THE WATERFRONT RAILWAY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 72, 25 March 1915, Page 4

THE WATERFRONT RAILWAY.

It appears that the advocates of the waterfront railway are still engaged in misleading the public by assuring all and sundry that the protest against tho destruction of Campbell's Point and Judge's Bay is an attempt to block Mr. Hiley's project and to rob Auckland of the traffic accommodation that it requires. We must point out once more, that this is a thoroughly disingenuous piece of misrepresentation. Xobody who has objected to the defacement and spoliation of our waterfront has, so far as We know, the slightest desire to obstruct •Mr. Hiley or to prevent him from carrying out his scheme for the improvement of Auckland's railway system. All that wp have ever suggested is that, considering the grievous nnd irretrievable loss which the destruction of the waterfront would inflict upon Auckland and its people, it would be well to make certain that there is no possible or practicable alternative route, before the damage is irreparable. On this- question i the people of Auckland hive so far had no satisfactory statement of the case put before them; and we hope that they i will proceed to take the necessary measures to render their protests effective. We may remark again that Mr. ! Hiley has very largely given away the case for tho railway round the foreshore by admitting that in a- few years Mechanics' Ray will not be large enough for the Department's needs, and it will then be necessary to go further afield to find space for engine shops and shunting yards. This means that in a very short time Hobso.n Bay or some other open area further removed from the city must be utilised for these purposes. But if this is so, why not make adequate provision for tho near future in the present scheme? It must not be forgotten that the only tangible objection to the proposal for saving tho waterfront by talcing the railway out of Mechanics' Bay through a tunnel is that this would cut up the reclaimed area in the bay nnd spoil it us a shunting yard. But if Mechanics' Bay is to be only a temporary stopgap, why should the Department destroy the waterfront to secure a space that will soon be too restricted for our goods traffic? It appears to ug that this is a question .-which the; pconjo of Auckland have a right to ask, and to insist upon a definite answer. But we repeat that this does not imply any wish or attempt to obstruct Mr. Hilcy or to prevent the Department from supplying Auckland with adequate railway accommodation; and no one whose sense of reason and justice is not hopelessly distorted by prejudice could possibly interpret our defence of the waterfront in any such way.- But the authorities have so far signally ignored the public, and done nothing to show that an effort has been made to find an alternative scheme to proposals which everyone must acknowledge are open to the gravest objection.