RAILWAY MATTERS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2835, 28 July 1916, Page 6

RAILWAY MATTERS

RUN TRAINS TO LAMBTON?

WHAT IT" INVOLVES

DEPUTATION TO MINISTER

OBJECTIONS TO SCHEME

A demand that all trains coming into Wellington should be run fl'rough to .'lmmbbon. Station was made by a very ' representative deputation which waited ... on tho' Minister of Railways yesterday afternoon. The meeting was attended by representatives of. most of the local pub- . ~ lie.bodies in.and around Wellington, by representatives of towns on the'Manawatu line,' and by many members of Pnr- : 'liament.'. The deputation also'came arrayed with letters .approving ' of , the ..-righteousness, of their ~.■ case, from the : Mayora. of many towns,, from Auckland v - . to;liivercargill. , . . . . ' , . : '-' Of Dominion Concern. ' .Mr. R. A. Wright, introducing the de- ".< 'putation,. said that it represented not _ only Wellington,. but other districts in New Zealand,'and tho deputation liad supporting letters from far distant parts -•-. . of New Zealand. Tliese would show that ; ;.the proposal was not meroly a Wellington . affair, but one of Dominion importance.. ■.--';■ It was understood that the Government ■'_-.. -"iiroposed.to erect a new station at Wel- ■ jington, but lack of funds, tJiey feared, would make it impossible for the Government to do this work for ten years. ." The deputation therefore asked that '• something should bo done meanwhile. .They had been told by an expert that 'alterations could' be made .to run the trains/into Lambton Station at moderate ■'cost.-' Mr. C. C. Crump, Mayor of Onslow, . said he wished it to be clearly understoodl that tho deputation was not asking' : for af| now station. If the reply ■ ; to the' deputation should, bo unsatis- ' factory, they would ask- for an opportunity to get an. opinion on tho subject from an expert , not connected 'with the Railway Department. Howish- . od the' Minister to understand that tho "deputation was not asking for the expenditure of; more money than w'as absolutely '■necessary. . '..'.' Tram Traffic Congestion. Mr. J. P. Luke (Mayor of Wellington) said ho had pleasure, on behalf of tho .Wellington City Council and the people of Wellington, in supporting the request that all trains should bo run into Lambton. The action of the' Government in this matter was retarding tho' progress of tlw'city. It was especially embarrassJing iu regard to tram traffic. Mr. W. H. Morton, General Manager of Tramways, spoke of the danger caused by the concentration of tram traffic outside Lambton Station. In order to remedy, this some ■ radical alteration wooid be necessary, which could not bo made until the station plans were alter- ... *Ed to, obviate tho carnage •of so many people'to and from,Thorndon Station. Mr. C.'.B. Daniell,: Chairman of the /Wellington Harbour Board, said that v the board had shaped its plans for work .'■:. to _ fit in with the new station to be built. The board had already spent ,£11,500 on the development of these faciHties. He assured the Minister that ■ the board would continue to co-operate with the Railway Department, in the de- • yelopment of' either the' temporary scheme or the big permanent - scheme, >nd he claimed that the board had al- . Teady done its part in bringing the ferry terminus as close/as. possible to the railway terminus. ' Messrs. W. A. Veitch, M.P., C. M. • Luke, and W. E; Meld, M.P., also urged' -the-necessity for immediate steps being • MINISTER'S REPLY. 'A. VEST 'NECESSARY WORK. ■ _ ,-':sfho Hon. W. H. Herries, in reply, said' . ho • had always been in favour of the '..■. Wellington Central Railway Station ■■ ~ being erected as 6oon as possible. When' the General Manager of Railways camo ■.-.,' out here he brought down a scheme far railway improvement all over New Zealand, and the cost of all the works was :to b0'.£3,250,000. Amongst the improvements was tho Wellington Central Railway Station. ' This work the railway ■people looked upon as very important. It. was "essential that tho work should be done in much less than ten years if . ' the Department was to carry out its engagements with its customers. They could not wait for ten years. Tho money ... -would have to-be found for both tli6 AucHamTand Wellington Stations. TJnfortunately for Wellington;,. Auckland got a,little bit. ahead before the war, end' certain commitments wero. mado, and work was proceeding how. It was .unfortunate for Wellington that a start ..was not made on the work here before the' war, but it was also a misfortuno for the Railway Department. There was no more whole-hearted supporter of the ~ Wellington Central Railway Station than .. himself, and he would move Heaven and . earth to get the money to have the work . carried through. If the Department . could not start the work in a year they would have serious trouble." It'was not ... the Railway Department that was blocking tho Central Station. The obstacle was the financial 'position owing to the war. It was_ impossible to raise a big loan for public" works in the Dominion at tho present time. The general idea ~ of, the people of tho Dominion was that i • '•whatever loans were to be raised now should-be for war purposes. He could not give away Cabinet secrets, but the Minister of Finance had already said tint the Government proposed to raise about ,£8,000,000 in the Dominion for war purposes.- This being so, what' chance ■ was there of raising money for public r .works? All the expenditure the Depart- ; ment could authorise for railway im•provement "was the" sum (of .£200,000, .wheroas they ought to be spending about '. ';.£900,000. The railway people knew that . there would be serious difficulties, and 'that tho public would be seriously inconvenienced if tlieso works wero not with. The. Department would have "' to face difficulties, and the public would have to face /difficulties. But the • difficulties •were brought on by the'war, and not by the unwillingness of tho Railway Department to raise the money. Ho wished •to assure the deputation that it was ahsolutely necessary that the new station '■■ should be started here in much less 'than 'ten years. If the Department had to wait ten years, then they might just as well give up trying to run. tho railways, because it would bo absolutely impossible to work the railways for ten years with- '" out a now station.

