PUKEKOHE'S WANTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15153, 18 November 1912, Page 9

PUKEKOHE'S WANTS.

MR. MASSEY APPROACHED.

RAILWAY AND BOROUGH

MATTERS.

Dcrino his visit to Pukckohe on Saturday evening the Prime Minister (Hon. W. F. Massey) received deputations from the Pukekohe Borough Counel and Chamber of Commerce with reference to several matters of local interest. The first deputation, headed bv the Mayor (Mr. Q. K. Laurie), placed'before Air. Massey pleas for the improvement of the railway service. The deputation asked that all travellers by rail south of Papakura to Mercer should get the advantage of the suburban fares. It urged that a passenger train should leave Auckland daily between one and 1.50 p.m. for l '--'":. stopping at jill stations, and that it be. a suggestion that the departure of the present mixed train leaving Auckland •it. 11.25 a.m. bo altered to the hour mentioned above, and that this train be a passenger train to Mercer, conveying goods to stations beyond Mercer; also, that the present goods train leaving Auckland about three p.m. do all the goods shunting between Auckland and Mercer. This arrangement would not entail any more trains being run, and would be a great convenience to passengers, especially those south of Papakura, It was also asked that the speed of the morning train from Mercer to Auckland, and the evening train, leaving Auckland for Mercer at 4.25 p.m., be accelerated if possible, and that the 4.25 p.m. train should not stop at stations between Newmarket and Penrose. A request was made that the train leaving Auckland for Papakura on Saturday night at 11 o'clock be run to Mercer. A proposition that week-end trains, Saturday to Monday, at excursion rates, be established between Auckland and Mercer, to apply both I ways, was put forward, and it was urged that the Wellington express should stop both ways at Pukekohe. Mr. Ma6sey said that the Hon. Mr. Herries, Minister for Railways, would be in the North early in the week, and the deputation could place its proposals before him. He was q,uite in sympathy with the proposal made by one of the deputation that the Main Trunk expresses should stop at Pukekohe at least on Sundav morning and Sunday night, so as to avoid the annoying delays over the week-end for* travellers to Wellington and Auckland. Ho would have pleasure in supporting the proposal when it was brought up.

In reply Jo a request from the deputation that lhe Government should see its way clear to increase the grant of £500 towards th<> borough's recreation ground, Mr. Massey pointed out that once a grant had been placed on the Estimates, it could not be altered before Parliament met . again. He advised the Council to try to raiso £250, and receive the £ for £ -subsidy, which had been promised, so that they would have £1000 to work upon. The Prime Minister promised to look into the deputation's request for a goods office at Pukekohe, so that carters and drivers would not have to be continually crossing the line, and also into the alleged shortage of the local railway staff. A deputation from the Chamber of Commerce, consisting of Messrs.. R. F. Webster and .B. H. Andrew, asked the Hon. R. H. Rhodee. Postmaster-General, who visited the district with Mr. Massey, to givo effect to the oft-repeated promise that the telephone line from Auckland to Pukekohe should be duplicated, as the pressure of business fully justified this course. Mr. Rhodes promised to give the matter careful consideration.