STRATFORD RAILWAY.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 October 1920, Page 6

STRATFORD RAILWAY.

THE STOPPAGE RESETTED. . A TARANAKI PROTEST. DISCUSSED BY PROGRESS LEAGUE, A united protest from the whole of ! Taranaki against the proposal of thej Minister of Public Works to discou- ; tinue work on the west end of the i Stratford-Okahukura railway, when • completed to Tahora was made sit a ■ special meeting of the executive of the • Taranaki Progress League held at \ Stratford yesterday morning. The j Mayor of Stratford (Mr. ,1. W. Me- ' Millan) presided, and there were sil.-o i present Mesrs. C J. Belcher, E. J. Wal- ' ter, E. Dixon, J. B. Richards, and W. '; P. Kirkwood. Apologies for imavuid- j able absence were received from Jlevrs. I J. A. Clarke (Mayor of New Ply- ' mouth), J. Connett (Taranaki County I Council), R. H. Piggott (Clifton County j Council), and T. MePhillip3 (Waimate ; West. County Council). ; The secretary read a telegram from I the secretary of the Tahora .Settlers' j Association as follows: "This Aesocia-1 tion views with alarm the report, as 1 appearing in the Press that the (Joy- ! eminent proposes to stop all work 011 ; the railway ahead of Tahora, and enters, j an emphatic protest. Trusting you w ill ; immediately take action." The chairman said that after con- : sideration of the Public AV'orks State- \ ment, in regard to what was proposed i to bo done in Taranaki, he had felt it j his duty to call a special meeting of the executive. In his opinion Tara- I naki had been badly left, particularly { after the statement .jnade by the Minister to the recent deputation, that when the Public W'orks Statement war, ] issued, Taranki would have, nothing to' complain of. He considered they had a great deal to complain of and they should voice their complaint emphatically. The Minister of Public Works had gone back on his avowed intention as stated a.t Straford; thai main lines would receive consideration before other lines, and it was hard to understa>id why the Minister should stop work on the Stratford-Okahukura. line beyond Tahora. The Tangarakau coal, which was badly needed throughout the province, especially by the dairy companies, would be held up as a result of the Ministers decision. He moved the following resolution: "That this Leaguo views with grave concern and emphatically protests against the suggestion of the Minister of Puhlic Works to discontinue work on the west end of the Stnutford-Okahakura railway, when complete to Tahora. If this suggestion is carried into effect it will be in violation of the Minister of Public Work.-, stated policy of completing main trunk lines before other lines in the Dominion. The League asks an assurance from the Prime Minister, the Right Hon. Mr. W. F. Massey and the Minister of Public Works, the Hon. J. B. Coates tnat, ( the retrograde step of stopping work it Tahora will not be carried out." The resolution was seconded by Mr , Belcher. Mr. Kirkwood remarked that when the line was brought from Ohura to a few miles the other side of Tahora, it would take five years to complete it on account of the very heavy tunnel work at Tahora.

The chairman: It seems as though the Government are punishing Taranaki for its political sins.

Mr. Walter said that if the Minister was sincere in his statement that lie wished to have the main lines completed first, he would get on with Hie heavy work at Tahora instead of leaving it and getting on with the easier work. In consequence of the Minister's proposal, the Tangarakau coal -tell i would not be opened up, and the dairy companies would suffer, the freezing works would suffer, and the port of i Taranaki would suffer. It was a hardship on the whole of Taranaki to stop the work beyond Tahora, M.r Richards said there seemed to be

a certain policy in regard to northeastern Taranaki which had been adopted by not only the present Government but by previous Governments This was to the effect that the Tangarakau Gorge was to be the dividing line between Taranki and the other parts of the North Island. If that policy was behind the Minister's decision it was quite wrong, and they should not let it go by the board because, as Mr. Kirkwood' had pointed out, not only was the work at the west end very difficult, but the other end was fairly easy a;i'l they had been liberal minded and never i opposed construction of the east end. The result of the Minister's propo=al was going to be that Ohura, a portion of Taranaki was being forced the other way, and it was not right that any Government should force trade in any particular direction. The Government's duty was to provide proper means of transport and let the trade flow through its natural channels, which in the case of Ohura should be through the port of Taranaki. The public should realise that if the railway was brought

