THE RAILWAY DEVIATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 492, 2 September 1922, Page 4

THE RAILWAY DEVIATION.

Before the session closes we should like to sec some movement on the part of the Railway Department to carry out the deviation works decided upon in order to relievo the congestion in the Palmerston North railway yards, and for the better provision of through Main Trunk trains and for the Taranaki and Napier traffic. The Departmental reports have insisted, again and again, upon the urgent necessity for improving tho accommodation at Palmerston North, and tho Commission appointed cby tho Government in 1920 reported unanimously in favour of tho Longburn-Terraco End deviation, as the best moans of coping with the traffic which passes over tho existing railway. Ju Iris fast report tho General Manager of Railways emphasised the point that the most pressing needs of the Department wore for improved conditions at Palmerston North and at Christchurch, where new stations are urgently required. Parliament, under tho Railways Authorisation Act of 1920, has sanctioned the construction of the proposed Longkurn deviation, and as the construction works are expected to extend over three years it is quite time a beginning was made with tho works. As a result of the decision of tho Railway Department to shift the railway to Boundary road the Palmerston North Borough Council are committed to a new site for tho new Municipal Gasworks and other works are planned in that direction, the delay in commencing which is likely to retard the onward progress of the town. In Wellington, and other centres, the unemployed aro calling out for work and are evidently hard pressed to find it, and it seems to us that, instead of opening up relief works, tho Government would be well advised to put the necessary public works to which it stands committed in hand immediately, including the Longburn deviation. It would almost seem that some sinister influences aro at work to delay the execution of the latter very necessary undertaking, and that, in consequence, it is likely to bo indefinitely delayed. In this connection an ugly rumour is afloat to which wo need not specifically refer, concerning the refusal of the Levin branch of the Reform League to endorse the candidature of Mr Joseph Linklater for the Manawatu seat. For their own credit’s sake we trust that the rumour to which we refer has no foundation in fact, seeing that it indicates action which is directly contrary to the principles and methods by which the Reform Party has been consistently standing for the last quarter of a century. Meanwhile wo suggest, that Palmerston people should bestir themselves and, if considered necessary, deputationise the Prime Minister and the Minister of Railways on the subject.