TAUPO RAILWAY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1538, 6 September 1912, Page 2

TAUPO RAILWAY.

PLEA FOR THE COMPANY, STATEMENT BY SIR J. FINDLAY ' ROTORUA OBJECTIONS. The inquiry into the petition of tho Taupo-Totara Timber Company, in which it asks for assistance in extending its private lino of light railway, or, in the alternative,., for the right to buy some two hundred thousand acres of the Native land which would benefit by tho extension of the line, was continued yesterday by tho Special Parliamentary L'ommitteo set up for that purpose. Mr. G. J. Anderson (chairman) presided. Besides tho members of the committee a number of witnesses and other persons attended, among them Sir John i'indlay (representing tho Taupo-Totara Company); Mr. r. G. Dalziell, Mr. A. W. Blair (representing Natives in tho neighbouring district), Mr. C. B. Collins (barrister and solicitor to the Wellington Trades and Labour Council), Mr. A". H. Graham'(representing the Taupo citizens), and a number cf settlers and others representing different portions of the district affected. Tho chairman read the main petition, a supporting petition from a number of East. Taupo settlers, and other papers and correspondence in connection with tho petition. Ono letter was from 1!9 of the district Natives protesting against tho proposals of the Taupo-Totara Timber Company, and asking the Government not'to accede to them.- "It was stated in the letter that the Maori people v;ould be very much injured if the proposals were given effect to. It was agreed that the committee should sit day by day while tho Blouse was sitting. Mr. Blair stated that the Natives ho .represented wished to have their lands excluded from the operation of the .petition. • ' . Preliminary Objections. The committee was about to hear Sir John Fimliay in support of the petition when 'Mr. Collins intervened and asKed permission to advance some preliminary objections to tho petition, stating that if these objections were upheld it would be "unnecessary to proceed with the inquiry. A-fter some demur, the committee decided to hear Mr. Collins'. He submitted in tho first place that there were informalities in the petition disclosed, on its face. Tlie chairman: The House accepted it. Mr. Collins said that the House had only referred the petition to tho committee. "lie next submitted that tho petition asked for' relict' which could only _ be given by a private Bill giving the right to rate certain lands.

Sir John Findlny said that the company w;as not proposing, and would not propose, to rate any land. ,'., Mr. Collins contended that the prayer pf' the petition could only be given effect •.'to*by ft.priv.ito Bill. The Standing Orders in relation to a petition for this class of legislation had not been com.plied with. Another objection was that tho petition raised a matter for Government action. Government could give the right asked " for by an Order-in-Council. The petitioners would have a resort to Parliament if the Government refused to .accede to .their..-request, but they were iiot entitled' to apply to Parliament in tho first. instance. Mr. Collins raised a third point, that this petition involved matters of public, policy with which a .subordinate .Committee of the Houso could not deal.' .

Objections Novel.' 'Sir John Findlay said that the objections ,werb novel. It was quite common to refer,matters of this character to a Committee. All that the Committee was asked to do was to recommend the Government to act in any direction.- No private Bill was asked for. It was merely a-question of public policy which had.. been.Tc/ejired,. to this -Committee for report;'ParlianVeif-' tarians present would know that a usual course had been followed. On the motion of Mr. Buchanan, Mr. Young seconding, the Committee decided not to uphold the objections raised, and to proceed to hear the applicants arid objectors.

:=•' Supporting the Petition, The chairman then called upon Sir John Findlay, who said that it might bo convenient to , explain the relation between the petition then before the Committee and a petition from the Tnupo Totara Company, presented to Parliament in tho previous year. The petition of last year asked for relief, which was included in the relief asked for under the present petition. The prayer of the previous petition was that tho company should be "empowered to purchase an area of approximately 200,000 acres of Native land, undertaking to subdivide and sell it within a certain number .of years. Tho company also offered to so improve the land that it would bo capable of settlement. ■The Commitfeo to which the petition was referred, arrived at tho conclusion that in view of the important issues involved in tho petition, and in view of tho vagueness of tho proposal as to tho disposals of the 200,000 acres of land, which tiie company asked leave to acquire from the Natives, the whole question Should be held over until next session. The Committee further recommended that fidl inquiries should be made by the Government as to tho possibilities of settling the Crown and Native lands in the Taupo district. The petition now l>efore the Committee contained one proposal radically different in' character from the former prayer, and which entirely removed the objections made to last year's petition.

