PROSPECTS EXAMINED

Dominion, Volume 27, Issue 68, 13 December 1933, Page 14

PROSPECTS EXAMINED

Napier-Gisborne Railway REPORT RELEASED By Telegraph.—Press Association. Gisborne, December 12. A coniprehetisive report dealing with the prospects of the railway between Gisborne and Napier has been prepared bv the local railway committee. 'After exhaustive investigations into the possible traffic, and revision of the estimated cost of completion, the report shows that the Operations would return 5 94 per Cent, on (he remaining capital outlay, allowing for the payment of exchange at the present rate. On par exchange the return would be approximately 6.6 per cent. The Inquiry covers every aspect or the project, and in particular dissects and reveals weaknesses in the official report upon Which the Railway Board recommended the abandonment of the line. The board is claimed to have made a very siirsory inspection of the district and route, and to have based its estimates of revenue on the results of operating the Taneatua branch, disregarding the fact that Gisborne is a far more important terminal, being one of the largest provincial towns in the Dominion, that there is only one practical outlet southwards, that road competition with the railways i s impossible in view of the hilly, tortuous roads, and that prospects of development of the East Coast district are greater than in any other part of New Zealand.. The estimated cost of completing the line tinder the changed conditions is set down at apprOxiniately £1,000,006, of which nearly half is represented by labour costs, upon which it is contended a subsidy of £lOO,OOO Would be provided by the Unemployment Board. The net revenue is calculated oh most cohsefva-. tite estimates. The traffic offering would aniotinf to £55,547,. compared with overhead costs £52,682. These figures are based on immediate results, but the report refers to the progress which has followed the provision of rail chnnecion In other parts of the Dominion. The cohimittee is waiting for a report on construction aspects by the district Public Works engineer, after which the whole of the data amassed will be availa'ble for consideration by the Government or by any p’Hvatd company which might be interested in. the project following the legislation of fast session.