LYTTELTON STATION

Press, Volume C, Issue 29626, 23 September 1961, Page 12

LYTTELTON STATION

New Building On Wharf < Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, Sept. 22. Preliminary work on the construction of a new railway station at the Lyttelton ferry wharf will begin soon. This information was given in the House of Representatives today by the Minister of Railways (Mr McAlpine) in reply to an urgent plea from Mr N. E. Kirk (Opposition, Lyttelton) that better facilities for express steamer passengers should be provided.

‘‘These are the most primitive railway terminal conditions in New Zealand,” said Mr Kirk. “It must be remembered also that they exist at the gateway to the South Island. More than 180.000 people use the steamer express service every year.

“Unless you backhand someone to put your bag in a first-class carriage, you have to carry it the length of the wharf and half-way round the railway yards in search of a seat in one of those coaches And the coaches were old when the Minister was young—which is saying something.” Mr Kirk said he had seen Mr McAlpine shivering often enough between ship and train on cold mornings in Lyttelton. Mr McAlpine said there was an item on the estimates for £6OOO for preliminary work for the replacement of the station at Lyttelton.

He agreed with Mr Kirk about the primitive nature of the facilities, but there were many difficulties involved.

“When I was chairman of the Lyttelton Harbour Board during the war, I hoped something could be done to improve facilities," he said "But there was more to it than that If you put a proper terminal building on the wharf, it would be impossible to use the wharf for anything else but passenger services. You could not load or discharge cargo there. “The Lyttelton Harbour Board is not prepared to sacrifice a loading wharf at this site.”

Mr Kirk: What about when the new development is complete? Mr McAlpine: I don’t know.