TAUPO LANDS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1542, 11 September 1912, Page 10

TAUPO LANDS.

* PROSPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT. THE RAILWAY PETITION. SUPPORTED BY EVIDENCE. Tho special Parliamentary Committee sitting to inquire into the petition of tho Taupo Totam Timber Company that tho Government should purchase the company's railway, tho company being committed to eyte'r-d it to Taupo, at .£ISO,OOO. Sir John Findtay appeared for the company, and Mr. C. P. Collins appeared to support objections on behalf of the Wellington Trades and Labour Council. Daniel Crowlher, coach proprietor, said ho had been, driving on tho road between Waiouru and Tokaanu, and for 20 years ho had driven between Taupo and Napier. For over JO-years ho had been continuously in the Taupo district. Forty years ago the flat land south of Taupo was -under wheat, grown by tho Maoris, who also had a flour milt of thejr own. They also grew kumaras, potatoes, and pumpkins in plenty. Now the land was covered with brambles and ti_-tree. Yet the laud was good, and tho Natives had grown good crops of wheat on it. He had also had experience on three small farms. at Taupo, on the poorest of tlio pumice land, and he had grown good oats and good grass on the sections. He knew the country through which it was proposed that'the railway should pass, and the land was very similar there—most of it a great deal better. Jhe Lack of Access, All the land was capable of profitable farming by good farmers. Alt old settlers knew that the fault was not in the soil, but in the difficulty of getting fertilisers carted in and produce taken out. Lack of access had killed tho whole place lip till tho present. A very large area ot the Taupo country north of the lake would bo served by the railway, and there was no other way to serve it. All the lands round the lake could be quite efficiently and cheaply served by boat services on tho lake. Tho'lino from Rotorua would servo the land to the south' of the lake, but not to tho west, and not nearly such a large area in all. To Mr. Buchanan: From |the railway to 20 miles on either side of it the outside, cost of cartage ought not to exceed £2 per ton. To Mr. Dickie: He could not say how many bushels to the acre the Natives' wheat crops averaged at Tokaanu, but. they were 'good crops," grown without manure of any kind. On his own land he had taken a ton and a half of chaff from the acre. Mr. Dickie: Do you think 1 it is suitablo land for cutting up and putting poor men on? Could they make a living? Witness: They would have to, have a bit of money, sir. To Mr. Buick: The bush land was all good, and the poorer lands responded very kindly to the application of manure. The Rotorua Objections. Albert Rotorua Graham, barrister and solicitor, Wairakci, said he hadibeen deputed to represent the Taupo'Railway League. He had no brief from tho Taupo Timber Company, nor had he conio at the Taupo Company's invitation. There were nearly two million acres of land at Taupo lying waste. There were 200,000 acres of Crown lands, which were a breeding ground for rabbits, and which cost tlie, Government a good deal for poisoning. Similarly, the 800,000 acres of Native land was a seeding ground for noxious weeds, and overrun by rabbits, which were a source of expense to white settlers. The soil had been proved to be capable of growing cereals, grass, and fruit if it were manured, but the, difficulty of getting in manure and fencing material, and the difficulty of getting produce out made settlers cautious in entering upon development work. If communication were opened,, the face of the whole country-side would be changed. He stated that so far as his .personal interests were concerned, the Rotorua line would suit him and his people perhaps even better than the Taupo-Pntnruru line. But he condemned the suggested Rotorua route on the ground that the cost of construction on tho line would bo excessive. It had ' never, in fact,, been shown to be a commercial practicability. He suggested that the objectors from Rotorua were not serious in their advocacy ot their line, but were rather nutting it up hs a bogey to prevent tho Tnupo people from getting their lino to Putaruru. This was tho view of the extreme section m Rotorua, but he was pleased to be able to say that it was not the view of several men of standing in Rotorua. Ho suggested that there was no reasonable prospect of the Rotorua line being built for twenty years. To Mr. Buchanan: As an owner of property in the district, it was a matter of deep concern to .him whether the present railway would be kept running. It was only a private bush' railway at present, and the company might stop running it at any time. Closer settlement would bo impossiblo unless a permanent railway were running. ' / Company Chairman's View. F. G. Dalziell said ho had been chairman of the Taupo Totara Timber Company ever since its incoption in 1900. He said the line was heavy enough for anv traffic likely to bo taken over it. It could bo made tit to carry passengers for an expenditure of ,£675. There were no slips in the locality, but if the cutting were to bo widened the cost would not be heavy, for tho total cost of earth work was .620,000 for tho whole 50 miles of its length. The company had paid no diviends to its shareholders, and the remaining timber would not yield a profit sufficient to repay the shareholders' capital. Tho goods traffic at present would not warrant tho continued running of tho line, but it could bo run at a profit if the district were settled. The line had cost ,£120,000, rolling stock -.£IO,OOO, and the extension to Taupo, with extra rolling stock, should not cost more than .£50,000, making .£IBO,OOO in all. It was tnio that development along the company's line had been slow up till the present,. but tho /reason was that the land _ was held in large areas by private, owners, who made no use of it. It was the dairying industry at Putaruru and tho success of experiments with pumico land that had induced a feeling of confidence in the destiny of tho district. Much of the better land would bo available for settlement at once ( on the opening of the railway, but the poorer land might not bo brought under cultivation 'for some years. For the line to have a permanent value, the district must bo settled. The public should know, at once that the lino was going to bo permanent in order to expedite the taking up of land there. The company recognised that none of tho Public Works Funds of the country could bo utilised for tho development of the Taupo country while, other richer lands were waiting to be developed. They therefore suggested that as most of. tho land to be served was Crown and Native land, the Government should pay for the lino out of moneys received from the salo of lands. What the Company Will Do. For fifteen years, continued Mr. Dalziell, tho lifo of the forest, the company would undertake to run an efficient good service, and at the end of that term the Crown would be compelled to purchase only if the service proved to be payable. The company was willing to take the risk of the land being productive. The company would then sell at the actual'cost of iISO,OOO. In the alternative the company asked to be allowed to retain the line' and to purchase 200,000 acres of Native land. His own opinion was that tho Houso would have been well advised to have allowed tho company to mako this purchase on the previous application, because this would have meant the introduction of .C.T00.000 or .£IOO,OOO of outside capital to develop the district. He contradicted (he rumour that, the company had acquired options over all the lintel properties along the line and in the district. With the exception of options over two hotels at Taupo, which had been acquired in an area of eight acres as a terminal for the line, and which would ho turned over to private owners or to tho State immediately if the petition were granted, no shareholder or director of the company had any landed interests in tho Taupo district. The company had no desire to establish any monopoly, no said he was willing to give the committee anv information desired either concerning the matter of the. petition or the private affairs of the company. lii reply to Mr. Buchanan, witness said it wns true that the comnnnv could have cut U4> iQiut of its o.iva ir«ka!d of (3,0001

acres from which tho timber had heon cut, biit.it was only in recent years that the value of pnmico country had been demonstrated. Some years ago it would not have paid to farm the Taiipo country, but now, with the growth of dairying, ft could bo profitably farmed. Ho did not think tho fifteen, years for which the limber would last would bo certainly sufficient for tho development of tho land to an extent to make tho lino payable. For all that while the line would stop at Molci. It was such a proposition as no business man would so into. " To Mr. Jlacdonald: Without some such conditions as were being asked for tho company could not linanco die extension of the line. To Mr. Anderson: If the line paid at the end of 15 years, the company would be content to hold the line if the Government would not take it. What the company required just, now was security for moneys w.ith which to build tho line, by the purchase money of the line being charged upon the land to he served. The committee adjourned until 10 a.m. to-day.