole.