TAUPO PETITION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1543, 12 September 1912, Page 6

TAUPO PETITION.

» -— . THE RIVAL RAILWAY ROUTES. ROTORUA OBJECTIONS. & Further evidence was heard yesterday e by tho special Parliamentary Committee set \ip to inquire into the petition of tho J Taupo-Tolara Timber Company in refer- . once to the proposed extension of its light , railway to Lake 'i'aupo. } Tho chairman (Mr. G. J. Anderson) read an amended petition on tho lines of i, tho oiler made by Mr. F. G. Dalzicll on tho previous day. i Mr. C. 13. Collins continued his oxamo ination of Mr. Dalziell, commenced at the . previous sitting. 3 The chairman asked Mr. Collins not to j raise the question of leasehold or freer hold in his examination, but. to restrict 0 himself to the question before the committee—whether or not the prayer of the f petitioners should ho granted. r Answering Mr. Collins, Mr. Dalziell said that the assets of the company were about 5 equal to its liabilities less some .£15,000. 1 tie would have no objection to putting 5 on record the names of the shareholders t and debenture-holders of the company if 3 the committee desired it. ! Mr. Dalziell stated Unit be hod bad i ten years' experience of tho Taupo district, and knew it fairly well; he also I knew New Zealand fairly well, and did not t think that so much country could bo t opened up by a given expenditure anyI where else than under this.proposal. The [ connecting link of twenty'miles of railway would serve the country all round the j lake. Tho whole of this land was plough- . able. The Case for Rotorua. t The next witness called was Mr. J. R. 1 Haw, president of the .Rotorua Chamber i of Commerce. He stated that ho had been 1 deputed by that body, the only one which > could, give expression to public opinion in - Rotorua, to : tier objections to the petit tion. He proceeded to state the grounds, t on which his chamber opposed the poti- , tion. The first was that the conditions ! of the petition were unreasonable, and ; opposed to the best interests of the Doi minion and they State town of Rotorua. ! Mr. \V. C. Buchanan asked whether the i witnoss was aware of tho alteration in the , petition. Mr. Raw said that he was aware of the ■ alteration, but that it was impossible for ■ his chamber to reply to different phases of I the question which, arose from day to day. i He could only reply lor tho Chamber of i Commerce from the point of view of the I latest information in its possession. He ■ went on to urge that a Stnte line from i Taupo to the coast by way of Rotorua I would be moro advantageous than the proposed private line, and would be con- . structcd at a cost of approximately .6100,- . 000 less than by any other route. If the . concession were granted the construction : of a State line between. Taupo and the coast would be relegated to tlis distant I future. As a tourist route, the suggested , Taupo-Rotorua line was preferable to the I private line. Mr. Raw further urged that i if the petition were granted an objection- . able monopoly would be created. If the land were not suitable for settlement, ho i continued, no amount of State or private L expenditure would avail to open it up. , On tho other hand, if the lend was valuable,' the State should open it up. Why . had not a great protest been raised by ' landless people if the land was as voul- '_ ablo as hai been said? Tho keen prac- [ tical farmers of this country, by their I neglect of the Taupo lands, gave a tacit j expression ot opinion which was strongly I opposed to tho optimistic estimate of the . framers of the petition. Rotorua Not Jealous. $ Mr. Raw contrasted the rates, charged i on the Taupo-T'otara line with thoso i levied on the Government'lines, as ohow- . ing that tho first were very much higher ■ in all classes of goods. Mr. Raw denied i that the people of Rotorua were jealous of tho development of Taupo. As a fact, the people of Rotorua were agitating foi railway connection with Taupo,. He suggested that if the concession were grouted a proviso should be inserted to Prevent the company charging lower rates on its line than were charged on the State lines, to prevent unfair competition with the Stato lines. (This proposal made the chairman and some members of the Committee laugh.), Mr, Raw emphasised the value of Rotorua os a State asset. If the company were allowed to extend its line, ho continued, the effect would be lo deflect tourist traffic from Rotorua, as it would be in the interests of the company to keep neople moving up and down ■ n its private lines. By granting the company's request the Government would side-track Rotorua in order to benefit a private speculative company. " Tourists and Sottlement. Examined by Sir