STOCK BY TRAIN

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 162, 27 July 1937, Page 6

STOCK BY TRAIN

Our Own Correspondent.) *

From Wairoa and Gisborne^ to Waikato yards at nuhaka

(From

WAIROA, Last Night. A large percentage of Gisborne district stock for the Waikato during the coming eeason will be sent from Nuhaka, following the completion of the Wairoa-Napier railway. Big sheep and cattle holding yards will be built at Nuhaka to he ready by September, together with adequato loading facilities, and will be desdgned to cater for large consiguments. A deputation from the Poverty Bay Stockbrokers' Association, Messrs J. Eivers, F- B. Bousfield and H. B. Drummond, gained this information when they waited upon Mr G. H. Mackley, general manager for railways, and Mr H- Valentine, assistant general manager, in Wairoa. They understood that the yards at Nuhaka would be only temporary, for when the railway reached Gisborne the same amount of space for holding cattle would not be required. Figures for last season showed that approximately 350,000 sheep wero sent out of the Gisborne and Coast districts, nearly 300,000 of these going to tho Waikato, over 200,000 travelling by road to Taneatua, where they were put on the rail. A large percentage of the 200,000 railed last year would be entraaned at' Nuhaka during the coming season but those from the upper end Qf the Coast and the Matawai end of the district woxild atill use ihe Taneatua outlet. The distanee from Gisborne to the Nuhaka railway station is 45 miles, eompared with 125 miles to Taneatua. The droving time from Gisborne to Nuhaka would be under a week for cattle and just a week for sheep, while to Taneatua cattle would be on the road for a fortnight and for sheep nearly threa weeks. From Wairoa, atock trains are expected to take from 30 to 36 hours, and only an hour need be added for the additional length between Nuhaka and Wairoa, Cattle from Gisborne next season therefore can be in the Waikato Wlthin seven days, and sheep in eighfc Or nine days. Loss of condition also would be smaller on the trip via Nuhaka owing to the ehorter time on the roadAt the conference with Mr Mackley it was revealed that about 5500 shoep left the Wairoa district last year for the Waikato. Mr Mackley promised that speeial trains would be available for the stock traffic between Wairoa and the Waikato, the rate being 3/3 per head, at the rate of 60 sheep to the Iruck. If the trucks could be made to carry 75 head, the price would be proportionately lower.