The Times. PUBLISHED ON TUESDAY' AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. "We nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." TUESDAY, AUGUST 26. 1919 CATTLE SUBWAY.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 8, Issue 459, 26 August 1919, Page 2

The Times. P UBLISHED ON TUESDAY' AND FRIDAY AFTERNOONS. "We nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in malice." TUESDAY, AUGUST 26. 1919 CATTLE SUBWAY.

When dealing with certain topics of local interest lately we have felt constrained to remark that in past years the town's public men were lacking in foresight and imagination, and in consequence the town te not at present In as forward a state as it ought to be. Ironically enough, when wisdom and long vision were displayed in given instances, these qualities were sometimes baulked of fruition because the possessors of them were overridden by mfcre powerful forces. The proposal that a cattle subway should be constructed south of the Pukekohe Railway Station is an instance in point, During the vogue of the town board at Pukekohe, shortly before the borough was formed (Mr R. F. Webster being chairman at the time), the board, backed by public opinion, endeavoured to induce the Railway Department to provide the subway referred to. At that date this would have been a simple matter, as the filling in of the Sow-lying stretch opposite Messrs Buckland's saleyards was then being done. The Department, very unfortunately, failed to visualise the very apparent prospective need for such a cattle traffic provision, and turned the proposal down. And now the inevitable has duly come to pass : the town of Pukekohe has grown to proportions making it imperative that a suitable stock route be provided, whereby stock from both east and west can be driven to the saleyards and show grounds without having to pass through the main streets At pres nt the cattle are driven in from ihe east, over the railway bridge at Manukau road, and on to the yards, breaking down the footpath formation arid causing inconvenience to school children and adults, vehicular traffic, and also to the stock drovers. From the west the stock are driven via Harris Street, where much the same thing occurs -but here the menace to the safety of school children will be greatly incieased when the proposed Franklin Technical High School is built. In both directions there is the menace to the three classes ot people abovementioned, the dislocation of vehicular traffic, and the damage to footpaths that no local body could he expected to keep them in repair under such circumstances. That a new route is essential h a proposition, it is safe to assert, that meet;., with general approval, il i. necessary in the interests ot Ihe children mid I he adult citi- /.\ ns, including, as pieviousl • staled, I lie stock drovers them st.l\a % I'M the lallei would eei taiulv lalliei lake cattle a slioit distance further round than h • hampered bv having to drive them through a busy thoroughfare. The case for refonu bavin; 1 , been stated with the bn vitv compulsory within the limits of a single newspaper article -let u - straightway deal with the change ; about to be advocated by various bodies concerned. 11 is con tended that, to cop" with vehicular tratlic from the east, th half-chain road now leading to the Sta ion should be widened to one chain, at least, and deviated I) connect, just nortii ot the Station, w iih v\ hat i. know . as tli • Roulslon - IJcrrimau road. The half-chain road is really the pro petty of the Railway Department, and the public at present has the use of it by courtesy only. At, auv time the Department coull close it and lock '.lie gates. The idea is t-> w.d nil for a portion < t it ii-ngl li, and the I lepariinent I could 'ill have t! " remainder j fene.-d off, and if it was then de- '

elded to close the road to the | public, except at certain hours, no such inconvenience would result as might occur at any time now. The deviation would cut across where the station-master's house now stands, but we understand that the Department contemplates removing the residence at some future date, when the Station may be converted into an island one. On the RoulstonBerriman road all would be easy going, as the Pukekohe Borough Council is at present widening the road, and obstructing telephone poles are being removed. By means of a subway below the Station, the stock could be taken to the yards without having to travel on the Manukau road. The drovers would use the road past Dr Wake's corner, and down the Roulston-Berriman road and on to the . übway. So much for the east. Now we will deal with the west. On this side the formation of a road through certain properties is contemplated, in order to give direct access from Nelson Street to the sale and Station yards, the subway being a connecting link between east and west A:, soon as the new high school is built the wisdom of such will be at once apparent. Naturally enough, parents would view with grave misgivings the risks their children might he exposed to on sale and Agricultural and Pastoral Show days were the scholars obliged to use a road along which hundreds of cattle, also vehicles and horses, passed to and fro during the hurry of sale and Show times. And, being human like the rest of us, the drovers would also feel very uneasy under such conditions, to say nothing ot the attendant inconvenience, of droving,

The propositions being outlined, we must now come to ways and means. It is" obvious that the local bodies cannot undertake the whole of this reconstruction work on their own shoulders : the Government must be asked to provide the subway, at the very least. Maybe some people will say that such a request would be tantamount to " parish pump politics," but we would respectfully anticipate such an objection by pointing out that for the last ffve years—owing to the warvery little has been asked for by this district, and practically nothing has been obtained, beyond certain grants to the Franklin Conuty Council, which had teen promised before the war broke out, In fact, it Is sometimes asserted that the Franklin electorate is unfortunate in that It is represented by one in the delicate position of Prime Minister. Being fully aware of the fact that partisans are always only too ready to make political capital out of his actions, the Rt. Hon. W. F. Massey has been very chary of shewing favours to his own constituency. Now, as the Times is a non-party paper, and caters for people of all shades of political opinion, in the Franklin, Raglan, and Manukau Countiesbirring extremists of the Bolsheviki order on the one hand, and out-and-out individualistic profiteering capitalists on the other —we can respect Mr Massey's sentiments. But there comes a point where the sacrifice of public interests, and the welfare ot the community, in deference to nice scruples, is no further justifiable. We submit that this point is now reached, and that it is time the Franklin County, at anyrate, received back a due share of the public money the wealth of the County which is due to the industry and enterprise of the people, and the fertility of the soil—has contributed, in the form of direct and indirect taxation, to the Govcruuieut coffers. Doubtless the Member for Franklin will be visiting his electorate shortly, and we trust that, our leading public men will then lay before him the legitimate claims of the County, including the request that a cattle subway be provided.