PAHIATUA TO PONGAROA.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10075, 24 August 1910, Page 6

PAHIATUA TO PONGAROA.

SHOULD THERE BE A KAILWAY? Mr Diivid Crewe, ex-Mayor of Pahiatua, addressed a public meeting in Pahiatua on Monday evening in advocacy of th 3 construction of a railway line between that district and Pongaroa. He stated that h-is object in calling the meeting was to rouse the people from their slumbers and try [to prevent Master ton from robbing them of their birthright. Mr Crewe dwelt at considerable length upon the carrying capacity of the district between Pahiatua and Pongaroa, of the fertility of the soil, the acreage and the population. He urged that a 3ft 6in gauge railway could be constructed to Pongaroa, via Makuri, at a cost of £160,000, as estimated by a competent engineer. He proposed that the necessary power Bhould be provided by electricity generated at Makuri. At the conclusion of his address, Mr Crewe moved:—"That, in the opinion of the meeting, it is desirable that a Railway League be formed to prosecute the proposal for an electric railway and power scheme from Pahiatua to Pongaroa, and to work in conjunction with the member for the district; and that a deputation consisting of the mem' bers of the League and the Pahiatua and Akitio County Councils and Pahiatua Borougti Council, and of the Pahiatua Chamber of Commerce, be appointed to wait on the Prime Minister, and to urge) the construction of the said railway either by the Government or the local bodies." The motion was seconded by Mr Osbourne-Lilley, and j| carried unanimously. Mr Crewo stated that he did not wish it to be thought that he was working against Masterton. He was not. He was merely reviewing the whole question, and was showing what had been done- by Pahiatua in the past, and why the line should go there. At the conclusion a fairly large number of names of influential citizens was handed in as being willing ' to become members of the League.