SIDE-TRACKED!

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1040, 1 February 1911, Page 6

SIDE-TRACKED!

I i WAIRARAPA'S WANTS.1 THE TIME-TABLE DIFFICULTY.. I; -DEPUTATION TO MINISTER, ' .A Wairarapa grievance of which a'good : deal has boon hoard lately was .brought ; fiefore tho notice'. yesterday of tho respon- | : Bibio Minister,. the. Minister for Railways V • <the Hon. J. A'. Millar). It is tho matter i of 'the railway time-table of that district, ■■ "n-Sich, since the acquisition by the State ; of.-.tho Manawatu ■ railway, has been al- (' , tc-red-and modified until it seonis to have ' becomo to , a largo extent-useless .to the ! peoplo who rquiro it. Tho deputation ;"■ .- comprised: •Mγ. F.W._ Carey (president 1" of. the Masterton Chamber of Commerce), ;. Mr. J. Coradine (Mayor of Masterton), and (. Mr. D. 1 , . Loasby (Mayor of Grey town). ; . MCSSTS-μ'. C. Buchanan, A. W. Hogg, ; and E. B. Ross, members of Parliament !'■■ for:tho locality, were also present. : ■■:,' Mr. Hogg's Views. : j In introducing the deputation, Mr. Hogg ! xeforred to the meeting of representatives j from all parts of- the Wairarapa that had [. l»m'held at Masterton. Tho lower Wai- , rarapa had been- fairly represented, but ;'■'. the'Pahiatua and Woodvillo end had not ; been eo well represented as they might. ;■ The promise that the v niorning train leavI ing Masterton at C.30 a.m. (or northern ~ ; stations would be resuVncd had given great : ' : satisfaction in.Masterton. What was also ■■'.' Tequired was that the early train from; AVoodrillo to Wellington, via Wairarapa, . should leavo so as. to reach Masterton .*■ about 9.30 a.m. ..This would.enable people living Ekotahuna, Maurice- ! -.ville, and intermediate stations, to transact their business in Masterton and ro- ■'. turn homo the same day by 'the Welling-ton-Napier, train.--Tho slight alteration referred to would enablo passengers from the Wairarapa, to; catch the Palmerston • North express and reach Wanganui at 8 p.m., instead of. late at night, and New Plymouth the samo'night—which-was. impossible at .present.,. It would also be ■ .very useful for. 'school children. If the ' Auckland express arriving now at Palmer- , ■ Bt'on-at 12.30 could bo timed to arrive half- . au-hoiir earlier,' passengers for the Wairarapawould be able to connect at Woodrille with the Napier-Wellington . train, nnd. arrive at their, .destination six hours ' earlier than at present, . ...

■>•■ • Other Speakers. Mr. Carey submitted, and spoke at considerable length upon,' the resolutions which woro passed at the Masterton Con-ference,-an,d which have already been published in cxtenso in The Dominion. '

Mr,. Coradine said there was n" >'i">t that'the present service did not. suit therequirements of the-district, and. uiai U did not enable the best use to bo made' of the railways. While this- was 'so, it was useless for thq Department to say that the. services were not paying. _ It ■was bad business. They of the Wairarapa lmew- : they had natural disabilities to contend- with, but Wairarapa was ■ not responsible for these disabilities, and why therefore should they, be eo handicapped for efficient railway service. "They possessed a good service once. "The , Minister: "You were a main-trunk their!" •■■■.:■■: ;...--..- ' ■

Mr. Coradine: And they , thought they should have, oner again. (Hear, hear.) Mr. loasby (Mayor of Greytown) supported'the remarks of.; the previous speakers. Ho'averred that tho district was not getting its .stock 'and,- produco away as it should.., He belioved tho regulations were almost complete " among certain farmers for a special train to bring a lot of fat Jambs and sheep over the Eimutaka ,to Wellington. ■;51r.. 1 .R05s (Pahjatua) said that though. Kb was , ' with thb; deputation, he was-iiot' necessarily at one ivith all tho representations;--> He urgcd'ithat the interests-6i. ;tho whole of the Wairarapa district, 'in-' stead, , say, of those chiefly of Masterton, should be tho main consideration. .Ho urged also tlio "deviation" of the Riniutaka lino, but until that could be dono they would bo'very .pleaded to have the old time-tablo reinstated.

