RAILWAY TO OPOTIKI

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 608, 9 March 1929, Page 16

RAILWAY TO OPOTIKI

AGITATION STARTS AFRESH DEPUTATION TO COUNCIL (From Our Own Correspondent) OPOTIKI, Frida}. Although the Ministers ox Railways and Puduc Works While in Opotiki praised the lertiiity of the district and stated that on a productive basis the district luiiy deserved a railway, nothing definite was expressed as to tiye pruspects of Opotiki receiving a rail connection at an early uate, or even in the future.

The railway has been promised by three successive Governments. Tne Coates Government asked that a vear be given in order to see if the present line to Taneatua would pay before continuing the line to Opotiki. Mr. K. tJ. Williams, while in Opotiki, stated that the traffic exceeded the most sanguine expectations of the Railway .Department, and the people in the Opotiki district consider their claims for an extension justilied, as indications show that a line to Opotiki would pay handsomely, apart from giving railway facilities to Opotiki. To-day a deputation waited on the County Council and strongly urged that turther steps be taken to continue the agitation for the railway. After hearing the views of the deputation, it was resolved that the chairman, Mr. J. H. Reid, should convene a public meeting on Monday evening, when the advisability of re-forming the Railway League, which was disbanded many years ago, be considered: also the advisability of sending a deputation to interview Sir Joseph Ward on the subject.