THE EAST COAST LINE

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 49, 26 August 1931, Page 10

THE EAST COAST LINE

GISBORNE-WAIKOKOPU

PETITION FOR RESUMPTION

OF WORK

A petition with the names of S-iOO signatures of people resident in Gisborne and Wairoa and tho Cook, Waikohu, Uawa, Matakaoa, and Wairoa counties attached was presented in the House of Representatives yesterday by Mr. \Y. D. Lysnar (Independent, Gisborne) asking that, the work on the Waikokopu-Gisbornc railway line, which was suspended by the present Government, be resumed.

The petitioners submit that the immense amount of construction work already completed must have a considerable bearing on the economic side of tho question. They maintain that the district served by the line, owing to its isolation and geographical situation, can never be developed to its full capacity without railway communication. It is further submitted that the Gisbornc and East Coast district is hampered and restricted in its development by the lack of railway communication with other parts of the Dominion. The area, volume of trade, and general importance of the district, it is claimed, entitle it to connection with tho railway system of the Dominion, and it is pointed out that the district has contributed largely toward the railway system for more than .'SO yeu'rs without diH-iving any liciiclil. *H is staled that llu? harbour frieilitios are inadequate for I lie iieeilj* ■>(' I In.' iliislru-l, while tlio mail access, north :iml south, into tlie district, is over high ranges, with heavy grades, uarrow formation, and sharp bends.

It is further submitted that when the Napier-Waikokopu connection is complete a sum of nearly £4,000,000 will have been spent without Poverty Bay, the source of revenue which alone justified the line, being tapped, and that only 20 miles of the suspended Gisbornc-Waikokopu section, on which considerable work has already been done, remains to be completed to connect Gisboruc with the railway system «o the south.