SUGGESTED RAILWAY DEVIATION

Evening Post, Volume CI, Issue 50, 28 February 1921, Page 10

SUGGESTED RAILWAY DEVIATION

I* Til ESITOX. S(jf,fTh» Government has apparently Mkfrt lftio considsration the enormous coat a« the pfopewed wsrk at Palmerston North antl has appointed a Commission to inquire into'tha necessity of the undertaking. Aa Hi& Commission is to report by Ist March, anc^ apparently the public has no opportunity of being heard here, I wish to emplwlioally protest against Iho proposed expenditure of £500,000. A few years ago Mr. Hiley estimated that with an expenditure of £40,000 there was ample accommodation on the present site. I understand that part of thvs amount was j esponded in purchasing property for exI tensions, and that thfe Department has an area of two chains widq by fifty chains long at present not utilised. This space should be (sufficient for ieveral years, as there has only been a 15 per cent, incroaso in tonnage carried during the Jast ten years. No departmental figures aro available as to the cost of a deviation at Palmerston N., but it is estimated that the cost of filling alone would be considerably in excess of the total cost of new station and^ alterations at present site. Since the deviation proposal -was rushed through Parliament, the financial position of the Dominion surely cannot allow of a large expenditure in view of the vp.ry necessary I requirements of hydro-electricity and other wants. A delay of a few. years would in any case be profitable, as works of such magnitude would be carried out 25 por cent, cheaper in every probability then.—l am,' etc., J. NOBLE. 26th February.