CATLINS RAILWAY

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume IX, Issue 427, 15 July 1913, Page 2

CATLINS RAILWAY

THE TERMINAL BUILDINGS

WELLINGTON, July 8. Mr Malcolm , member for ' Clutha, although exceptionally busy with matters arising out of his appointment to the Chairmanship of Committees, has not neglected the interests of Tahakopa settlers m regard to their request, backed up by the acting chairman of the Catlins-Tahakopa Railway League, to tirge upon the Hon. W. Fraser, Minister of. Public Works, the desirability of having erected at Tahakopa the terminal station buildings and sheds, so as to provide for that very resourceful district a regular daily service. The matter is still one for the vigilant consideration of the league, and Tahakopa settlers. While it is truo that the department recommends the erection of terminal buildings at Papatowai, the authorities are quite willing, if the necessities and resources of Tahakopa prove as great as present estimated, to remove later on the terminal buildings to Tahakopa. On Mr Malcolm urging that the section of the railway to Tahakopa might be ready at a date very little later than the opening of the line to Papatowai, provided that a large number of men were at once put on the works, he was advised that, owing to the fact that the section to.Tahakopa is low-lying and swampy, they could not actively prosecute the construction works during the winter. As a, matter of fact, the department had almost had to cease operations altogether, as it was almost impossible for the men to make a living wage under present conditions. The section to Tahakopa, therefore, could not be completed for some time. While there was no intention of ' deliberately delaying the completion of the section, it was thought, m the circumstances, that the district would be best served by opening the line to Papatowai at the earliest possible date. That would bring into use the section from Houipapa to Papatowai, along which a regular daily service would be established, to the advantage of settlers at Pnketapu, Puketiro, C&berfeidh, and Papatowai. When the line is opened at a later date to Tahakopa, Mr Malcolm was informed, there would be no objection to removing the- terminal buildings if the traffic on the section wara'anted it. Such removals sre frequently carried out, and if the output of timber prove as great as the estimate made by saw-millers, it is almost certain that the terminal buildings would be removed to Tahakopa. Mr Malcolm is m communication with Mr Cohen (acting chairman of the league) as to whether the proposal to open the line to Papatowai m January will be satisfactory to the league.

At Coteaux de St. Cloud, a suburb of Paris, Mmc Cassignot (35) was electrocuted while taking a bath. It is supposed that Bhe received a fatal shock as the result of. the lead pipe which empties the bath and a "live" electrical cable coming into contact. In the London Bankruptcy Court the otlier day a company promoter was granted his discharge on consenting to a judgment for £20,000, to be repaid by instalments m 10 years. In Norway the average duration of life is greater than m any country m the world.