THE PALMERSTON AND THE LEVIN MARTON DEVIATIONS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1862, 12 July 1920, Page 5

THE PALMERSTON AND THE LEVIN MARTON DEVIATIONS.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Your article of Tuesday dealing with the above question was very interesting, but at the same time the only reason for moving the station from its present position to Boundary road was the question of congestion. Now the only reasonable way to get at tho root of this matter is by dealing with the cause instead of with the effect. The congestion is caused by tho large number of goods trains which come in to Palmerston, wiiere they are assembled and sent out along the different lines north, south and east. It is these goods trains, too, which cause the inconvenience in tho town. If the signals are against them they stop in the Squa.re, or anywhere else, block crossings, whistle, etc., while the passenger trains run straight in and out of the station, and are one of the best advertisements Palmerston has. Now, take the goods traffic to and from Ilawke's Bay and the Wairarapa. The line join.-, ihe main line at Terrace End, j about lj miles from the town .station. That means that trucks of goods coming from these districts and going north and vice versa have to travel in and out a matter of three miles, which could be rendered unnecessary by shifting tho j goods department of the railway service ■ to Terrace End, to the vicinity of the June-, lion of these lines. There is plenty of room there, and the site is highland dry, while the expense would be a mere Ilea bite compared with the present proposal. _ Tho Terrace End site would be very little if any 1 further away from the Square than the j proposed one. The traffic therefrom would 1 be more equally distributed over the town, instead of transferring the whole of it to' Rangitikei street, which is already uncomfortably congested at certain hours of the day. The present station could be kept I purely as a passenger station, and would | thus land the travelling public in the centre of the town and handy to the show-! grounds, etc. Look at the matter from another way. About 20 years and moro ago, when the U.F.C.A., Ireland and Co., j etc., were in existence, the eastern side of. the Square was as good, if not better, than the western. Why has it changed'.' The, reason is, 1 think, on account of the much greater amount of farming lands lying to the west of the town, and also because the main road out goes that way. The saleyards, grain merchants, and other businesses with whom the farmer dealt were on that side, and when he came into town he stopped nearest to where he could do his business. As the farms became cut up and the population increased the business naturally grew on the western side and < more or less stood still on the eastern. Now what will be the result if the station is moved to Boundary road? Business place« will spring up around it; the salcvards are already there, and if the farmer ; can do his business in that locality he is not going to come near the Square. _lt will thus have tho tendency of drawing j business awav from the Square altogether. - What too is it going to cost, to buy land < and move the gas works? Now, how 1 will the deviation-Levin to Marton—affect | Palmerston North. It will not side-track Palmerston, a* that would be impossible, ! but goods trains from Shannon southwards < for Marton northwards and vice versa 1 would travel this route and thus cause fur- 1 tlier congestion, and would divert traffic I which at present is no good to Palmerston I whatever," whereas Palmerston business peonle will be able to make inore use of < their port (Foxton), and they will be able I to compete up the Main Trunk line with . other ports with whom they are greatly : handicapped at present.-I \ [Our cot-respondent's arguments are in- . perilous enough in their wav but, do not affect the real question, which is bound tip in the proposition that, sooner or later tho , railway must be diverted from the heart of the town if the street traffic is to be • developed properly and nrcessarv improvements are to be carried out in the interests of the public. The suggested removal of the goods station to Terrace End would, if adopted, merely side-track the more necessary work—Ed. M.E.S.j