THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1911. ELECTRIFICATION OF RAILWAYS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 1032, 12 August 1911, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. SATURDAY, AUGUST 12, 1911. ELECTRIFICATION OF RAILWAYS.

Title Minister .-for the German Railway Department has recently made a. statement in connection with the electrification of the railways, which, is particularly interesting to New Zealanders, as indicating how tfra-n----sit is regarded in Germany. "The electrification of the railways is to be proceeded with. At present electric traction has been adopted on the Dessau-Bittenfeld section, aaid it is to be extended from, Magdeberg to Halle. Further, Bonle mountain railways will be electrified, in the first instance the sections LaufoanHirschberg and CkwiUtz-Koningszelt. The electrification of the Berlin Stadtbalm will ibe continued, hut it will only be carried through when this can be done to the advantage of the State. Next on the Est: come the concessions of electric fast railways—viz., the Oologne-SDnsseldorf and the Wiesbaden-Frankfort~on-the Main railways. The railway between Dusseldorf and Dortmund, planned by the respective municipalities, which l would' run close to the State 'railway, would become a competitor with it. It was originally planned as a if&stfc line, with six stations'; tat this project had been negatived. {The revised plan, which provides for 88 station*,. r "Saijd' which' cannot be looked upon a« interfering with the I t&roafh traffic of th* Stat* railway,

is under tho consideration of tho Ministry. Other fast lines have also been planned, including the Cologne-Elberfeid line, via Solingen, and one from Cologne to Casael, but these two schemes, after a very careful investigation, have been negatived by the authorities in question. The Government, however, did not view such concessions from a, mean or narrow-minded standpoint; on the contrary, they looked with, favour upon a connection between two busy towns. When the Government negatives .orojeets of this nature, it is fully aware that it must itself take the" initiative to a further development of the means of communication, .and steps have already been taken in this direction in the Ruhr district.