'through Matiere to Ohura and then to Tatu, there was going to be that barrier simply because of the rough wurk at Tahora, and the province would suffer in consequence. The province was being badly treated, and they had protested before against the policy which had as its basis, the making of the Tankarakau Gorge as the dividing line between Taraiinlci and Auckland. Mr. Dixon said the. matter was of such great importance that every local body in Taranaki should be urged to send it* protest to the Government. The resolution was carried unanimously, and it was decided to telegraph it to the five Taranaki members of Parliament and ask them to bring full .pressure to bear on the Government,

THE RAILWAY LEAGUE. NEGLECT OF THE WEST END. The annual meeting of the. Stratford Railway League was held on Wednesday evening, the chairman (Mr. W. P. Kirkwood) presiding over a small attendance of members. The chairman moved the adoption of the annual report (already published in the Daily News), and the balancesheet. The balance-sheet showed that the receipts had amounted to £4O fe 6d, and there was a credit balance on hand of £l4 5s Cd. ■ Speaking to the motion, the chainvaii said that the primary business of the League had been to urge on the completion of the Stratford Main Trunk railway, and it was very regrettable that the line had proceeded so slowly. They realised that during the war it m act jHSMibl* to »u*h en &a Un*

With the expedition they would like to| see, but the facts were that the line! had not heen pushed on with expedi-1 tion either before or since the war. Now j the Minister had decided' to stop the j work beyond Tahora, and if Mr. Coates | ,adhered to his policy as enunciated in I lhe Public Works Statement, a very grave injustice would be done to rlie | whole of Taranaki. He had no hesita- \ tiiticin in saying that the Stratford- j Okahukura line wa'. flic most '■ line uncompleted of the main lines in j the Dominion, and (lie Prime Minister; himself had stated that when the line ; ; was opened up it would relieve the. ! other lines of :i very coiuilkferatjle ■ . amount of iraliii-. It had been >,;::•- j gested thai, the ttoppage of the wo,-::! 1 was a punishment for their political; : sins, but, he hardly thought Mr. Mas- i : sey or Mr. Coates would take up that i attitude.

In order to give members an idea of the way the west end had been treated in regard to the labor, Mr. Kirkwood stated that in February, 1919, the east end had 11 men, and the west end 41. In March the figures were 8(1 and 41 iespeetively, in April 0!) and 38, June SC and 42, July 87 and 48, August 102 and 57, September 111 and 58. October 101 and 59, November 93 and 81, December 79 and 01, Jan. 1920, 75 and 54, .February CS and 4S.

As far as the comparison was concerned, he had nothing to say, and he would be pleased if double the nuinher were employed at both ends. What wa? wanted was that (he work should oroceed as expeditiously as possible, but there was no chance of the line belnjj completed within a reasonable time unless many more men were employed 011 the west end. The reason for the Minister's proposal to stop the work beyond Tahora appeared to be that t'i« work at the east end was easier and the line would serve a greater number of settlers in quicker time. He contended, however, that that was i-'-sufticient reason for stopping at Tahora. It was only a question of expediency and no question of expediency at one end should be allowed to overshadow the completion of the line as a whtie. From the time the line was completed from Ohura to the west side of Tahora it would take at least five years before it could be linked up on account of the very heavy construction work irvolved. It had been stated' that the section to Ohura would be completed within a few months, but now the time was stated to be a year. If that was the case with the present progress of the line, there seemed no hope of it being completed under fifteen or twenty years, especially considering the time that had been t.aken in completing thv line from Stratford to Tahora.

The motion for the adoption of tho report and balance-sheet was seconded by Mr. J. W. McMillan and cavrieo unanimously. Mr. W. P. Kirkwood was re-elciited chairman of the League, and Messrs. L M. Moss. J. AY. McMillan. W. McDonald, C. Martin, E. H. Young, ,T S Lyons, and C. B. Walsh were elected members of the executive. A resolution protesting against tlvi proposals of the Minister of Publr-3 Works in regard to the. west, end of the Stratford-Okahukura, railway, was carried unanimously.