The Railway Surplus. • Some reference had been made to the fact that tho railways had earned, a good profit this year. He wished to explain his position with regard to this. In war time he considered that tho Railway Department was mainly a tax-gatherer. Some of the surplus, .£200,000, was due to the_ increases in fares and freights, and this increase was purely a war tax, which ought not to be counted as railway revenue. It should go to swell tho consolidated fund which the Finance Minister required for war .purposes. And it was his duty, he thought, to try to make as much money as possible out of railway Tunning in order to help the Finance Minister to find money for tho war. This was his reason for Tefusing throughout the Dominion applications for works. The Temporary Scheme.' He would Tofer next to tho request of the deputation, that if tho central sta-' tion could not bo built for some time, the trains should bo all run to; Lambton Station. This was no new matter. In 1913 there was a petition before the House, and the Railways Committee threshed out tho question thoroughly. Plans were produced and explained, and be ■ believed that those who had attended the committee on behalf of the petitioners had been satisfied that the proposal was impracticable even at that time. And tho petition then was that only two or three trains should bo taken •through to Lambton. Now it was asked that all trains should run through. The committee reported on the petition that' •it had no recommendation to make, and the member who presented tho petition,

Mr. Bell admitted in the House that the committee could have come to no" other conclusion. The Probable Cost. Since Mr. Wright had been elected there had been another deputation, and the General Manager had produced plans for them and given estimates of the cost of tho proposed running of all trains to Lambton. He understood that the petitioners were satisfied that the scheme was impracticable froin a finance point of view. He wished to sympathise with those who came with tliese petitions and deputations. Ho only, wished that ho could say "Yes" to all of them, because ho recognised they had a great grievance. (Hear, hoar.) It had been suggested that all'tho necessary alterations could be made for i; 3000 or JMOOO. It was quite true that two or three years ago in Committee of Supply, ho had mentioned this figure, but at that time Dr. Newman was asking only that two more trains inward and two outward should be handled at Lambton instead of_Th.orn.don. This was a very different thing from what was being asked for now. • That proposal-'wns difficult, but the handling of four more trains in a day would not necessitate any more platform accommodation. This sum of JJ3OOO or .£IOOO was all that would be necessary for signals and interlocking gear for the points to run the trains on to the Lambton lines. He was informed, however, that to give effect to what the, deputation now asked—the bringing of all trains into Lambton—would cost over '.£IOO,OOO, possibly .£150,000. t He would ask tlie General Manager '(Mr. Hiley) to'explain what would be required to do what the deputation asked, and he hoped Mr. Hiley would be able to convince them that the problem was a very much bigger one than they thought. .At Thorndon there was platform accommodation for three trains. At Lambton there was only one long platform, with accommodation for two short trains or one long one. If all the trains were to be brought into Lambton the platform accommodation would have to be more than doubled, and this would cost money. An Outside Opinion. Some members of the deputation had said they would like to take an outside opinion as to the probable cost of-, the work. Mr. Field had'said that the Manawatu people thought the work could bo done for a very niuch less sum than that named. He was quite willing, and ho was suro Mr. Hiley was quite willing, that an opinion.'skould bo obtained from an outside expert. He presumed that the expert they had in mind was Mr'. Honnay. Mr. Hiley would be only too willing to show him)all the plans. ' Dr. Newman: Suppose .wo produce other plans, apart from Mr. Hiley's'? Mr. Herries: If you produco other plans, I shall be very glad to have them reported on. I want to assist you if possible.. I want to have the thing done. But I can't go? iu for, and I don't think you will ask me to go in for, an expenditure of .