BAY OF PLENTY LINE

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 89, 5 December 1931, Page 5

BAY OF PLENTY LINE

(Press. Assn.—

DANGER OF CLOSING ONUS PLACED ON RESIDENTS TO MAKE RAILWAY PAY ITS WAY j NO FINAL DECISION YET :

-By Telegraph — Copyright),

AUCKLAND, Friday, A rumour gained circulation in Waihi this morning that the Railways Board had decided to close the railway line between Paeroa and Taneatua. The truth of this has now been officially denied. No such decision has been reached by the Board. Residents> of the localities served by the line are to be given an opportunity of making the service justify its continuance, and at the expiration of the term allowed — shortly after the close of -the financial year — the whole posi-' t|m will be reviewed by the board. According to Mr; A. W. Wellsted. commercial agent, of the Railway Department at Auckland, all that had happened to date was that a request had been made to the Mayor of Waihi to convene a public meeting, so that the whole position respecting the line could be placed before the residents and the business community. This would enable the present losses to be discussed, and the people to be given an opportunity, like those in the other districts, or retrieving the present State of affairs and proving the need for the retention of the service. If the line were found to be in no better financial position when the review ivas subsequently made, there would he a danger of its being closed. Mr. Wellsted pointed out that public meetings had already been held at Tauranga, Kati Kati, Whakatane and Taneatua, so that all the circumstances could be placed before the people served by the line.