WAIROA REJOICES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 July 1939, Page 8

WAIROA REJOICES

OPENING OF RAILWAY SECTION DAILY SERVICE TO NAPIER. NEW CHAPTER IN HISTORY OF HAWKE'S BAY. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WAIROA. This Day. With the official ' opening today of the Wairoa-Napier section of the railway through to Gisborne a new chapter begins in the history of Hawke’s Bay. Wairoa is en .fete for the great occasion, with coloured lights strung across the main street and bunting, greenery and flags everywhere. The Railway Station, where the opening ceremony will take place, is a blaze of colour and should be thronged with crowds of townspeople and settlers from the surrounding districts, to whom the new service brings the dawn of an era of greater progress and closer settlement. The weather is fine and calm. Two standard rail-cars of the Aotea type will be used on the trip between Wairoa and Napier, leaving each terminal twice daily and covering the journey of 72 miles in two hours ten minutes, an average speed of more than thirty miles an hour, allowing for stops at fourteen stations en route. A goods service will be run separately. A weekly rail-car between Wairoa and Wellington will cover the 271-mile trip in 7J hours. Speakers at the opening ceremony will include the Hon R. Semple (Minister of Public Works) and the Hon D. G. Sullivan (Minister of Railways). Mr Semple will later unveil a memorial tablet erected to the memory of those Public Works employees who lost their lives in the construction of the line to Wairoa.

“MIRACLES WORKED” PRAISE FOR PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT. MINISTER DEFENDS POLICY GF EXPANSION. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WAIROA, This Day. Formally opening the Wairoa — Napier sectionmf the East Coast railway today, the Minister of Railways (Mr Sullivan) reviewed railways administration and policy at some length. “It is a privilege,” he observed, “to be present at a time when a whole pro • vince rejoices, as Hawke’s Bay is doing today, at the completion of a necessary work of major economic importance upon which high hopes have been placed through many long years; and I am particularly happy to be a member of the Government whose decisive action has resulted in the line being opened for traffic today, and not at some nebulous date in the dim and distant future, which seemed to be the destiny of the partly completed and partly destroyed railway prior to the present Government’s accession to office.” The Minister said he believed, and he was sure the Minister of Public Works (Mr Semple) would agree with him, that the Napier—Wairoa railway had been built under difficulties unprecedented in the history of railroad construction in New Zealand —a land where engineering problems in railway construction have been extraordinarily plentiful. “All who had occasion to visit the locality after the resumption of this work,” he added, “will agree that the engineers and workmen tackled the job with rare energy and ingenuity, but there was a most disappointing set back when, in April, 1938, huge floods played havoc with their work. Undeterred, however, by this stroke of illfortune, the engineers and their staffs continued to push ahead with the job. They worked miracles in surmounting all the obstacles of the route, and today have the satisfaction of knowing that their epic of effort is rewarded, in the assurance which improved access gives of a brighter and more prosperous future for this important and rapidly developing district.” Mr Sullivan enlarged upon the new inspiration and driving force Mr Semple had brought to bear upon pub lie works administration.

RECORD RAILWAYS YEAR. “There is no doubt in my mind,” Mr Sullivan said, “that the Government’s railway policy, which included the maximum use of existing lines and their extension through hitherto untapped productive territories, has been a major factor in making the railway year just ended the Department’s record year for business done and revenue earned. The railways have been popularised by making them more con >. venient and more serviceable to thepeople. Just how much has been done to improve the railway services in the past three years it would be difficult to convey in any brief form. Some indi cation can be given from the fact that cut of a staff of 25.000, 5,000 arc fully occupied in building new locomotives carriages and wagons and in the main i"nance of the existing rolling-stock at ibe highest point of efficiency. “The present workshops programme includes the building of more than 50 locomotives of the most powerful type —the Ka and Kb steam locomotives and the Ed electric engines—and some of them are already undergoing their trials. Six standard railcars have already been constructed and more arecn the way. Thirtynine new passenger ears of the most modern design including air-conditioned cars equipped with the most comfortable type of seating (the 4-position New Zealand made swivelseat) were put into service during the past twelve months, and 106 additional passenger cars are now cn the Railway workshops building programme. “In the past year 1.400 new wagons for goods and livestock were put into ■-ervice and the workshops-have ano ther 3.500 new wagons under construction. These are among the many activities to improve the present rollingstock position of the railways. ’ The Minister dealt in extenso also with line-improvements and other aspects of railways policy.