SOUTH ISLAND MAIN TRUNK

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21420, 12 March 1935, Page 12

SOUTH ISLAND MAIN TRUNK

COMPLETION CAMPAIGN BEGUN LOCAL COMMITTEE TO BE FORMED IN CHEVIOT A campaign to stimulate interest in a comprehensive scheme for the completion of the South Island Main Trunk railway, was begun at Cheviot last evening by Dr. H. T. J. Thacker. Dr. Thacker, who had been invited by the Cheviot Progress League to address a meeting of residents in the district, said that the visit to Cheviot was the first step in the campaign. When a local committee, to be called a "Highway-Trunk Completion Committee," had been formed in Cheviot, he would visit Ward, Seddon, and Blenheim. Then a meeting would be called in the Wellington Town Hall, at which the Mayor of Wellington would be asked to preside, and which would be attended by three representatives of the chain of committees in the South Island. Mr J. T. Read was in the chair. After the address a resolution vvas passed unanimously affirming the principle embodied in the proposed scheme. It was decided to form a committee of three as suggested by Dr. Thacker.

To finance the scheme, said Dr. Thacker, the Prime Minister would be asked for an . enabling bill for a loan cf up to £2,000,000, which could be obtained at 3 per cent. The unfinished line was at present costing the Government £65,000 a year. There were two opposing factors which would have to be dealt with. These were the oil companies and the Union Steam Ship Company. Included in Dr. Thacker's proposal was the construction of a concrete highway to run parallel with the completed railway; this, he stated, was in accord with recent practice in England, where many of the large railway companies were building highways to induce road traffic to connect with the railways at convenient stations.

"They will say that this is a politics! stunt of mine," said Dr. Thacker. "It is nothing of the kind. They will talk about the Railway Board. But who are the Railway Board? They have driven tfirough this district at 40 or 50- miles an hour and they know nothing about it." Outline of Scheme

The main features of the scheme were outlined by Dr. Thacker as follows:—(1) The immediate relief of unemployment by finding work for 4000 to 5000 men at standard rates of pay. (2) Finance to be provided by the Main Highways Board, for the construction of bridges, and by the Unemployment Board. (3) Land settlement, irrigation, and afforestation, and possible development of the woodpulp industry. (4) Direct means of transport by a concrete highway and railway, running parallel. (5) Intensified primary production, including pigs, citrus fruits, stone fruits, lamb, Lima beans, soya beans, sheep, cattle, wool, maize, rape, turnips, cocksfoot, and fish. (6) Provision of electric power for cool storage of meat and dairy produce, railway haulage, lighting, domestic power, and aviation signs along the highway. (7) Extension of health, tourist, and seaside facilities. From Aniseed, 14 miles north of Kaikoura, where advanced gangs were at work, to Claverly, 14 miles south of Kaikoura, said Dr. Thacker, no work had yet been done. He did not advocate, however, the beginning of the undertaking at any particular point on the route. It should be started comprehensively with the Public Works Department, the , Highways Board, and the Unemployment Board in co-operation, assisted by the South Island Motor Union.

For the carrying out of the scheme it would be necessary to raise a loan of £2,000,000. Dr. Thacker said, on which the interest and sinking fund would be paid out of the unemployment levy on Canterbury and Marlborough. An estimate of the cost, including the bridge construction, was £20,000 a mile. The total cost over the 50 miles would therefore be about £1.000,000. There should be four camps—one at Parnassus terminus, one at the Clarence River terminus, and two in Kaikoura. The Kaikoura camps would be accessible to the sea for supplies. It would be advisable to let the contracts for all the larger bridges to different firms, as this would ensure employment for an additional 1000 men. Electric Power For the provision of electric power, the Public Works Department could be asked to transfer its constructional plant from the Waitaki river, said Dr. Thack>_.. for the construction of a dam and power-station at Shades, on the Clarence river. The work could be placed in charge of Mr R. H. Packwood and the staff which had built the Waitaki works. Until the new station could be linked up with Lake Coleridge it would supply power to Marlborough, North Canterbury, and perhaps a part of Nelson. This work alone would place hundreds of men in employment. It had been slated that Lnke CoJcridge and Waitaki could not br expected to supply Nor.th Canterbury. But the Public Work? Department had a scheme for the Clarnirc river. There wei— at Waitaki Ihe plant, gangers, and expert employees. Why should not the whole camp be taken to the Clarence river, to undertake the construction of a dam and power-house, and the reticulation? "It has been said that it is impossible to get the thing started, that I am too much of an optimist," said Dr. Thacker. "But as an optimist I believe that good times turn up in their own good time. As business is better now. we must spend more wisely, and look on the horrors of peace as being as bad as the horrors of war. There are thousands of men and women, not unemoloyable, between the ages of 15 and 21, and we wrnt to find work for them. There has been an enormous production of skilled technical ability in the last 12 years, and there are many people who are by compulsion out of work, ill-clad, and not properly fed. When the highway railway is completed we shall have something to show for our unemployment taxation. The work is there, the money can be found, and there is no excuse for not jcgimwng now."