"BORDER-LINE CASE."

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 238, 7 October 1932, Page 5

"BORDER-LINE CASE."

STRATFORD RAILWAY. DECISION TO COMPLETE IT. EXCLUSION OF COMPETITION". Dealing in its annual statement with the Stratford-Okahukura line, the Railway Board, reporting to Parliament today, says: '"The board investigated the position of this line very closely, and after a good deal of anxious consideration it came to the conclusion that, taking account of all the facts involved, the case might be considered as. a borderline one. "The board decided, therefore, that, having regard to the advanced stage of the work and the comparatively small expenditure that was required to complete the construction work, the line •should be completed. In recording this decision the board wishes to emphasise that if the policy is adopted of providing the railway as a means of transport for the development of the district that policy should also include a strict avoidance of the waste that would be involved in duplicating the means of transport by expenditure on roads parallel to the railwav or on plant to operate over the roads "in competition with the railway. "Stated in definite terms, the board desires to say that a decision to complete the railway as a means-of transport for the district should imply, for the purposes both of expenditure on roads and the application of the principles of the Transport Act, 1931, that the railway is to be regarded as the means of transport for the district )} to the exclusion of competitive services.