ROTORUA-TAUPO RAILWAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19986, 30 June 1928, Page 12

ROTORUA-TAUPO RAILWAY.

UN DIGNATION AT OPOTIKI. CLAIMS OF EAST COAST LINE. [sv TEI.EGK.VrH. — OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] OPOTIKI, Friday. Great indignation is expressed in Opotiki at the decision of the Government to proceed with the construction of the Kotorua-Taupo line, after the Minister of Public Works had refused the extension ol the East Coast Railway to Opotiki. The following telegram has been forwarded to-day to tha, Prime Minister by Mr. J. H. Reid, chairman of the Opotiki County Council:'.'"County electors view with general dissatisfaction and disappointment the Government's decision to proceed with the railway from Rotorua to Taupo while the main East Coast Railway between Taneatua and Opotiki remains uncompleted. In view of assured revenue from fertile settled lands between Taneatua and Opotiki the electors cannot understand the reason for the Government's delay, and urges that immediate provision be made for this extension." Similar telegrams have been sent by the Opotiki Borough Council, Chamber of Commerce, Farmers' Union, Bay of Plenty Development League, and the Whakatane County Council. MORE INFORMATION SOUGHT. DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE'S VIEW. The Government's decision to begin the Rotorua-Taupo railway extension naturally interests the New Zealand Land Settlement ar.d Development League. The matter was brought up yesterday at a meeting of the league's executive, which resolved tt> make further inquiries into such matters as the cost of the line and its developmental value before offering any expression -jf opinion on the matter. In the course of informal discussion members remarked that further information was needed before it could be said with certainty that the money would be more usefully expended on this branch railway than on completing main lines, building roads or giving direct assistance to land settlement.