THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 1913. WELLINGTON WAKING UP.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 9 April 1913, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 1913. WELLINGTON WAKING UP.

The articles that have appeared in the Age of late, dealing with, the indifference of 'Wellington merchants towards the Wairarafxa, have had the effect of quickening the Wellington Chamber of.Commerce to. action. • At a meeting of the Council of the Chamber on Monday, the President (Mr A. E. .Mabin) reported that he had framed the following reply to the statements m^de: — "The articles suggest that there is an indifference on the part of Wellington merchants to the development of the Wairarapa. I would like to say to our friends over the hills that we are not indifferent —we long for some means of bringing this great district from which we derive so much of our produce, into closer touch and communication, and any, practical means of doing so will receive the hearty support of this Chamber. We recognise that every five minutes saved in tho long journey over the Rimutakas is a gain to the community, and we have helped during the year to speed up the railway services. We recognise that a good highway to the Wairarapa would enable city people to get to the Wairarapa and Wairarapa people to get to the city in under two hours from Featherston, and we .have urged upon the Featherston County Council and the Hutt County Council that they should jointly devise means for improving very materially the present road communication over the hills, but neither of these bodies have shown a very great attempt to do so. If wo have not joined in any application for a railway _ deviation over the Rimutakas it ds not .because we do not feel the necessity for suck » work

to be undertaken, but because we | have not, under tho financial con- | ditions now and recently existing, felt justified in asking the Government to expend the amount which the work would require, but :f tho Government can find the money w<> shall joyfully join in urging that the work be undertaken. We have not hitherto urged the construction of the Masterton-Waipukurau line for practically the same reason. Wo liave asked for plans and further •particulars, and will send representatives to go over the route witb the Minister of Public Works, so that wo may Ik; better able n judge of the necessity of the work, and can assure our country friends of our best endeavours to help them in all matters which w:ll ttv.d tf; develop the Wairarapa district." The reply of Mr Mabin is about the weakest that could be offered. The Wellington people, we are told, long for >some means of bringing the great Wairarapa district into closer touch with the sea-board. This longing has induced the Chamber to urge the Featherston and Hutt County Councils to improve the road communication over the Rimutakas. The road communication, if you please! A road that would cost as much to put into decent order a s the r>ection between the Hutt and Wellington i A road that is useless so far as freights and ordinary traffic is concerned:! A wad that is almost exclusively used by motorists! Anil what of the Rimutaka deviation? The Chamber tells us, in all sincerity, tbat.it has not felt justified in ui'ging this work oil the Government because of the .financial conditions tlutta have existed. Financial conditions, forsooth ! Did these conditions prevent the Wellington folk demanding the straightening of the Hutt line, at a cost of nearly Ixalf a million? Did they prevent the Chamber from urging a report on the duplication of the West Coast, Line, which would cost an enormous sum of money ? Have they prevented the Auckland people from obtaining huge grants for railways !-.> feed their city? Apd the Wellington Chamber ha® not hitherto urged the construction of the MastertonWaipukurau line for practically the same reason. Without takm/, the slightest steps to discover -first hand the importance of improved railway communication along the East Coast, without troobling itself about the necessities of the backblocks settler,;, the Wellington Chamber ha-s cone'tided that the financial position of the country did'not justify the advocacy of the -work. We repeat that the reply is the weakest that could be offered. However, it is a long lane that has not a turning point. That point in the indifference of Wellington appears now to have been reached. Our Wellington friends express a dp. sire to be of service to this district, and have appointed to accompany the Mitr.ster of Public Works in his tour of the backblock.;. We welcome, this action, for wo tegard it as the first step towards a combination of effort that wiil produce beneficial results for both Wellington and the Wairarapa. If town and country pull together and have a determined front, the lower portion of the North Island, the resomees of which are illimitable, may yet come to its own.