LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XXXI, Issue 8750, 26 February 1907, Page 2

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Proposed Marton Light Railway.

Sib, Our present Mayor has brought forward many schemes since he took office, but his last proposal is by no means a light one, considering that Marton is the most heavily taxed town of its size in New Zealand. Although its centre is only about a half-mile from the nearest point to which access could be got by a siding to the railway, the Mayor has proposed to ?onstruct and equip a private railw-ay from Marton to Marton Junction for a distance of about a mile and a half and to saddle the ratepayers with a liability of about £BOO or £IOOO if properly carried out. in the face -of the many liabilities in which the ratepayers an. in-Avcd and the immediate necessity for expenditure in connection with our present almost useless water supply and disgraceful footpaths, etc., I think the proposal is entirely out of place, especially as the only reason given is the desire to save Marton from drifting to the Junction. The private line proposed would save neither time nor money to persons wishing to board either the north or south Gains, as quite as convenient and much less expensive means could he established to convey passengers and luggage from and to the stations (Pukcpapa and Marton Junction) without taxing the ratepayers with what would certainly become a “ white elephant.” A private siding might suit for the gas works and Messrs Zajonskowski Bros, at Henderson’s crossing, and would only mean a very small expenditure. A private railway to the Marton Junction would, in my opinion, have the reverse of the desired effect, and would encourage people to live at the Junction instead of living in Marton, where the rates are becoming so heavy, and so little benefit being derived from them, that residents for the sake of comfort, health and their pockets, must soon bid Marton goodbye, unless the Borough affairs are more economically managed.—l am, etc.

Disgusted Ratepayer, Marton, February 23, 1907.