A SCAPEGOAT RAILWAY

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIX, Issue 30, 22 January 1929, Page 4

A SCAPEGOAT RAILWAY

JN the course of an interview last week with delegates from the New Zealand Workers’ Union Sir Joseph Ward made special reference to the proposed line of railway between Rotorua and Taupo, on which construction operations were begun before he came into office. With regard to it he intimated his intention to make particular investigation into its possibilities, at the same time throwing out a strong hint that there was every good chance that it would not be carried out. At the same time he could not resist the temptation to make a little political use of the occasion. So we have him reported in the Auckland “Star” as having said: “Because a railway was started for a reason which most of us who are in politics know about, it does not mean we are justified in prosecuting this line if we know beforehand it is not going to pay ordinary interest, or very little interest at all.” There is, of course, only the one interpretation to be placed on this sly inuendo. The impression intended to be conveyed was manifestly that work had been started on this line for purely political considerations that had little regard to public interests. But we may go a little further and not be far wrong in reading some thing more into the petty jibe. That is that Sir Joseph has already pretty well made up his mind that, for the discrediting of his political opponents, this line will have to be either wholly or at least partially condemned, and that whether it is to be for the public benefit or not.

We have ourselves more than ■once expressed grave doubts about the prudence of proceeding, just now at any rate, with the construe tion of this line, an opinion which we see no reason for altering because there has been a change of Government. Sir Joseph Ward also states, with every possibility of stating the truth, that “the strongest representations had been made to him by people in the North Island against the prosecution of this line.” But, however serious the doubts may be of the Rotorua-Taupo line paying its way at an early date, there can be none whatever about the Nelson-West-port connection which Sir Joseph has made a blindfold pledge to complete. There is neither early nor remote prospect of this line ever paying even working expenses, let alone interest on its cost. Nor will it assist in any way in opening up any country in the least possible way calculated to promote his collateral close settlement schemes of which we hear so much. It proceeds through a country that is utterly and hope lessly barren, while all the through traffic is already quite sufficiently met by a motor service. North Island people with any knowledge of the route will be found making much more strenuous representa tions about this line than about the other, which has at least the advantage of being capable of re latively cheap construction. Under these circumstances it lies very strangely in Sir Joseph’s mouth to twit Mr. Coates, whether rightly or wrongly, with having been ac tuated by party motives. He him self can advance no possible motive likely to be accepted for going on with this South Island line except that of ingratiating himself with the leader of the Laboui Party. If he hopes to'divert at tention from this piece of political jobbery by publicly sacrificing the Rotorua-Taupo line as a scapegoat, he will probably find himself very badly disappointed.