WAIRARAPA RAILWAY

Evening Post, Volume XCVII, Issue 26, 30 January 1919, Page 7

WAIRARAPA RAILWAY

IMPROVED FACILITIES WANTED.

(81 TELEGRAPH.—SPBCJAL TO TBE POST.)

MASTERTON, This Day. A special meeting of the Farmers' Union held in Masterton yesterday discussed the question of improved railway facilities for Wairarapa. The chairman (Mr. Hugh Morrison) stated that while tho war was in progress they simply had to conform to the circumstances created without protest. The war being over, it was imperative that an improved railway service should be instituted, and unless the' Wairarapa set up a determined agitation, it would probably get left. He held that the service was totally inadequate to serve such an important district. Mr. Sykes, M.P., held that no adequate service could ever be supplied while the Rimutaka incline stood in the way. He stated that surveys of routesfor a deviation were in course of progress at the outbreak <# the war, and the district was justified in urging that these be completed at the earliest possible moment, in order to enable the Government to decide upon the most acceptable. He contended that flag stations oirthe other side of the Rimutaka should be eliminated from the list of stopping places of Wairarapa trains as a means of speeding up. In conclusion, Mr. Sykes stated that the deviation of the Rimutaka incline would prove an; economic and commercial boon, not only to the Wairarapa, but to the Dominion as a whole. He suggested that a deputation wait upon the Minister of Bailways during the next session of Parliament in respect to the service. On the motion of the Chairman, it was decided that the Executive Committee of the Farmers' Union should arrange for a deputation to wait upon the Minister of Railways.