ABANDONED DEVIATION

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 714, 13 July 1929, Page 7

ABANDONED DEVIATION

STOPPAGE OF PALMERSTON WORK GOVERNMENT’S ACTION DEFENDED fTHE SLS'S Parliamentary Reporter) WELLINGTON, Friday. A defence of the Government's action in abandoning the railway deviation scheme at Palmerston North was undertaken by the Hon. W. B. Taverner, Minister of Railways, in the House this afternoon. The scheme had been proposed in 1924, said the Minister. At that time traffic developments indicated that the business to be handled would within a few years have outgrown the accommodation that could have been provided on the site of the present station. That anticipation was not realised, and that fact, accompanied by the alteration in the incidence of the work at Palmerston North, apart from the local traffic, obviously called for a review of the situation. The conclusion was reached that with an expenditure of about £33,000 the necessary facilities to enable traffic to be dealt with could be provided on the present site. The only other consideration that arose in connection with the original proposals was the desirability of moving the line from its present route to obviate level crossings. It seemed clear the huge sum involved in the completion of the deviation would not be justified to achieve that end, especially in view of the fact that a very large proportion of the present lino between the Square and Terrace End would require to be left in its present position and worked for the purpose of goods traffic. In the light of those factors the deviation, which would have cost at least £725,000, of which £150,000 had been spent by the Public Works Department, and £47,000 by the Railway Department, the latter being on the purchase of land, had been stopped. No difficulty in obtaining suitable tenancies for the land was obtained.