£IOO,OOO. It was impossible to provide any decent accommu. dation which would later. fit in with the. new station plans, and ho did not think they would ask him to go in for an expenditure of .£IOO,OOO, on work which would be useless when the new railway station was built.' He assured the deputation that ho would do his best to have the new station commenced within a year or two. ;

: GENERAL MANAGER'S VIEWS. AVHAT THE SCHEME ENTAILS. Mr. E. H. Hiley, General Manager, said ho wished to endorse Mr. Hemes' statement that the Railway Department was not opposed to tho improvement of railway facilities in Wellington, although they did not see cyo to eyo with the deputation as to tho way in which the improvement was. to be : made. iho winging of all trains info, one station was as much in the interests of tho Department as of the public. After examination of the scheme he had come, to the conclusion that at least four platforms would be necessary at Lambton to deal with Wellington suburban and main line business. . lo attempt to bring all the traffic into Lambton station wituout providing stunning room ior four, or possibly live, trams would not bo satislactory to.the public, and, would import into 'tne working, ot tho trains an element ..of danger wnich was not there at .uestnx. ...,....' xiia greatest obstacio iu tho way of bringing; trains into'Lambton was the noiiiti-necK' at.. Davis; street. Additional lines, av Davis. ou'uet.. were essential to any .such scheme, anu..tiiis wouid entail uio purciiaae.oi properly between .Davis otieuc uuu lUooru Street, and ttie buaigntening ur 'inornuou tjuay. Tnis ivas common to lue temporary scheme, mm to tne central station scneino. 'rne purchase ot cms laliu would cost about -.i'W.WJU; and. tue money would iuivo ro ot> louiid now it tno teuCporary scheme was to proceed. Tne money wouiu not bo wasted, however. At Lambton .three ur lour platforms would liave to bo provided, and tnese could be mauorouly on the site of • tne present goous station. Xuo Department was seriously short ol accommodation now for goods tranic, at both stations, and if new. platforms wero to bo niaae on tho site pi tho present goods station goods accommodation would nave to be found elsewhere. This was why ho had to-advise Mr. Hemes that it was impossibio .to, lay down a temporary scheme now until they had some of, the ground that would be taken-for the central station. The expenditure on this extra passenger accommodation would be all wasted when the time came to go on with the central'station. Indeed, lie thought that when the construction of the central station was begun they would have to deal with the Lambton passengers up near Thorndon, so that to place temporary accommodation for passengers on the present Lambton site would complicate matters very much. No provision' was made in the Estimates quoted for accommodation ior standing vehicles at Lambton, and there would be additional running cost for taking trains back from Lambton to the Thorndon yard to stand there.

He quite agreed with Mr. Morton that there was congestion of tram traffic outside Lambton station, but to bring all tho passengers into Lambton would only have the effect of making "confusion worse confounded." It would not be possible, with this temporary scheme, for Mr. Morton to go on with tho origina lay-out as planned for the central sta c , onti ? l^ d to "Plain to the dwindling deputation the plans ho had prepared of the works needed.