A New Zealand Enterprise. Briefly reviewing tho history of the company. Sir John Findlav said that it ,was formed in 1900 by a number of men in .New Zealand, and there .was not one penny of foreign capital involved in this enterprise. A sum of over £300,000 had been spent in constructing the company's light railway, and for tho requirement's of its sawmills. The sum of .£IOO,OOO had been borrowed at 6 per cent., ,£91,7G0 had been obtained by the issue of "A" shares, ,£75,000 bv the issue of preference shares, and another JE75.000 bv the issue of ordinary shares. There was an additional sum of ,£50,000 accumulated unpaid dividends on the "A" shares. The company was not likely to pay dividends, but it was not in financial difficulties. It was not a foreign company, but essentially and entirely a Now Zealand enterprise. Tho company had been led to believe that there wero 400 or 500 million feet of totara in its forests. It. was now found that no more than 120 million feet could bo recovered. The company commenced in 1903, and carried on for two years at'a groat loss. There was no prospect of the ordinary shareholders'getting back their money or any dividends on their shares. It was hoped to pay something in prior shares. The company employed 250 men, who, with thoir dependents, made up a population of 1000. During the last ten years the company ha<l spent in the Dominion a sum of .£654,000. Its present forests would enable it to carry on for fifteen or twenty years. Tho line owned by the company was a light railway capable of carrying both passengers and goods, with expedition and safety. The rails were lighter than on the Government lines, but it was more heavily Bleopered. • At present tho lino was almost entirely used as a timber mill tramway. Goods were carried, but no passengers. The committee would lenrn from settlers how good a service tho line provided. If the line wero completed, passengers could leave Auckland and arrive at Taupo in nine or, at most,. ton hours. Passengers could go from Rotorua to Taupo in five hours and a half, -and the. latter place could be reached 'from Wellington in an easy day. Sir John. Findlay exhibited on a plan the areas which the company claimed would be benefited by the construction of the line. The- company did not pretend to I bo patriots or to be actuated by humanitarian motives. They had a business proI position to make. The basis of the petition was that here wore two million acres of land lying practically idle. Of this axca 300,000 acres wore a breeding-<!rm>nrt for rabbit": a.nd noxious weed?. Holtlcrs had undergone great hardships in fiehlin'.' these pests. One twenty-fifth of- the whole cultivable area of New Zealand was contained in this district. The committee should ask themselves how loni. this national waste wns to co (in. Practically the whole of the *re* now lying Idle was capable' of closer settlement in areas of 300 acres and..-upwards, and not eiceedina 500 Mies, Sir* .Wi C. Kenslnan.

' ton, former Under-Secretary for Lands, would give evidence on this point. This land was going to remain in its present condition until satisfactory access was provided, No one could bo asked to settle there and pay cartage on fertilisers, and other goods and on produce. But it access were provided, settlement could proceed rapidly. Mr. Aston, who was possibly the- greatest agricultural chemist in this' country, had reported iavourably upon the Taupo land as capable ol being cultivated in small Areas. The company proposed to complete the railway to Taupo. The line would then extend oj miles from the main line. The company did not come to make any appeal. Questions had been asked as to its motive. It hid been said that the company aimed at creating a monopoly. the fact was thht the company wanted to get rid of its line because it was a dwindling asset. When the forests were worked out iiltccn vcars benco the line would still be as good as it was now. It might bo raid, would it not bo a wise thing for tlio Government to stand bv for iifUen years and at tho end of that time take advantage ot the company's necessities. Such a suggestion would bo unfair and unworthy ot the Government. Also it would be wholly and entirely unprofitable. It was alleged that there was some secret and unholy allianco between, tho Taupo Company and the Tongariro Company, with a view jo completing a junction line to the Main Trunk line, and that tho effect would be. to create cm injurious monopoly and seriously to injure Roloviva. Any rumour to that effect was absolutely and wholly inaccurate. Thoro had been no suggestion of co-operation between the two companies. As a fact, their interests were opposed. Hotel Options. Another statement that had, been raailo by the Kotorua people was that the Taupo Company would have an option to purchase all the hotels in these regions. Options certainly had been held over the, hotels, but these had all been abandoned except the two at Taupo. All that the company wanted was to get an area at the terminus at Taupo. But if tho purchase went through, the hotels would bo offered to tho Government, and if the Government did not want them the options would bo dropped. Tho company had no desire to own hotel property at all.

