Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1913. NO "DOG-IN-THE-MANGER"

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 30, 5 February 1913, Page 6

Evening Post. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1913. NO "DOG-IN-THE-MANGER"

In another column appears the l&et of a series of articles on the development of the Taupo pumice plains. The writer has endeavoured to show that, in these days of earth-hunger, we have in the heart of this island millions of acres of empty la^de that, with cultivation and manuring* may be made highly productive; that, on the basis of a living area of 800 acres, there is room for a population on the soil of over 15,000 ; that, assuming a one-sheep value of £5 an acre, this waste asset is potentially worth over twelve millions sterling ; but that the essential manuring and cultivation are only possible with improved railway access. Pursuing the investigation farther, the writer shows that the extending of the Taupo Totara Timber Company's light railway (standard gauge) from Mokai would be the cheapest and quickest method of linking up the State railway system with Lake Taupo, which is distant fifty-six miles from Rotorua, and only twenty miles from Me kaij and he suggests that, in view of the State's commitments and limited loan money, it is better that the Government should allow the company to com* plete the connection in twelve or eighteen months— provided the public interest is safeguarded— than postpone the access ,to these pumice lands, and therefore their utilisation, indefinitely. That brings the question down to whether or not the basis of terms on which the company is willing to extend its line to Taupo offers sufficient safeguards for the public interest; and this phase, the most important of all, is dealt with in to-day's article. Briefly, the company says it is prepared to make the extension and provide rolling' Stock suitable for passenger traffic at a cost of £50,000; giving the Government the right to resume, at any time, the whole lino and plant on payment of the cost of construction (estimated to, be, on completion, about £180,000) without payment for goodwill; and submitting to Government control of fares and freights. In return, the company does not ask one penny in cash from a hardtip State exchequer, but asks for a Government guarantee up to £50,000 to enable it to finance the cost of extension and rolling-stock, and in return offers security which it undertakes to convince the Government is adequate. Two matters for negotiation arise out of this basis of agreement. One is the security, which is for the Government's inspection, and the other is the fares and freights. To safeguard the interest of the new settlers, to whom cheap transport is the first consideration, the Taupo Totara Timber Company proposes that if the scale of fares and freights is found, by the test of the books, to yield more than a fair rate of interest, the position shall be equalised by reducing the rates or by giving greateu facilities to the users of the railway. It is difficult to imagine a fairer principle, and ' this, coupled with the right of resumption at any time, in our opinion constitutes the foundation of an agreement that would be absolutely fair to settlers, travelling public, and the country. Of course, if the whole undertaking proved a "fizzle," if Taupo's resources failed and the company's assets depreciated, the State might be left with a light railway on its hands. But if the Government were in a position to build a line itself— and apparently it is not — it would still be taking a similar or even greater risk. What is more likely to happen is that, long before the extinction of ithe timber freights— which the company guarantees at £11,606 a year for fifteen years— a new traffic will have grown up through the cultivation of the pumice lands and the aflvent of the tourist to Taupo ; and all that trade the Government will be able to appropriate, for it is offered the right to resume at any time. So the cry of "private monopoly" is somewhat heavily discounted. Railway access to Taupo via Putaruru and Mokai does not exclude a similar extension f rom Rotorua, for each project has a sphere of its own, as has been explained in detail. The line from Mokai would be essentially a pioneering one, and the successful development of the Taupo pumice lands would encourage similar efforts on the Rotorua side. Besides, tho present Minister for Public Works, Mr. Fraser, favours light lines of standard gauge to

open new country, recognising the saving in time and money, and these considerations govern the present case. Mr. R. W. Holmes, Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department, has stated in evidence that the company's present line is sufficient forHhe goods traffic of the Taupo district, and can be made, at comparatively small cost, capable of carrying passengers safely. In fact, it is the shortest, most easily made, and, for the present, fittest line of communication. If the Government is not prepared to carry out with promptitude a necessary project such as is now under review, it should think twice before blocking a private concern that is prepared to do the work at onco with safeguards to the public. Other things being equal, a State«owned railway is the better, but a privately-owned and State-controlled line, subject to immediate resumption, is certainly preferable to no access at all. An impecunious Government should have no difficulty of choice between spending from £250,000 to £400,000 on the protracted construction of a long railway, and giving someone else a guarantee, up to £50,000, to build a much shorter one. Note carefully what Mr. Masßey told a Te Awamuttt depu- , tation that asked him, last month, to construct a light electric railway over the SO miles separating Te Awamutu from Putaruru. The time was coming, h« said, when local bodies phould be j given power to construct these light railways, "as the Government was fully engaged with the main lines." Only a few j days later, referring to the Taupo line itself, the Minister for Public Works said "his own personal feeling was that if private enterprise was willing to undertake a heavy responsibility like this, the State should not be guilty of a dog' in-the-manger attitude." Now, the position at Taupo is that there is a great central lake, the greatest in New Zealand, which provides cheap water carriage for an immense basin of country, but thiß ideal distributing centre is cut off from the railway eyßtem. A link consisting of twenty miles of light railway, which a private company is prepared to construct under safeguards, is all that is required to bridge the gap. Will Mr. Massey and Mr. Fraser and their colleagues say "No" ?