THE H.B. TRIBUNE. SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1911. THE RAILWAY AND THE HARBOUR.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 87, 25 March 1911, Page 4

THE H.B. TRIBUNE. SATURDAY, MARCH 25, 1911. THE RAILWAY AND THE HARBOUR.

The Hon. R. McKenzie, Minister for Public Works, arrived at Napier this evening, and it has been arranged that a deputation from the East Coast Railway League should

meet him and discuss several matters of interest to that body. First and foremost in this discussion looms the all important matter of urging an immediate start of the railway from the Napier and Gisborne ends. By a singular coincidence, while the League at its meeting on Thursday was deciding upon making this request, the Minister I at Gisborne was telling the Chamber of Commerce there that “in a I few months they would be ready to ■ start at both ends of the Hawke’s i Bay-Gisborne railway, and that it

I would be one of the most import- • ant lines in the Dominion.” The I League’s request therefore is ■ granted before it is made, and the • way is left open for the delegates jto impress other facts upon the j Minister’s mind. In this direction jwe hope that advantage will be I taken of the Minister’s presence to I further emphasise the already re- • cognised importance of the proposed railway. It can be pointed i out to Mr. McKenzie that Hawke’s • Bay is at last unanimous in its in- ! tention to make a thorough and ‘ unbiased investigation of the Har- : bour question with the view of sei lecting the site which lends itself j naturally and most readily as a I haven, and of proceeding at once with a vigorous policy of construction. They can tell him that the object of the district is now to possess a harbour that will serve i the whole of the East Coast, a harbour which will make Napier a j great commercial centre —a harbour which the New Zealand naval

, squadron can use firstly as a port ! of call and later as an outlying sta- ; tion of the N.Z. naval base. It is from the harbour that is to be that i the railway will derive almost all I its importance. For commercial purposes the railway will be next to useless unless it serves the ships which bring our imports and carry | away our exports. For defence purj poses it will be useless unless it I provides for the rapid delivery of ; defence forces to the point of at- ! tack. In peace and in war the railj way and the harbour, unless ini separably linked, will be but of lit- , 1 tie service to the nation. This fact ! in a general sense is emphasised in I Lord Kitchener’s recommendation I to facilitate the use of railway communications in war time. In this

way it can be shown the Minister that Hawke’s Bay-Gisborne railway and the Napier Harbour are joined in the scheme of national commercial development and of national defence. .Looking’ at the two undertakings from this aspect they assume even a greater import-, ance than may have occurred to the ; Minister at the moment when, on Wednesday, he gave expression to his view that the railway would be one of the most important lines in the Dominion. It is the duty of the delegates to see that all the infer-

mation possible is supplied to the Minister. He should be taken to Port Ahuriri and Mr. Leslie Reynolds and Mr. George Nelson should be invited to show him what is proposed to be done, the engineers to explain to him the possibilities of harbour construction and the object of the proposal to build across

the lagoon a combined road and railway embankment to take the place of the condemned Westshore bridge. We think that if the delegates decide to work unanimously in the direction we have indicated the Minister will see at once that the railway, which by his recom- : mendation has been authorised by i the Government, is indeed the most important public work yet under J taken in New Zealand. The deleI gates will have, at any rate, a

splendid case to lay before Mr. Mc- ' Kenzie, and with a little organisation they should have no difficulty in convincing him that the proper thing to do is to push on with all i speed the work of construction.