DEPUTATION RIVALRY

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160733, 20 August 1920, Page 9

DEPUTATION RIVALRY

WAIRARAPA TAKES A HOLIDAY. (By Telegraph—Special to “Herald.”) WELLINGTON, August 19. There-have been big deputations this session, large and representative, as their promoters declare, but Wairarapa broke the record to-day for bigness over a. demand for a better railway route than is available over the steep Rinmtaka incline. The local enthusiasts contended that as the district had been lethargic for many years in connection with demands on the State it would make up with a record display. Consequently business ceased in Masterton and other Wairarapa towns for the day, while a special train carried 310 do.putationists to the seat of Government for the purpose of interviewing the Premier. The army formed fours at the station and marched to Parliament buildings to the strains of a large pipe hand headed by an impressive drum-major. As the train ran late, the Premier was waiting, but he had to linger a further half hour till the deputation, with its embellishments, drawn by the spirit of jocularity and curiosity, had been photographed with great deliberation and care, 'i'ho former representative eltambcr just managed to accommodate the crowd, which regarded the occasion as a groat holiday. Its, killed pipers wandered around the corridors while the, speeches were delivered, and members not directly concerned made frivolous comments about the possibility of Government by bagpipes, and the strong Scottish characteristics of the deputation. The Ministerial answer contained nothing definite beyond Mr Massey’s enumerations of the various necessary steps in securing a railway, and a hopeful reference to the happy clay when the first sod would he turned aroused the hearers’ enthusiasm, bo that they evidently felt their holiday had been a useful one.