East Coast Line.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 833, 5 August 1933, Page 8

East Coast Line.

May be Taken Over by Private Enterprise. Per Press Association. GISBORNE, August 5. A CONFERENCE between Mr K. S. Williams, M.P., and members of the Chamber of Commerce Railway Committee, the terms that Cabinet has stipulated for the lease of the Napier-Gisborne railway were discussed, but not made public. The meeting decided to get in touch with interested parties in Wairoa and Napier with a view to holding a conference. Proposals for the completion of the Napier-Gisborne line by private enterprise have recently been the subject of discussion, and a committee of departmental officers, together with the chairman of the Government Railways Board (Mr ,H. 11. Sterling), has been considering the conditions under -which the line might be transferred to private interests. The committee has completed its deliberations, and the members for the districts concerned—Messrs H. M. Campbell (Hawke's Bay), W. E. Barnard (Napier), D. W. Coleman (Gisborne) and K. S. Williams (Bay of Plenty)—have been informed of the conclusions arrived at by the committee. The report suggests the terms on which the railway works could be taken over and the line operated independently of the Government system.