TO CONTINUE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 252, 24 October 1932, Page 8

TO CONTINUE.

RAILWAY ON EAST COAST. BOARS MAKES DECISION. GENERAL MANAGER'S LETTER, (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) TAURANGA, Saturday. The decision to continue for the present the operation of the East Coast railway line and to afford the requisite services is made in a letter which has been received by Mr. J. S. Thompson, secretary of the Tauranga branch of the Farmers' Union, from Mr. P. G. Roussell, general manager of railways. This announcement has been received with satisfaction by residents of the Bay of Plenty. Some time ago the Railways Board made it clear that unless it received adequate support, the question of closing the line must be considered. Meetings were held, and a campaign instituted to encourage railway goods and passenger traffic. In giving evidence before the Transport Appeal Board in Auckland some months ago, an officer of the Department said that about £33,000 was lost annually in working the line- The service was perfectly adequate, but if the people wanted the railway they had to use it. It was a question of which form of transport the people of the Bay of Plenty wanted —road or rail. The Farmers' Union some while, ago passed the following motion: "That this union considers that all road transport should ba charged the full costs of roads; that the Railways Board should allow a further period of several years before taking the extreme step of closing the East Coast line; and that in the meantime all farmers and business firms give the railway all possible support."