THE ADDINGTON WORKSHOPS.

Globe, Volume XX, Issue 1615, 24 April 1879, Page 2

THE ADDINGTON WORKSHOPS.

A special meeting of the Chamber of Commerce was held yesterday to meet the members for the city in the General Assembly respecting the Addington workshops, pursuant to the following resolution passed at the late public meeting held in the Oddfellows’ Hall: —“ That the Mayor of Christchurch bo requested to communicate with the members of the Assembly and the Chamber of Commerce to take the necessary steps to secure the erection of the railway workshops at Addington.” The following members of the Chamber were present:—Messrs C. W. Turner (chairman), L. E. Nathan, W. D. Wood, George Gould, J. Goss, A. Cuff, H. Thomson, J. Cameron, G. Booth, W. Pratt, J. Ballantyne, J. J. Fletcher, W. Day, George Hart, 0. Kiver, junior, J. Anderson, junior, and the Eon. J. T. Peacock. Tire Hon. E. Richardson, Messrs E, 0. J. Stevens, and W. Moorhouse, the city members in the House of Representatives, were also present. The Chairman said he had asked them to meet there that day in consequence of two letters which he had received, and which ha would now read to them. The first was from Mr Haskins, town clerk, forwarding a resolution passed at a public meeting held in the Oddfellows’ Hall. [Letter read from the town clerk, covering copy of the resolution, and requesting the Chamber, on the part of the Mayor, to carry the request therein contained into effect.] Two days after the receipt of that letter he received the following one : 18th April, 1879. Sir,— Adverting to a resolution passed on the 10th instant, at a public meeting in Christchurch, requesting the Mayor of Christchurch to communicate with the members of the General Assembly and the Chamber of Commerce with the view of taking the necessary steps to secure the erection of railway workshops at Addington we write to ask when it will suit the convenience of the Chamber of Commerce to meet us on the subject. E. C. J. Stevens, E. Richardson, W. S. Mookhouse. As they were aware, the resolution referred to in the town clerk’s letter was passed at the close of a public meeting held for quite another purpose, viz., the securing of the holding of the next session of Parliament in Christchurch. Just as t he meeting was about to close the resolution he had referred to had been carried. A day or two afterwards the papers pnblished a telegram sent by the Minister tor Public Works to th* Dunedin people, which was as follows “ You must be under some misapprehension re Addington workshops. You cannot mean that there are to be no workshops in Canterbury, or that the removal of existing workshops from Christchurch to Addington, is detrimental to Dunedin or implies that the principal railway workshops in the Middle Island are to be at Addington. The railway station ground at Christchurch is required for other purposes. Hence the removal of the shops to Addington as provided for by the Appropriation Act. Regret this should offend mercantile people at Dunedin.” As doubtless many of them were aware the workshops here were originally constructed by the Provincial Government, but the Dunedin people seemed to bo afraid that the resolution parsed by Parliament in 1870 or 1871, he was not sure which, that the workshops should bo in Dunedin, was to bo sup' rseded or passed over altogether. Probably their members, who were present that dav, would he able to give them more information on the point than he (the chairman) could, and he would therefore ask them to d irose them. Mr E. C. J. Stevens said he thought the telegram of the Hon. Mr Maoandrew, which had been published after the meeting at which

