TUAKAU'S LEVEL CROSSING.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 156, 17 March 1916, Page 2

TUAKAU'S LEVEL CROSSING.

The deadly level crossing problem is exercising the minds of members of the Tuakau Town Board, who very properly have arrived at the conclusion that if an overhead bridge does not replace the existing contact of the railway line with the thoroughfare in the centre of the township known as George street public safety, having regard to the development of the district and the consequent natural increase of population, cannot be assurod and .sooner or later some serious accident with loss of life will bo recorded. The particular crossing, it may be stated, constitutes the approach to Tuakau from liarrisville and the eastern side of the district, and being situated in a cutting it has hidden terrors % users of the road Ajiyeady njany narrow escapes have beon chronicled and if life and limb are to be properly protect ed the erection of a bridge is a vital necessity. As elsewhere, however, the Railway Department show a deplorable reluctance to recognise their responsibility for the protection of human life, and it jv.yujd appear that the motto of the is that railway trains should continue ruuniug aj, all costs aud under all circumstances, and that if life is sacrificed thereby so much the worse for the unfortunate individual or individuals. The railway is of courso State owned, but is it cou< oivable that if a private company owned the lines the Govern- | ment would not insist on proper precautionary methods aud means of <iVc.rt.Uj? dagger being adopted? The Town Boaid eye willing to cou-

struct at the district's expense the approaches to an overhead bridge, but they ask that the bridge itself Bhould be provided by the Bailway Department. Red-tape methods have so far been responsible for the Department refusing to accept what is undoubtedly a fair and reasonable compromise, and the Department suggest that their responsibility would be met by making what they term a substantial contribution towards the cost of a bridge. There matters stand for the present, but it is to be hoped that by the force of public opinion the Government will be induced to act reasonably and will be prepared to provide the bridge leaving the Town Board, us already explained, to mako the approaches.