TAUPO SETTLEMENT.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1545, 14 September 1912, Page 9

TAUPO SETTLEMENT.

expert evidence, 'fertility of pumice lasds. Expert evidence as lo the present value and potential fertility of tlio pumice lands in Ilio Taupo district was heard yesterilny.. by the special Parliamentary Committee, of which Jlr. G. J. Anderson is chairman, set up -to inquire into the petition of the Taupo-Totara Timber Company. , ' • Mr. K.iC. Aston ■ (Government agricultural chemist) read a statement supplementing evidence which ho gave in the inquiry conducted last year. He said that experiments had been made, on scrubcovered land and also on old forest land which showed that a Rood top-dressinu of basic slag had a very beneficial effect in.increasing the qnality of the pasture. The=e experiments bore out the predictions made last year on the strength of laboratory experiments. ' Potash was present in sufficient quantities and no addition was required. A'n increase in the humus in the soil would bo best achieved by the. application of phosphates, All the elements of fertility were present in the soil save one—nitrogen, and this could be secured from tho air by tho growth of leguminous plants encouraged by the uso of basic slag. Experiments showed that limo was rather injurious on pumice soils. • . . ' .

Answering questions, Jlr. Aston said that,ho was not in a position to , speak with , certainty as", to the precise quantity df fertiliser that should bo applied to secure the best results. His experiment,? had not yet been carried to a conclusion. He was under tho impression, howovcr, that considerably less than half a ton of basic elog to the acre- would suffice. Ono farmer had secured excellent' results by an application of three hundredweight of basic slag to the acre. To Sir John Findlny.: no know no caw in which as much as half ;i ton of basio slag had been applied to pumice lands in actual farming. In his opinion tho pumice lands were capable of profitable cultivation. He considered the land moro suitable for working in small areas than in large areas. Acoc;s to the land by railway was pre-esseiitiul Jo the successful farming of the land, ■" : Value of Light Railways, ; Jlr. J. E. Fulton, a civil engineer, resident, in Wellington, was the next witness. He slated that he laid' out and supervised a, large portion' of tho Ifaiiawatu railway. Afterwards he was traffic manager. Ho also laid and supervised the , railway of the Taupo-Totara Timber Company. This line was laid with new 301b. steel rails. It was 'more heavily sleepered thnn any other lino in .Now Zealand. This made it capable, with a given rail, of carrying a heavier weight than a lino sleepered as tho Government .lines were.. Ho had made a special study of light railways, and shared the heterodoxy of believing that light lines should precede standard lines in opening up new country. They could bo constructed for half tho cost of standard lines,, and would suffice to bear passenger and other traffic for many years. Light railways were utilised in other countries, particur larly in America, and were approved. If tho Taupo-Totara Company's liue . were completed lo Taupo, it would serve the traffic needs of the district very . well.. An expenditure of £5000 would remove any objections to the lino as a passenger line. Some of the cuttings were at present too narrow. The essential thing in light railways was to get good grades. Sharp curves did not matter if they could bo bunched in a small distance. If you could run at a good speed over the easier portions and- slowly over the curves, you ■got a very good railway. With suitable rolling-stock, tho distance from Taupo'to Putaruru, G5 miles, could ■ bo safely traversed in four hours. As heavy timber trucks were carried on i3ie Taupo railway as could bo carried on tho , Government lines. On the New York overhead lines there were sharper curves than on tho Putaruru line.

To Mr. Buchanan: The maximum speed ou tho Taupo lino would be 25 miles nn hour. Tho sharpest curves' could' be run through at "ten miles an hour. ~ ;,-.T<> Jlr.- .Wilson ::He advocate- light railways wlOTfiV'-eettlemeut was required!. > These linHSpjTtuS&it'y » surprising traffic. A District Land-Owner. Mr. George Warren Russell, member or Porlinmeiit, said that he had coino to'giro evidence solely in the interests of scttleniout. He hhel not been asked to do so by tho Taupo-Totara Company, There was a bugo area of land in tho Taupo district which could not possibly be fettled without proper, railway access. Access to this country from Napier was absolutely impossible for purposes of settlement. It was known that lie was interested ia a block of, land in the Taupo district. The final factor that had induced him to purchase was a knowledge that thd railway routo from Jloki to Taupo had been surveyed. There were from 200,000 to 250,000 acres of the Taupo country which woro for small settlement. If the line were completed to Taupo all the land to, tbe south and eaSl would have easy access by' a flat road by horso or motorwagon. He confessed that he was interested iii the project, but his interests vero also those of a very large'countryside. Settlement would be at once expedited if there wore a railway, and the State would be benefited by increased land tax. fie did not wish to touch on the political aspect, but ho thought it would be quite a fair thing to levy a rate on all these lauds to.guarantee the State against lgss. Ho thought it would pay tho settlers in tho eouthern country to contribute a rate. It would bo infinitely preferable for the Government to acquire tho lino from Putaruru to Taupo rather than to build a lino from Eotorua to Taupo. The Company's Prayer.

Sir John Findlay made a summary of the chief points of the prayer of the petition. The petitioners asked that the Government should take over tie liue at cost, or, iu the alternative, at a sum not exceeding .£180,000.. Payment was not. asked for at once, but in instalments' ns lauds were sold to settlers. If upon completion tho Crown found that the liue would not pay it.would ,be open to tho Crown to refuse to affirti the purchase, and the company would "be compelled to repay to the; Government, any purchase money received up to-that date, and, as a guarantee that the company would return those moneys, the company would enter into-a" bond that'such repayment would be faithfully made., This was tho main item of''the-prayer, and ho desired to ask the committee to view it from this point of view: Was it to the interest of New Zealand" that it should acquire this lino for nothing? He need not pause to justify that proposition. The line would connect Taupo with Auckland, Taiipo with Wellington; and Taupo with Kctorua. It, would open up two million ucres of land, and if the Government couid acquire tho line for nothing tho soouer it did h> the tetter. His second submission was that' the Government would in fact acquire the line for nothing. The line would add to tho value of tbn Crown land, . 5.i0.000 acres, through which it would pass, to the extent of fully .£IBO,OOO. But if the Government would tako over the Native land at the present value on which it was on offer, tho additional railway created value would make the transaction a profitable one He submitted also that the line as a running railway would pay, but if it failed, tho ■ company must bear tho burden of it. If the line proved payable, then the companv would, of course, 1» willing to keep thi'linc, but Iho Government would have tho right to take it. One might ask what, was the sinister object—the nrrie.ro pens-co —in this' "liends-J-win-lails-you-looM , scheme" which the company ollcral to the Government. The answer was that the companv Mievcd in the country, and they staked their belief in making tins apparently risky proposal. The fad wa« that the company could not finance tlio extension of the Hue unless tliey were given the guarantee the adoption of their prayer would givo them. If-Hie guarantee were given,, tho line would be completed; and for their pnrt ibo company would undertake to complete the In* eighteen months. . ; , . In answer to o question by the chairman as to the security to b? given by the company, Sir John Findlay said Ihe ooinnauv were prepared with a security which w.i* admittedly uorlh .tO.Dllll. In answer lo further question--, he <-aid that the proposal w;i< that Ihi- rmiipany slmiild mnnase the' line for lil'leen years but under Government supervi-ion a- lo The comniitlcc adjounicil uiilil 10 a.m. on Tuesday, on which day the inquiry rnrl. uT the. committee's duty will probably be concluded-