The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, JULY 27, 1903.
the “ RAILWAY ” LEAGUE. The resolution passed at the last meeting o£ the Railway: League came upon the people of the district as a holt from the blue. The reason of that resolution was hard to understand then, and it has not been made any clearer since. The League by dropping the subject of a railway in favor ol a tramway adopted a course which confounds its very title, and a course which should certainly have been indicated to the public by notice oi motion, instead of being sprung upon them in such a startling way. The position practically is' try and explain it as we may, that the League has abandoned the main plank of its platform, and has further taken upon itself the responsibility of recommending the undertaking of a great obligation by a local body, that has been bravely weathering the storm of financial difficulties, and. which, if in a much sounder condition, would hardly incur the liability suggested. A great deal, it is true, can be said in favor of the speedy construction of a tramway to the Motu, but it surely is not for an organisation termed the “ Railway ” League to jump from its owi cardinal plank to a different one altogether. It is very much like a repetition of the old ■ story of swapping horses in the middle of the stream, excepting that the middle has-not yet been reached. Naturally we are all disappointed that the railway is not being more speedily pushed on, and there is reason to fear that the splendid Motu forest will be largely sacrificed to the fire-stick before it is tapped by the railway line. But we doubt if there is another district, in New Zealand that would suggest to the County Council the taking over of such a work as laying a tramway .line gt its own cost when sooner or later I the colonial line must be extended to the rich district beyond the Karaka. Certainly we can conceive no argument in favor of tile League ceasing to agitate lor the extension ; of the Government line. It .is a | sound policy that those owners of land who specially profit by a, railway should contribute liberally to its cos . ; but it is not for tile people of this district to suggest anything o.' the kind. We have bad to pay a very heavy share towards the expenditure upon railways in other parts of the colony, and, having done so for such a period, there is no reason for eagerness on our part to offer to bear the burden of the extension of tile railway system to this district. We fail to sec how the Cool. County Council at the meeting on Friday can, do otherwise than give a very short shrift to the proposa..' emanating from- the Runway League. It seems to us that it would have been better for the League to have remained in its comatose state than that, being aroused its energy should have been /subverted from the question oi an extension of the State railway to that of a tramway system of which the district would bear the burden. The only reasonable alternative we can suggest to persistently pressing on the Go". eminent for the extension oi the line beyond Te Karaka is for a strong combination to take up the work, either by private capital or a system of debentures. Such a combination, securing timber rights and preparing to start work at an early date, should succeed handsomely, wh le conferring a great benefit upon the district.
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Gisborne Times, Volume X, Issue 952, 27 July 1903, Page 2
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603The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, JULY 27, 1903. Gisborne Times, Volume X, Issue 952, 27 July 1903, Page 2
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