EAST COAST RAILWAY

Taranaki Daily News, 8 June 1927, Page 9

EAST COAST RAILWAY

DIFFERENCE OVER ROUTES DEPUTATION TO THE MINISTER. PREMIER’S ALLEGED PROMISES. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Gisborne, Last Night. A deputation comprising Mr. W. D. Lysnar, M.P., and members of the Gisborne Chamber of Commerce, waited on the Hon. K. S. Williams, Minister of Public Works, to-day, with a view to getting further information regarding the Minister’s decision to abandon the inland route for the Wairoa-Gisberne railway in favour of the coastal rrute. Arguments were adduced by the speakers in favour of the inland route, it . being contended that there would be much more traffic and a greater chance of developing the back country than would be the ease in the coastal route. The speakers also referred to the promises of Mr. Coates (which, they claimed, had not been fulfilled), in stating that he would have a survey of the inland route made and would furnish the Chamber of Commerce with those figures before a decision was readied. The speakers also stated that Mr. Coates, in handing over the work to Mr. Williams, had given an undertaking that the existence of Waikvkopu as a fine already constructed from Wairoa should be eliminated in considering the merits of the two routes. A further request was made for copies of the reports on the inland route by Messrs Rodey and Fay, Government officials who made the inspection. In reply, the Minister said the reports belonged’to the Railway Department, but he would refer the matter tq the Minister of Railways with a view to obtaining them. The Minister said he had nothing to hide. He would refer the whole matter to Mr. Coates and, if thought advisable, he would be prepared to reconsider the question. Gisborne, the Minister agreed, was entitled to railway connection, but he was guided by what would be the ultimate result for the expenditure of public money. He therefore considered the railway must be constructed on the cheapest route and on which maintenance and running costs were the smallest.