COSTLY TUNNEL PLAN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19132, 29 September 1936, Page 4

COSTLY TUNNEL PLAN

MORNINGSIDE PROJECT DOUBTS OF MINISTER (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, this day. The opinion that the Morningside tunnel scheme could not be made into a paying proposition from a purely railway viewpoint was expressed by the Minister of Railways, the Hon. D. (i. Sullivan, when lie met a deputation of members of local bodies and the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, who urged the prosecution of the work. Mr. Sulliban said that if the Government was prepared to take into consideration the wider aspects, then it would be a matter for the Government as a whole to handle, rather than for himself as Minister of Rail ways. At all events, he would have a report prepared and would place it before the Cabinet. To carry out the scheme the department would be faced with an estimated expenditure of £2,000,000, of which about £1,000,000 would be involved in the construction of the tunnel, and a similar amount in the installation of electricity. From the purely railway point of view the estimated expenditure was too high for it to be possible to make the scheme a commercial proposition. However, there w*ere certain other aspects, such as the social aspect, to which regard should be given.

Mr. Sullivan added that he could not give a definite answer either way, but lie proposed to have a fresh examination made of the figures for both the tunnel and the electrical in stallation. When the report was prepared, he would confer with the Cabinet.