Comfortable Travel by Rail-car.

Having had the privilege of travelling from Wellington in one of the rail-cars, he could speak in the highest terms of their comfort, speed, and convenience. The day of Wairoa's isolation was gone, and the time had come to look for enormous development in the early future, concluded Mr. Carroll. (Cheers and applause).

Mr. E. L. Cullen, member for Hawke's Bay, also associated himself fully with the welcome offered to the Ministers, whom he thanked for sparing the time to visit the district. The celebration of the opening of the railway to Wairoa should be a memorable day for Wairoa and indeed the whole of Hawke's Bay.

In earlier days the river was the entrance to the Wairoa district, and many present could recall the years in which the suspension of shipping services completely isolated the district. The speaker paid a tribute to those who had worked for the initiation of the railway, and in this connection he mentioned particularly Mr. Thos. Lambert, one of those whose efforts were bearing fruit now.

Speaking as one who had played some part in the agitation to have the railway from Napier to Gisborne built, Mr. D. W. Coleman, M.P., Gisborne, expressed the keenest pleasure in joining in the congratulations to the Ministers, the Government and the people of Wairoa on the completion of the line to this stage. Wairoa was now linked with the rest of the Dominion by an page 11 important service, and he had no need to remind those present of the difficulties that had had to be overcome by the way.