RAILWAYS POLICY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19023, 25 May 1936, Page 12

RAILWAYS POLICY

■ • . •}; '■ ■ lip DEVELOPMENTAL LINES ' AUSTRALIAN ATTITUDE ‘IMPROVING WHOLE f: ; . SYSTEM” UU; i; :' V SYDNEY, May 9. .'.'.The Acting-Premier, Mr. Bruxner, said yesterday that new sections of railway W4ck .would be built only where they would bo of definite value to the railway systems, ns a. whole. The day of building railways to open up tracts of country was past, Mr. Bruxner said, adding that the policy of. following scattered areas of good country'witir the railway line, which had ployed so advantageous to development when road transport was slow and inefficient,,'had given rise to problems which could not have been foreseen at the time, but which were, nevertheless, fery perplexing to those responsible for railway administration to-d'ay. If was now necessary to weld a collection cf tracks, which wandered at random over •the • State, into a system which could be operated with the maximum efficiency. Mr. Bruxner was replying to a deputation from the Railway Leagues of Merriwa, Oassilis, Diutedoo, Uarhry, f and. Leadville, which urged that consideration should be given to a line linking Merriwa and Leadville and running through Oassilis. in preference to the Saridy HollowAlnryvalc link favoured by Cabinet, as a intans of linking the important north-western, central western, aiid south-western networks with the northern lines and with Newcastle. L. “SAVING OF £soo.ooo’’ i . Mr. H. 6. Bensley (Merriwa) said that the Leadville-Qissihs link would involve the • construction of about 70 miles of track; against, 146 miles from Sandy Hollow to Maryvale, and that the country ■through (which it would pass was superior in productivity and possibilities to that which would be serviced by the line favoured by the Cabinet. Ihe saving, (based on the estimates made when the question was considered 11 years ago, -would-be niore than £SOO,(XX). 'Mi'. J. J, Sullivan said that a railway linking Leadville and Merriwa wouid hfch\eve tlie same purpose as the line favoured "by Cabinet, and would also encourage closet) settlement and greater production in the country it passed through.- , . PMiv'Biuyuei' said that tf any good reason were given ho would consent io the' reopening of the question, but it would need to he one of national significance, based on a technical or economic basis. Railways for the purpose-of decountry could not be considered. The link selected had the advantage of offering the most direct connection between the big inland networks and the p6rt of Newcastle, .and'would relieve the over-burdened and expensive line over the Blue 'Mountains of a big volume, of freight. 'All‘that- the'deputation had told him qf '.the possibilities of the Oassilis disv trict, Mr. Bruxner said, convinced him of the need .for a good road to connect . that centre with an existing railway. He considered the present, road one of the worst in New South Wales. His department was pledged 1 to subsidise the local shire councils by £5 to £1 in the building of trunk roads, but the first move had to come from the councils concerned-