Stoppage and Resumption.

Sir Joseph Ward, when he put the work in hand in 1929, had said that he would undertake it so that no later Government would dare to stop it. Of course, added Mr. Coleman, a later Government had stopped construction but with the advent of the Labour Government, the resumption had been placed in the hands of the Hon. R. Semple, as Minister of Public Works. The people of Wairoa and the whole East Coast would express the greatest satisfaction in seeing this portion of the line finished and handed over to the Minister of Railways, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan.

The time had come, he said, to show that the line was appreciated, by the manner in which they supported it. Wairoa was starting with the most modern and up-to-date railway facilities in New Zealand, and it was up to the public to stand by the service and so fulfil the promise made when the district committees were agitating for the resumption of the work on the line.