BACKBLOCKS RAILWAYS.

Taranaki Daily News, 11 March 1919, Page 7

BACKBLOCKS RAILWAYS.

A SUGESTION. Speaking to 'an Otago Daily Times reporter, Mr J. E. MacManus said it was his intention to write Sir James Allen (Acting Prime Minister) or Sir William Eraser (Minister of Public Works) in connection with the suggestion which he placed before the Industries Committee at its recent sitting in Dunedin respecting the expediency of buying up some of the material and rolling stock of light railways which were used at the front in France, and bringing these out to New Zealand, where they might be utilised with advantage in giving back-block settlers better access to their holdings. Mr MacManus explained that he wished to bring under the notice of the Ministers the fact that many of the officers of the New Zealand Engineer Tunnelling Company, such as Major Vickermann, Captain Thomson, and Captain Collinjis, were engineers in the service of the Public Works Department before the war, and while they have been in Prance they have had a great deal of experience of the light railways to which he referred. That being so, Mr MacManus intends to suggest that these officers could be given authority to select and purchase material and stock on behalf of the New Zealand Government, and on their return to the Dominion their services could also be used with advantage in supervising the laying down of the lines.