Ihe resolution referred to by tbe chairman had been passed had cleared up the difficulty a good deal. It was well known that the idea of the Government was to erect very large workshops at Addington, and they had been acquiring a large quantity of land for that purpose. Altogether the land acquired and what the Government were acquiring for the erection of these workshops made up a -largo area. He had himself inspected the site 'to see what really was intended to be done, and 'had found that large buildings were in course of erection and near completion on the land acquired, as stated by him. So far as ho ■could aee it was impossible, in the face of Mr Macandrew’s telegram, and what had beo;n done on the site, that the workshops would not be erected at Addington. Whether the Addington workshops would be the largest in the Middle Island, or treated as the central workshops of the Middle Island depended, it appeared to him, very much on the development of traffic in regard to other places which were competing with it in regard to traffic. Ho thought the case would be met, under the circumstances, by the present meeting passing a resolution something to the following effect:—“That this meeting has every confidence that no local circumstances inconsistent with the best interests of the public in the matter of the establishment of central or other railway workshops for the Middle Island of Hew Zealand will be permitted to interfere with the question of the site which shall be secured.” He believed that some such resolution as this would put us right here locally, and also generally as regarded the colony, and he believed that if this were done there would be no dispute as to the establishment of workshops in this place, or for the Middle Island generally. Hon. E. Richardson said he had not much to add to what had fallen from Mr Stevens, except to say that he entirely agreed with him. The origin of this workshop question dated as far back as 1871, when it was agreed that two large workshops should bo established, one for the North Island and one for the Middle Island, the locale of the former being at Auckland and that of the latter at Dunedin, and arrangements were made accordingly. Under these circumstances the province of Canterbury had to make its own provision for workshops, and provision was made for that purpose by his friend near him (Mr Moorhouse) by purchasing a block of land in the Heathcote Talley. The Government engineer, however, thought that a better site would beat Addington. It was idle to suppose that they could do without workshops here, and it was also idle to suppose that the action of the people at Dunedin would prevent the Government having the workshops here. He thought the matter would right itself, as Parliament would see where the workshops were most necessary in the public interest. Ho believed that Mr Stevens’ suggestion as to the resolution to be passed there was a good one, and that the Government would go on with the erection of the workshops. Indeed they must go on, as to his knowledge there was a very large amount of plant already here waiting for the buildings, and the latter were now nearly roofed in. These buildings, he might say, were simply a flea bite to what must be erected to meet the requirements of the traffic. It was no harm to mention here that if it had not been for the jealousy existing between Port Chalmers and Dunedin, the workshops there would have been much larger. The bickerings which had gone on between the local bodies had led to the establishment of two workshops—one at Port Chalmers and one at the railway works in Dunedin—when under other circumstances there would only heve been one. He thought that they should not at present go further than the resolution indicated by Mr Stevens, unless there was any attempt to take away the workshops from here altogether. Mr W. S. Moorhouse quite concurred with what had been said by Mr Stevens and Mr Richardson. He had read the telegram of Mr Macandrew on the subject, and was quite contented with it. It was not, he thought, necessary for them to express anything more than Mr Stevens’ resolution, which was to the effect that they had confidence that the General Government would make their selection of the general factory and workshops without regarding local prejudices. Reading the telegram by the light of what he knew of Mr Macandrew, he thought that the intention of the Government was to carry on the work here. They-should not, he thought, express any anxiety on the subject, but leave the matter in the hands of the Government. The Chairman said the members of the Chamber had hoard what their members had to say on the subject. He should be glad to hear any discus-ion on the subject or a resolution brought forward. Mr Nathan thought the meeting was altogether superfluous ; having had the decidedly expressed opinion from Mr Macandrew they should be content to accept it as the expressed decision of the Government. It was the most reasonable reply which could have been given to the people of Dunedin on the subject. There was no doubt of this that the circumstances of the colony had considerably changed since 1871, and that the peculiar circumstances of the colony with reference to its railway system necessitated the erection of large workshops, not only in Canterbury but in Otago. There was no doubt of this, that while the railways continued to be worked as profitably as they were now these requirements would not be overlooked by the Government, and that the Otaeo men would see that their requirements for workshops would be attended to. He would move —“ That this Chamber trusts that no consideration other then the most efficient working of the railways, will be allowed to interfere in the fixing of the site of the railway workshops.” Mr H. Thomson had much pleasure in seconding the resolution proposed by Mr Nathan, the more so as he (Mr Thomson) had brought the matter under the notice of the public meeting at which the original resolution had been passed. Of course since then a material difference had taken place in the aspect of affairs, owing to the telegram of the Hon. Mr Macandrew. If such a telegram had been sent before the meeting, no such resolution as the one forwarded by the Mayor would have been passed. But he did not hesitate to say that the matter arose from local jealousy. They were accused of being jealous of the South, and accusing them of being so. He thought it was absurd that any district should object to the establishment of workshops, because they were to bo outside its own boundaries. They must be placed where the engineers saw that they were required. He thought it would be difficult to select a more central spot than Addington, when they reflected on the number of miles of railway opened north and south. He was glad that the Hon. Mr Richardson had referred to the matter of the disputes between Dunedin and Port Chalmers. As one living on the spot for some time he htd been cognisant of it. There was a Government reserve for workshops in Port Chalmers, and when they were going to be erected the Dunedin people got up a petition and urged the Government very successfully, so that not a workshop was erected upon the reserve, part of which he believed had been used by the Municipal Council. They must not sleep, or they would find local inluenco brought to bear to deprive good localities of the workshops. He believed, however, that the Government would be found to be guided by those best calculated to give advice, viz, the engineers, in the selection of sites. He had much pleasure in seconding the resolution. The resolution was then put and agreed to. It was resolved that the chairman be requested to forward the resolution of the Chamber to the Minister for Public Works. The Chairman said he desired to convey the thanks of the Chamber to the members for the city for their attendance that day. He trusted that in their places in Parliament they would urge upon the Government the necessity of being prepared to meet the traffic of next season. If they were blessed with a good harvest their requirements in the matter of transit would be very large. At present,thore wore a number of engines and trucks under repair caused by the fact that the exigencies of the traffic were such that there was no rest for the rolling stock, hence the necessity for repairs. The loss caused by the deficiency of carrying power was really enormous, and if it could be tabulated would astonish the public.

He felt sure the total loss for this season alone could not bo less than £25,000. He had taken the trouble to note the loss occasioned on seventeen vessels by detention for freight alone, and he found it came to over £2003. This, it must be remembered, was only taking loss of freight into consideration, but if they took interest on the value of cargo, &J., it would reach at least £IOOO more on these seventeen vessels only. He thought this was quite sufficient to prove tho absolute necessity of urging on the Government to take such steps as would effectually guard against such a loss being incurred next season. A vote of thanks to the members and to the Chairman concluded tho proceedings.