HEARTY WELCOMES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19365, 1 July 1937, Page 8

HEARTY WELCOMES

MINISTERS' VISITS TRIBUTES AT MOHAKA WAIROA MEETS RAILCAR (Special to tlui Ilerald.) WAIROA, this day. For the formal ceremony of com- , pleting the Mohaka River viaduct ‘ yesterday, an unusual number of public personalities foregathered. ! The Speaker of the House of Rcpre- 1 I sentatives, the Hon. W. E. Barnard, j the Minister of Public Works, the ; Hon. R. Semple, the Minister of Rail- ! ways, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan,- the ■ engineer-in-chief of the Public Works i Department, Mr. John Woods, the ! general manager of the New Zealand 1 Railways, Mr. G. 11. Mackley, the | general manager of the Tourist De- ’ partment, Mr. L. .1. Schmitt, the i member for Wairau, Mr. E. P. Meachen, the member for Central Hawke’s Bay, Mr. E. L. Cullen, the Mavors of Napier and Wairoa, Messrs C. O. Morse and 11. L. Harker, and I the chairman of the Wairoa County i Council, Mr. A. G. Nolan, formed the ] nucleus of the gathering, and there i were many other prominent men from ! Wairoa and Hawke’s Bay present. i This was the first occasion upon Iwhic-h Mr. Sullivan had. visited the , 1 district in the capacity of Minister of j Railways, and he was accorded an . i especially warm reception, vying with , | that extended to the better-known , | Minister of Public Works, j The district member, Mr. E. if. 1 Cullen, presided over the gathering, ’ j and in his brief speech struck the | keynote for all but the Ministerial ’ j utterances when he said that the day ■'was a red-letter day for Wairoa and ! | Napier, bringing the two, centres into - 1 closer touch with each other through ' the medium of the East Coast line. I The completed viaduct was a big link and the last link in the connection between Napier and Wairoa, Mr. Cullen pointed out, and its successful r accomplishment reflected the greatest ’ credit upon the Public Works Depart- '! merit from the Minister down to the I I men who drove the rivets. 11 . , j; Finest in Hemisphere 3 It was the most magnificent structure of its kind in the Southern Hcmi- - sphere, he believed, and it had been :l raised without a hitch, within the ; estimate, and ahead of time. The i farmers of the Wairoa district had been starved for want of cheap trans- ' port for their products and also for “ the low-cost conveyance of fertilisers D for their farms; modern transport facilities were now to be available, as B a result of the completion of the viaduct. The line so far as it had gone was •• a magnificent example of the work „ New Zealanders could do, and lie hoped, said Mr. Cullen, that it would . not be long before it was carried on [> to Gisborne. , The district member thanked the I gathering for turning out so well to l welcome the Ministerial members and their respective chiefs, and also Mr. 1 Barnard, whose presence would be '. noted witli pleasure. The speaker j particularly referred to the singing o and haka with which the children of f the Raupunga School had welcomed o ; the Ministerial party. , Compliments to the Minister of Public Works on the completion of t the viaduct, and a welcome to the Minister of Railways on his first official visit to the district, were expressed by Mr, C. C. Smith, deputychairman of the Hawke’s Bay County 3 Council, Messrs. H. L. Barker, C. O. 3 Morse, and A, G. Nolan, the last- ” mentioned presenting to Mr. Semple, t on behalf of the Wairoa local bodies, d a silver replica of the spike which Y lie would drive to complete the r viaduct. y Presentation to Minister 1 - This presentation, he said, was a , small memento of the appreciation i felt in the district of the wonderful r good that would come to Wairoa now s that the railway connection was comf pleted. He hoped that in the future Mr. Semple would * glow with pride s whenever he looked at the memento, 3 and remember that it represented s “one big good deed he had done. 1 (Applause.) Acknowledging the gift, Mr. Semple promised that it would be handed on ’ in his family as an heirloom, and as l an encouragement to those of the 1 following generations to go out and do something for their community and J their country. 3 “This day will always remain a ’ green spot in the canvas oi my " memory,” lie added. 1 Following on the ceremony in which 1 Mr. Semple sheeted home the last 1 two rivets on the great viaduct, the f Ministerial party divided, the Minister r of Public Works and his departmental 1 officers returning by motor car to l Napier, and the Minister of Railways i being conveyed by rail car to Wairoa. There Mr. Sullivan was met by Mr. D. W. Coleman, M.P. for the Gisborne electorate, who offered him a cordial welcome on behalf of his district. ! This was not an official inauguration • of the railway to Wairoa, Mr. Colei man remarked, but it was an importI ant day in the history of the district, i one that had been looked forward to > for a long time. To see the Minister arriving in his up-to-date conveyance, . (he rail car, was to realise that Gis- > borne, too, would soon enjoy the benefits of rail communication. 3 Official Reception Deferred I Though the official reception to Mr. I Sullivan was being deferred until the occasion of the opening of the line for traffic, this unofficial welcome was L none the less sincere and cordial, as ' the Minister would realise from the . large number of people taking part in it. “Mr. Coleman lias been referring • to this great enterprise, the Napier--1 Gisborne railway,” commented the " Minister, in a humorous opening to - his acknowledgments of the welcome. 1 “I can tell you that we would prefer ? to build the line than listen any f longer to Mr, Coleman s importunic ties. He lias developed the habit of a sitting on a Minister’s doorstep until f lie gets what lie wants for ids dis--3 trict.” i The Minister reviewed the function , which he had just witnessed and ( participated in at Mohaka, and do-, [ dared that Mr. Semple, in his admins istrntion of the Public Works DcpartI ment, had shown an executive genius A never surpassed in the history of this country, lie personally was proud to be bringing the rail car to Wairoa I on this occasion, and iic looked forward to the time when similar II vehicles would be providing the service on the East Coast line. The car had been built in New Zealand " workshops by New Zealanders, and d represented another example of the n Uvay in which this Dominion could carry out a big and intricate job.