ROOM TO GROW

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 296, 3 September 1918, Page 7

ROOM TO GROW

WELLINGTON AND THE WAINUI-O-MATA TUNNELS

(By C'olemau Phillips.)

Now that the Otira Tunnel has been pierced,, should not a part of that outfit be moved up to Wellington, in-or-der to construct tho two tunnols via tho Wainui throuuh to Wairarapa, so as to .solve many intricate problems which have arisen in Wellington, brought on by the growth of the city?

Wellington, badly wants breathing space, 'i'he cost of rent and living is higher than in any other city of the Dominion. . Its tramway traffic is so congested that tho office hours of Civil Servants have had to be altered to ameliorate what jis now termed "tho indecent crowding."'

. Tho milk supply is utterly inadequate to the wants of the city; and ■tlio Hospital Board is asking for power "to resume somo farm land In order to supply the Hospital'with 100 gallons of milk a. day." Private board ami lodging is difficult to-obtain, even at doub)« former rates;, the Education Board raxiNvi;- find areas for its secondary ischonl requirements. Wellington hue ;;o Kji»ce ior t a_Govornor'e residenoo i or ;'. 6±W for Queen Victoria's sUtuo. Mot 900 persons out of i: 1-Jiousf.a.vi ii , ii»« eif.y 'know where the head ef t-i»s Suit resides, or have seen hits Mssidenoe. this is poor justice to His ALaiesty.'tiii} king's roprosentstive. who fci-oui'j slwftyis be as much as possible in cvidencft before the people. We al-o not y«t- a If and do not want-to-be oni>. These are the chief present subjects ivuumdmtfily before tbe people, to show how Wellington is becoming "cribbed, riibined, And confined."

It has bocn said, "Oh, there are plenty of- empty allotments at Miramar,and rtn the bills round'the city, yet to be built upon." But will tho filling up of these allotments relieve tho congested tramways, or add to the city's milk supply 5 Hardly so! I ask, then,- to be allowed to suggest the only poetical solution for the city's growintr difficulties.

And first, as to the two tunnels. Your readers are all acquainted with what I , have urged, year in and year oat. as to the immediate necessity for their ' construction. ' Your worthy Mayor, Mr. Luke, toils me that the Government hits iiofc yet accepted this line as tho true deviation. ( My answer is that our able Eugineer-in-Chief, Mr. R. W. Holmes, states.that that Is the only line upou which he can run aii oxpress service out of the city. My con-k-ntioh is that Wellington must havo »n express servioo, and the 900 feet drop between Kaitoke and Upper Hutt must- always bo a bar to thft city's ■true , progress,' as it is impossible to kvei that grwV fl-bstacle. Wβ have among ns Bir W: Hiiil-Jones, who, with a statesman's foresight, had the line WOTftywt, many ynirt ago, at m.V reqsest. aiid itopolntod Mr. Dobson to do 'tl.ti work—t.p.B fiiniwj cilicv;, perhaps,, wbn surveyed tin- Otira Tunnel. When the first Natives sawtheWnirarapa Lake thc-y sw'fJ: ''Wiiat a wide s'boot of water." Willi'.- a great- outlook i" This is the meaning of the nnr.« thftj gave it. -A.nd that is ivh&t tho. future citizens of Wellington will fa:; , Wiiju their line hss been constructed, and from tbo port (for wJiat w> havo unw.is only a port)—they burst through into that--wider Wellington on the Other sido cf thu dividing raiiße. .

The cos I of' the deviation was csti-. mated by Mr. Dobson at £463,547, as far as Pigeon Bush, near lYathcrston. it will pay Wellington well to find this' money, as the saving alone on the small eection (Summit to Cross Creek) will be £20,000 a to pay tho interest on the cost of the wholo deviation. Sir William Fraser said: "Don't rivo me another long tunnel to make whilst 1 have Otira on my bands." Tmol But Otira has now been pierced; and as ho is a tunnel builder, let him be ii great tunnel builder and construct the Waihui tunnels. Let him supplv Welling-ton-with space to grow aiid breathe, fror when these tunnels are made aim tho East Coast section of is constructed (Western, Lake to Waipukunni, 150 miles) it will open up and sottlo, in small farms, an area of land that will double the.present size of Wellington's port. For this will moan a through lihe oil the East Coast of the North Island—Wellington to Aiickmuch of tho future Poverty Hay trade will come to Wellington. Not one penny do I wish to take fiotn Auckland. All I ask is that Wellington gets its Ifoir share of the-.future East Coast trade. ! Now us to the tod resumption. The Hospital Board seeks power to-ie-sume farm land of sufficient area to siip-ply it'with 100 gallons of iflilk a day. Years ago I asked , that home ISiOOD acres should bo ( resumed between tfoathorston, Gfeytowii, and the Lower Valley, 'as tho future political' capital of the Dominion/, deeming it unsafe for our public records- to be kept so open to soil attack. I sent the rough plans to Mr. Massey and Sir Joseph Ward ill 1910, arid tho part I marked out for a military cam]) is now under actual military use at Featherstoil and Tauherchikau. That IS,OOO acres contains Aome of the best dairy factories of the Dominion ; the Featherston. factory alone, receiving some 6000 gallons of milk a da.y, at the height of the Season Wellington, at present, wants some 7000 gallons a day, I believe, and can t;ike 9000 ■ gallons; and tho city will foon require double that quantity. So thero lies Wellington's, iiiilk supply. 'J he true solution of the niilk problem depends, therefore, upon increased railway facility. With an early express service, via the Waifnii-o-mata, tho leatherstoil dairy factory will be Vrithin an hour and a haM, from the city— an easy distance to supply tho city daily with ample sweet milk. 1 liope Messrs. Luke and Darnells will take a little wider view of the problems at issue than they have in the past; and agree now with what I have so L.ng asked for. l r rom their positions, iis Mityor and chairman of the Harbour Board, they should always stand for room for a Greater Wellington. Like a young'giant, Wellington is rapidly outgtwing its clothes, and it is their duty to supply a new suit, ample in size for future'growth'. True, 1 snidj that it was a gigantic blunder to build tho now Parliament House where it now is under construction. And I was justified, for many a sleepless might did Air. Massey linvo v,hmi those two licrimui warships, tho Scharnhorst and the Giicisonau were cruising so close to our shores. ( Kor those two ships, lying in the Sifnit. could easily have wrecked and burnt all our Government buildings at the port. To my iiiind, it is a travesty of sofe Government to have its pulitic.il capital on the sen coast. Sir. Luke was good ouoiigh j,o say to me quite lately; "Why, what you propoeo will cost ft million of money I" My suggestions will cost fat' more than that sum. But they will pay for themselves handsomely, as they are constructed (o jiieet tho growing wants of tho capital. The railway deviation will pay directly the line in open. Not a man doubts that. And the leases of inland Wellington city will pay the whole cost of founding tho new capital. Yet not-now. l''or the now site can' still be called Wellington, and tho present silo. Wellington. J'ort ;ilt.lioiigli I did onrn suggest "Zealandea" as tho naino for tho new site. It is not a question of providing better accommodation in the tramways