• Mr. Buchanan Puts the Whole Case. Mir: Buchanan entirely: agreed* with all that had been said, especially regarding the 7.15 a.m. train from, Wellington, as well as tho: 11.48 a.m. train- from PalThese would suit the wants. of the district. As to an earlier train from "VVoodville—there was no doubt that tho alteration had been very much against' t!i3 ! interests, of- the Bush District as a. ■whole,* and .against. the educational, interest also, and he..,was sure that when the Department went into the details of the thing they would endeavour to comply with the requests'* of' the deputation, if it'.was at all-possible. Then, as to the starting of th 0,7.30 train from. Masterton .to Wellington half an hour earlier, and the alteration of tho time of departure of tho 3.3(5 p.m. to 4.7 p.m.—if this could bo dono'it would bo an enormous advantage to tho district. . Tho train ,that the residents of Wairarana visit Wellington by to do business arrived in Wellington at 12.5." Before any business could .be dono it was lunch time, and then, after lunch, nien did .not return to their office to transact business till 2.30. And .so people found, it too late to return home the sa'mo 'evening) and had to stop in .town, overnight. ,He would also emphasise, the desire to reinstate tho train that left at 4.45 a.m. Ho pointed out the "great desire of the people of tho lower valley to get a properly, convenient timc'tablc, and one that would enable them to get through to Wanganui and New Plymouth in tho one day, and also to connect nioro conveniently with Falmerston, which was an. important stock centre. Of course, if it could not bo done thej' could not ■ help it..- Hβ- had drawn up a programme, and would be pleased to submit it to the general manager of railways for his consideration.

THE MINISTER REPLIES. "Jn. replying, the Minister said.hß had given instructions at tho end of last session that the time-table was .to be gone into. , - In tho House he had said that he was quite prepared to go back to the G. 30 ' a.m. train from Masterton, making it clear that' it would mean discontinuing the 5.20 train from Cross Creek. Speaking of the situation in its general aspect, ho. said that, as they must be uware, tho Wairarapa was a . well settled districtexcept, perhaps," in regard to some of tho irioro outlying districts, and, apparently, the trade was not increasing to any great ;sxtcnt. Ho and thoss responsible,watched it very carefully: There was not that steady increase as along the 'Main Trunk line, for instance. : He did not wish to imply that.they were not increasing ;it all. The district certainly- was, but not in proportion to other districts. It paid the Government to bring produce l'rpra Kketahuna down over the Manawatu line instead of hauling it over the Himutak.i. Their proposals'would mean an increase of - .75,000 train reiles per annum. They could work this' out at ss. a mile. Ho would say nt once that he was not prepared to consider such a thing. The earnings if the Wairarapa , line between.Wellington and Woodville amounted to £100,000. Of this sum ,£05,000 represented Buburban receipts. This left .£35,000 as the receipts between the -rest of tlio distance and Woodville. As to tho 4.46 a.m. train, that had been an. important train when, the goods went over the Kimutaka. The position now was altered. It would now be too early for the meat comEmies to have their trucks discharged, y having the train at 10 o'clock they were able to have' the whole of tho meat trucks, hauled- away up the lino to return again as far as Featherston on the same evening. There was the difficulty of getting truck's for the- stock during the fat lamb season. If this particular alteration were made, it would mean running a train nt .£IB,OOO .'n year for newspapers and mails. , He could hold out no hopes for the '1.45 a.m. train. Tho other representations would receive his full consideration, nud he 'boned-to bo able to meet the deputation in some respects. • He was saving .£13,000 by the new time-table, and could imt go back. •He would issue a new timp-tnble in about a week. Incidentally, he said, it ■ pemfd- to him Ilio deputation were ju«t inclined to ■{<>■:?<<> tlirir coni!ect:nns with Ilawke's Bay. He would not countenance

any proposal to allow passenger traffic to come by the Main Trunk express via Palmerston, when other means were available on their own line... A DEVELOPMENT. RAILWAY LEAGUE IN PROSPECT. ,liy Telcfrapu.-Spccial Correspondent.) Masterton, January 31. It is understood that, as the result of tho deputation to the Minister for Railways to-day, steps aro to be taken to form a Railway League with a view to pushing on the construction of East Coast railways, and the Waipukurau-Masterton line, .together.*.with'.the deviation of the Riniutaka'route.