A NERVOUS ATTACK.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9743, 7 March 1914, Page 4

A NERVOUS ATTACK.

Wangantji is in danger just now of developing "nerves." Recently that | very enterprising port suffered a severe shock because the defence authorities, realising that Palmerston's central position gave it undeniable advantages over other towns, decided that the headquarters of the Seventh Regiment must be shifted from Wanganui. Our friends of the river port immediately smelt a glaring injustice and much excited argu-

ment ensued. Unfortunately it dwelt rnoro 011 the loss Wanganui would sustain than on the general good' that would accrue to the countryside, and the Defence Department gently but firmly declined to listen to the parochialisms that were uttered. As a result Palmerston is evidently suspected of having sinister designs on everything that the river port possesses, and our contemporaries in that place are jealously guarding the public possessions for fear that the soulless marauders of the railway centre will filch still more of their good things. Naturally, therefore, the keen journalistic eye sees another unwarranted injustice in the perfectly legitimate request that the railway traffic manager and staff be shifted from Wanganui to Palmerston. Yesterday the Chronicle, having carefully re-ad through the report of the recent deputation to Hon. W. H. Herries, called on the residents of Wanganui to rise up and defend their possessions. "We sincerely hope," gays our contemporary, "that the Chamber of Commerce anil others in authority in Wanganui will quickly raise a loud and

emphatic protest." Judging by past experience the protest is bound to be both "loud and emphatic," but will it be logical? Our contemporary has surely forgotten that so far as the North Island is concerned the whole aspect of railway administration has changed since the opening of the Main It unk railway. Before that epochmaking event occurred, Wanganui— or rather Aramoho—was on the most im-< port ant line in the Island, but it has' no claim to the position now. The tide! of railway traffic has flowed steadily j away from Wanganui and steadily to wards Palmerston, yet for some reason or other the traffic manager is still stationed in a place that has now no claim to be considered central from a railway point of view. We gladly concede Wan-! ganui s energy and advancement in j other directions and congratulate it on 1 the evident success of its port-making J scheme, but regret to notice the narrow j spirit displayed in railway matters. Cannot our contemporaries look at this!« question from the standpoint of efficient administration and tho large and growing district which is concerned?