THE SPRINGBURN RAILWAY LINE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 20010, 19 August 1930, Page 13

THE SPRINGBURN RAILWAY LINE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE PHE^S Sir,—:l see by the, reports in The PnES-3 that the Minister for Railways is determined ■ to dose this line, and remove the whole depot to ,Mt. Somers. Is the Minister l a "super-man, tb?it he can go around dismantling these buildings that' have been built by other men, and been in use for over forty-five years"! Ddcs 'he* never look ahead, or does ho., think., they ..will never be wanted at Springburn again? It is not many years back since there was an agitation to connect Springbuin with Methven, a gap of about twelve miles. I think to close this line will be disastrous to the forming community. (Of course it does not matter about thefarmer these, days, as long as be makes onough to pay his taxes.) They will be exploited by . motor transport,, as it .will be the only outlet for their goods. Some twelve or thirteen years ago the Government acquired the Wairere Estate, and settled about seven, soldiers, on the land. One of the biggest assets at the time of the ballot, which induced a lot to; go to-the ballot, 'was .the railhead, and now those few that managed to hang on to their sections are to ha,ve the railway ' taken " away from them; and'all' this, land is still Crovvn land, and. will drop twenty per cent, in value as soon as they stop the train running. Where does jthe economy come in? - • •• • . . It just means this: That the Minister Railways :is going-to economise at-

the expense of the Minister for Lands. I think it time our railway- chiefs did the '' Hesitation Waltz "-.or the " Goosestep," instead of breaking away at the double, and doing something rash. The two thousand pounds they say it will take to shift the depot will keep the train running until the present Minister's term of office is up.—Yours, etc., . STAVELEY. •August 18th, 1930. ■