GISBORNE RAILWAY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17454, 31 December 1930, Page 6

GISBORNE RAILWAY

CABINET’S INVITATION DEPUTATION TO WELLINGTON PREPARING THE- EVIDENCE v A measure of success has been achieved by the Gisborne railway com • mittee in inducing the acting-Prime Minister to grant an interview for the discussion of evidence relating to the prospects of the Gisborne railway. Though the committee’s invitation to members, of Cabinet to visit Gisborne and discuss the problem on the spot has been refused by the Hon. E. A. Ransom on behalf of himself and his colleagues, tho committee has been asked to send a ’ delegation to Wellington to place its views before him. This invitation has been accepted by the Mayor, Mr. D. W. Ooleman, as chairman of the committee, and the delegation will proceed to Wellington to meet the acting-Prime Minister on January 7. The acceptance of Mr. Ransom’s invitation followed a consultation with other members of the railway committee, and a discussion on tho evidence to be placed before tho representative of Cabinet, on the date fixed in Mr. Ransom’s telegram as, received -by .Mr. -doleman last evening, was to .be held this afternoon at. a meeting of the Gisborne committee: All points in the case to bo presented to the acting-Prime Minister will have to be overhauled most carefully, with'a view to avoiding ajay possibility of tho whole case being discredited by tlie' Use of v over-op'timistic statements in respect of any detail. • The fact that the deputy leader of the Government has presented the committee with an opportunity of putting forward its evidence indicates |iis willingness to hear argument on the matter, but the events leading up to the present situation have shown even more plainly that the district committee is facing a formidable task, which should be approached in no spirit of optimism. The publicationin yesterday’s Herald of a substantial portion of the evidence prepared on behalf of the committee has roused much discussion among business men of the town, and opinions are divided as to the wisdom of making public tho points covered in that announcement. On the «no hand it is argued that the opposition to the Gisborne line was having all its own way, in putting forward state, ments condemning the prospects of the lino without any refutation from the district most interestedand an the other hand the suggestion is made that the disclosure of the district’s case has presented those opponents with a golden opportunity of dissecting the evidence and preparing material to controvert the claims put forward. AN INCONTESTABLE CASE

Whether the majority of the committee members subscribe to the one view pr the other, it is hbvious that the delegation which is to be sent to Wellington will require to be armed with material which, if not novel, is at least defensible from any point. The acting-Prime Minister's announcement of the Government’s intention to close down on the Gisborne section of the East Coast main trunk line is sufficient assurance that the Gisborne committee will have to put forward a concrete and unassailable case, if it hopes to alter the decision of the Government. It- must be assumed that Cabinet has. made up its mind on tfia question, arid while willing to hear evidence, is not predisposed to greet that evidence sympathetically. Doubtless tne Government leader has given consideration to such questions *• as the sacrifice of capital involved in tho decision to suspend construction on the line; the wastage of material and actual work accomplished to date; the cost of removing equipment; the hardships which the removal to other districts will entail for men hitherto employed on the railway section: tho dereliction of camps at Kopua, Wharekakaho, Tikiwhata, Kopuwnara, Opoutnma, Waikokopu, and at several other points along the route; the suspension of haulage aqd supply contracts; the interruption of the education of some 200 and more children, and the various other dislocations, that are bound t<» follow the enforcement of the decision announced recently. It is equally sure that the committee will gain little from emphasising the feelings of hostility roused in Poverty Bay and the East Coast by the suspension announcement.

the practical issue Obviously, tho delegation which goes to Wellington to meet ,the acting-Prima Minister must be prepared to discuss the practical issue of development, as against the temporary financial saving which would be effected by suspending work on the line. It is regrettablo that members of Cabinet could not be induced to visit the district, and tour tho East Coast as did members of the Main Highways Board in November. Some years ago a tour of the eastern districts of the North Island was undertaken by a large party of Parliamentarians, and the impressions gained during that visit helped materially in gaining for Poverty Bay a measure of relief from past isolation. Without do.ubt, Cabinet members would find jt difficult to combat the claims oi this district to railway connection with the rest of the North Island, if they could bo induced to inspect tho country around Gisborne and along the Coast to tho northward. The Hon. E. A. Ransom has seen something of the coastal district, and is in a favored position to niako a true estimate of what railway access would mean to the wonderful country that, .despite the greatest handicaps on enterprise, has won a prominent place in stock producing tables, as compared with other more favored districts of tho Do minion. Those Ministers who have inspected only tho rout® of the railway between Waikokopu and Gisborne must bo given full credit for good faith, », their support of the decision to suspend construction, for the country thruugu which the railway will pass is the least attractive in the whole of tho district. If they can bo induced to view that link in the East Coast main trunk in the light of a connecting link only, and not as a prospective producing section, the work of the Gisborne delegation will have hopes of success. In order to complete the connection to Wairoa, the Government contemplates the building of a great viaduct at the Mohaka River, the cost of which work is not expected to be recouped from the bed of the Mohaka River. It can be claimed with some justice that the Waikokopu-Kopua section of the line to Gisborne, the construction cost of which will not greatly exceed tho cost of the Mohaka viaduct, should bo viewed in the same light. It is the country that the line taps, and not that through which it actually runs, that can be expected to justify the outlay of capital on railway construction. The main highways policy makes provision for financing sections of main roads, which run through districts incapable of supporting them, and the WaikokopuKopua section of the East Coast main trunk lino presents a easeJn which % similar policy should apply* -