for tho public servants. What is the use of doing that if we cannot give them milk for their children, or supply them with cheaper rents, lighting, and firing? Can they, indeed, afford to have children at all tinder present conditions? I don't think they can. Jhe public servants will have « freer and bettor life, on the other sido of tho range, fiwinp; that the port site can no longer hold them. Wellington traders will say that I shall he'faking away their business. Indeed, No! There have been somo ton thousand men in Featherston Camp for a few year* past. Had the' Wainui tunnols .been muck , , and a short, pleasant, rail service instituted, iit_ place of the present wretched Summit line, Wellington traders would have had branches at Featherston, and supplied the niirnp Wants. Similarly, when the public servants live at inland Wellington tho present traders will supply them; snvo that they will have two shops, whore now they luivo. only ono. I do not fully, understand what the Mayor, Councillor .Norwood, and the City Council are doing to kenp up tho city milk supply but they should receive the loyal support of everybody in their efforts. I have told them that they must "first catch their biire beforo they can cook it." The City Council are well able to distribute the milk, but to get the supply is quite another matter. They will find the railway service against them; I have offered to do what I could for them from, tho Wairarapa side, and in this article I have hinted at some of the measure* that will havo to be adopted-. The details have all to bo filled fii) as the dairy farmers are at present very undecided to supply tlio city with milk under present conditions. I must say that they have very weighty reasons for the stand they havo taken. ,

Within the past month the manager of the Feathciston Dairy • Factory lias been prosecuted for fhipplying 100 gallons of milk to the Featherston Oanip under the required standard, he being as innocent of wrongdoing as I am in the matter. What possible hope 13 there of the- directors of that factory supplying Wellington with milk from their own initiative? None at all. Arid yet years ago 1 had nearly every farmer arouiid Fcatheretoli anxious to send Wellington ill Winter a good milk supply. As it is now, the long rail journey is against a summer supply, and the farmers will not milk in the winter. 1 am amazed at the way tho dairy farmers have been, prosecuted these last few years. The Magistracy of the province iio doubt think they-aw acting rightly ill carrying out the regulations of the Health Department as they are doing, but what with that, and the non-facilities' of the railway service, cau any person, feel surprised at tho Wellington inilk supply drying up? The thing is to restore the supply, and the first step will be- to cease those endloss prosecutions of the dairy farmers, who are rightly.indignant _a£._ the way they have bceti treated. Wellington tali' thank tho regulations, under tho Act, entirely, tor-its present milk shortage. And it will lutve less milk next winter, unless inspectors and .Magistrates cease- punishing ulen. who Irtive no intent of doing wrong. This means that tho Woiliiijjion municipality will have to got land and do its on'ii liiilkinj?. Which iriiigs me at onco back to ths'.iS.OiXkiofft resumption for the political ovpltsl sittv. and tlig .taking over «i tU dairy farms, mat (is tliey stfl./rfi. miVm that awii., for the Mure wiaicr <-i!y •ii'Jk ( supply. Notwithstandiiij; idi that lius beesj naid in the vuiway&Mrs 'Jic v.'ity Covmcil has not ces6;!:v its hwe ;vft. ;.;:.•»: ; tt«\ flfriiid will r.ct catch u i;wi*r present conditions. I havo, however, tried to advise tho Mayor tt> the best of my ability (just as I dk! hi fke aiatt-er of the Oroßgo Orocgo aclcliljori to the Waimii reservoir), and i wn glad to boo that Councillor Norwow. is following the lines I sketched out. What 1 fear is v that the present, railway cannot delivcrWairariips. milk i-aiisfactor-ily into the city. 1 eveu if iha dairy farmers agree to send it, -ami that a deviation of the line is absolutely necessary.