John Findlay, witness stated that he was interested in some 30 sub-leases, outside the town of Rotorua. He was inclined (o think that a good many of the 70 members of the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce did not own any land in or about Rotorua. Witness named one such member, and lo further questions stated that this member owned a farm about 20 nijles from Rotorua. Sir John Findlay: The great majority of tho persons whom you represent own land in or near Rotorua? Witness: No, I don't say (hat. Sir John Findlay next asked witness whether he considered the tourist traffic or the settlement of this land more important. Witness: Judging by the demonstrated capabilities of a lot of that land I should sav the tourist traffic. Sir John Findlay: You plaee the tourist traffic as more important than tho settlement of this area?—l do. / Witness added that an extension of tho tourist traffic would benefit.both Rotorua ami the Stato railways. To further questions Mr. Raw replied that in his opinion the carriage of produce in addition to the- tourist traffic \vould make tho Rotorua-Taupo lino pay from the start The approximate cost of this,line would be about JIIOO.OOO. This was an estimate by the Engineer-iri-Chief of the Dominion. He did not know what cost would be incurred for bridges. He had not formed an estimate of the cost of the line from Rotorua to Tanranga, but would be very much surprised to hear that this line would cost between £300,000 and .£400,000. He would not pledge his word thai the two lines would not cost more in the aggregatethan ,£750,000. He had not control over the matter. He was confident that the Government would spend the money necessary to complete these lines. If tho Rotorua and Taupo peoplo united in their own interests it might be done in five or six years. It certainly would not. take .fifty years. If the Taiino-Totara line were completed within 1S months and then taken over by the Government his objections would cense. Sir John Findlay said that the company had offered to sell its railway, completed to Taupo. for .CISO.OOO. The proposal was for the company to take the entire risk of the line proving payable. If the line did not pay at the end of 15 rears, it would be thrown back on the hands of the company. Was not. that a. fair proposition for tho Government? Witness said that the lino would not pay in any case. The Government would have to remake it. To another question he said that if he were a resident of Taupo he would probably bo fighting as hard for this line as a cood many of the people of Tauno were.'. If the railway was run as a Stole railway under the usual conditions, Rotorua could not oiler any reasonable objection to its completion. Mr. Wilson: Tf there were sufnricnt notation from the Taupo end and from , the settlers along the line, there was no reason whv the Taupo-Rotorua line should not'bo completed in five or six years Pressed as to Hie number of settlers along the route, be said there were about twenty. A Settlers' Evidence. Willinm Rollitt. farmer, said he was a neighbour nf the witness' Barnelt, ne.iv i Putaruru. He said it had cost him £2 , 7s. Oil. per neve to grass 200 acres of laud, ( counting nothing for wages or interest, , but charging what if had cost, his fam- ■ ily to live, and charging rent also. From . his knowledge of bush laud ho thought i the cost of grassing bush country was nbout .£3 10s. per acre. Pumico lands i were easy nnd cheap to work at any per- i iod of ,tho year, and the Tauno land would prow the best turnips in New Zealand. He had seen 90 acres of turnips sold for .£3OO cash. Ho admitted that : he was interested for selfish reasons only, and if tho timber company were going to keep their trains vunning for nil lime F he would not: bo anxious for the Govern- i merit, lo take over the line. Ho stated i also that.the company had treated set- C tUrs esceetlinsly well. Ho could say wilt f

certainty that the Taupo lands would grow hotter turnips and better clover than would certain of the poorer parts of tho Canterbury Plains. And the lowest prico for which land in Canterbury could be purchased was £6 per acre. It was a crime—a sin and a shame—that such a largo area of useful land at Taupo should be left unopened, while there was such a great demand for land. If the line were . : completed to Taupo all Uio land in the - district that could bo ploughed could 3 bo profitably farmed. Ho thought that ' . two-thirds of the two million acres, there t could bo ploughed. To Sir. Wilson: He had known grass (« be down for four years, and there was a ) good sole of Brass'on the land yet. The f land when grassed would carry a sheer , and a half to Hid acre. The committee adjourned until 10 a.m. . to-day.