RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 August 1921, Page 7

RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION.

THE MINISTER’S POLICY. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, August 27. The Hon. J. G. Coates, Minister of Public Works, visited Te Awamutu yesterday and inspected the Annahue soldiers’ settlement, which is one of the most successful in the Dominion. He attended the switching-on ceremony, when Mrs. Coates touched a button, flood, ing Te Awamutu with electric light sup. ply from- Horahora. The announcement was made that the power board had arranged a ten years’ loan of £62,000 in Australia at par, seven per cent, interest, being the balance authorised to complete the district scheme. A hundred dairy plants will be connected within a week. Mr. Coats, replying unfavorably to a deputation re the proposed Putaruru railway scheme, said he believed the past policy under which railways resulted indiscriminately from promises of Govern, ment or Mmisters, was wrong. The policy should be, first, that the Public Works Department should survey and estimate the cost of various possible routes; next, the Railway Department should deter, mine the best route for rolling stock: and, finally, the Agricultural Department should report on prospective traffic so that profitable lines would only be built. Concerning electricity, the Government was looking to places like Te Awamutu to demonstrate the extent of the demand for electric power on dairy farms.