The Real Issue, Tho question really at issue was not the wisdom or otherwise of allowing private persons to.have the right to make a railway. The railway was actually. there. Tho question was whether the lino would remain a bush tramway, running into a cul de sac, or whether it would be continued to make a valuable moans of transit from Auckland to Taupo. If the Government did not take oyer the railway, the loss to settlement would be enormous; and the company offered 05 miles of railway, equipped with rolling stock, for If the Government took the lino the company would undertake to pay on rates to bo agreed upon, .£II,OOO per year in timber freights. The Government would receive ,£2OOO a year from settlers for the carriage of goods, if ordinary rates were charged, and the company took goods other than timber over tho line which would yield a revenue of ,£875. The annual tourist traffic to Taupo would on present figures yield about =£3000. This'would make the total income .£17,481 per year, even on present figures, and the total cost of running tho line, allowing liberally for maintenance, would bo .£9150, leaving a balance of profit of iIBO3I. These figures were based on actual experienco over tho last two years, and they were based on present traffic. Jit was no unreasonable presumption that if the line were taken to Taupo the figures might bo doubled.

Sale of Lands, There was no reason why tho Crown should not buy at present values a part of tho area of Native land to be benefited by tho extension and disposo of it to settlers. The enhanced valucof over .£200,000 would recoup the cost of tho railway. If this was not poiatablo to the Government, thero was no reason why tho large area of Crown lands there should not be sold. The company did not'. suggest that the Government should resort to loans, but r t!jat tho purchase mpney should be paid oiit of tho profits ffo'ln tho sale of land." They would take payment from time to tiino when the Crown sold land; prices created by tho railway would go to pay for tho railway. What he proposed was that tho company should complete the line immediately, that the Crown should sell the land avoilablo as expeditiously as possible,, either after the lino was finished'or on the undertaking- that, it would be built, and tho proceeds of the sales could be devoted to purchasing tho railroad.

The Crown's Point of View. Prom tho point of view of the Crown he urged that tho route followed by the private line would give Taupo settlers a much quicker, cheaper, and easier access to Auckland than they could have _by way of the proposed Kotorua-Taupo line, the route of which was not even surveyed yet. This route would be 23 miles longer, would not serve as good territory, and tho ruilway would cost X'SOP,OOO to build. It would be long before it could be built, and longer liefore it could pay, whereas by purchasing this line and extending it the Government, could have communication between Taupo and Auckland open, and sufficient freight was assured to make the Taupo-l'utaruru a highly profitable line, liven. if the two lines were in existence they would servo in great part different territories. A settler would ■;ivo evident;!.' to tho effect that if the Taupo Totara Company's line I were not taken up ho would be ruined,. oeeauso he could not gel his goods in or his produce out. What was stopping settlement was tho fear that the company might stop operations—which they were quite free to do. If a part of the land available there were settled, allowing 800 acres for each holding, 2500 settlers could be placed on the land, which would probably mean about 10,000 or 12,000 souls. There were 350,000 acres of Crown land unoccupied because there was no access. Surely the enhancement of the value of this vast national estate was the best reason for providing the access. Also, there were 800,000 acres of Native ]and there absolutely unused and unoccupied. Supposing the Government took only 200,000 acres of this at present value, and provided access, it would fro enhance the value of the remaining 600,000 acres that the Natives would be well repaid. • He believed that a majority of the Natives, who had shown for years their inability to use their land at Taupo, were willing to acoept such a proposal as that contemplated by tho company.

Rotorua Objections. He urged that the objections from Rotorua. were insincere. The people of Rotorua were in. fact anxious to focus all tho traffic to tho thermal regions in Kotorua, knowing that if access to Taupo and Wairakei were made easy, these more attractive resorts might draw some nf tho visitors away from Rotorua. The attitude of the Rotorua people was, in fact, sellish and insincere. Their object was to delay, rather than promote, access to Taupo, and there was no place in New Zealand where the Government had done moro to put money in the pockets of inhabitants than in Rotorua. The needs of Taupo, and the desire of Auckland, was, on the contrary, that there should be speedy and direct communication between Taupo and Auckland. It would 'not suit Iho Taupo settlers to be compelled to find their outlet by way of Rotorua and Tauranga.

"On National Grounds," In conclusion ho protested that it was wrong to oppose, "on'national grounds," as ho understood the Wellington Trades Council proposed to do, a proposal which would settle such a largo area of land, simply because a private company was to bo "repaid the money it had actually expended. Mr. W. C. Buchannn aslted counsel what explanation he could offer for such a large area of Crown land as 350,000 acres remaining so long idle; was it the fault of the Government, or was the land valueless? Sir John Findlay replied that he thought it was the fault of the Government. On the application of Mr. C. P. Collins, Sir John Findlay said he was prepared to put iu writing what the company really wanted, and the chairman promised, on bahalf of the committee, to call for the papers in connection with the issue of ihe original Oriler-in-Conne'il authorising the construction of the company's line. Tin- committee adjourned until 10 a.m. to-day.