The Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1918. SUGGESTION FOR RETAILERS.

Rangitikei Advocate and Manawatu Argus, Volume XLII, Issue 11610, 9 August 1918, Page 4

The Rangitikei Advocate. TWO EDITIONS DAILY. FRIDAY, AUGUST 9, 1918. SUGGESTION FOR RETAILERS.

THE desire of the retailers of Marton to secure for the .town its "due need'of recognition is a very creditable one. Under present circumstances, however,gtbe difficulties are many. They are entirely due to the isolation of tha town from the railway, and we are afraid that the expedients which have been pro pcsed in order to advertise the town will have little effect in directing the steps of travellers towards it. It is undoubted that a very large proportion of the people who pass through “the agine that the few scattered houses in sight represent '.'the whole of the town. It is 'not unusual to hear strangers at the station told that Marton is “there” pointing to the far distance, There can be no doubt, thereiore, that to the isolated situation <of the'town is due a very large share 'of its unprosressiveuess and its.lack of attractions offered to people to settle in it. It is scarcely likely that anyone prospecting for a town in which to establish a home would choose Marton if he were convinced that what lie saw + Tom the Junction represented *ts residential attractions. These patter are, ” however, many. Weldo not believe that there is a healthier location for a town in the whole cr-mry of New Zealand, and its surroundings "are exceptionally picturesque. In addition we question whether there is a town iu the'North Island which [ offers such excellent educational advantages. The great distances from which boys and girls come tc the Huntley and Ngatawa schools are sufficient evidences of that Given, then, all the advantages and attractions within itself for the atraction of population and a busier and more prosperous economic condition we feel impelled to put forth j —teuatively, and for suggestions for improvement —a proposal or railway connection with the centre of the town. We suggest that a vigorous agitation should be started at once with a "view to having "a branch line constructed, leaving the mam railway just before it crosses the Tutaenui, running through the new Agricultural and Pastoral fAssociation g rounds with a teiminous and

necessary platform and storage accomodation just at the back of Neilson’s bicycle shop. : The cost of all this would be / comparatively small. In order to obviate, tha necessity for purchasing much laud for the deviation the line might run along the side of the new "road which is to he constructed to the Agricultural and Pastoral Society’s grounds and the line would be so obviously sn advantage to the Society that it would be well advised to make [any reasonable concessions that might tend to facilitate the scheme. ,

Of course, Ministers will object and that , very strongly to such £a proposition if it is put forward. But there are many precedents connected with the railways of the country. There is the case of Waitara, which is served with an offshoot from the main line. There is the parallel case of Cambridge, another at Grey town, and another also at Hamilton. In the last the conditions approximate more closely to those at Marton than either of the others. Frankton Junction, which is practically the same distance from Hamilton as the Junction is from Marton was Hie stepping off station for Hamilton until a most determined agitation practically compelled the Government of the day. to give the town direct rail communication, and there is little doubt that the extraordinary progress of the town and district has been very largely due to the abort communication line. There is no question about the feasibility o£ the scheme. Any ejections on the part of tha Government, based on allegations of heavy would also be manifestly ridiculous, and we believe that the demand, pushed with the vigour which the merits of the scheme suggests, would have an early chance of realisation.