TAUPO RAILWAY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 400, 30 September 1911, Page 5

TAUPO RAILWAY.

WITNESSES EXAMINED. SCHEME ENDORSED. [UY TKLF.GBAPir. I'IIKSS ASSOCIATION".] Wellington, Last Night. The Parliamentary Committee, which is reporting on the petition of the Taupo Totara Timber Company, met again to-day. The chairman read a telegram from a meeting held at Putaruru, urging favuurable consideration, of the company's proposal. A similar message was also read frum the Taupo District Railway ; League. Mr Edward Earle Vaile, farmer, of Waitapu, owning 53.000 acres of land, said the proposed line would go within five miles of his land. He thought the Government should construct a line fro.»< Rotcrua to Taupo and success would be assured by the tourist traffic alone. But it was imrpobable that the line would be started within the next thirty years and therefore private enterprise should be encouraged, and he did not think the Government's right of purchase should be exercised for a reasonable period. He suggested the company might be allowed to charge higher rates than the State did, for, say, the five years. He did not oppose the company's land j purchase proposal. j Replying to questions witness said j the scheme would undoubtedly do j harm to Rotorua. He thought the j company had acquired the actual ther- I mal sites, and this should be safe- i guarded against. He had been farm- j ing for four years, and he was more j satisfied every day that the cuuntry i would be occupied by close settlement, j The chairman: Which, in your j opinion, woud b« the best line, for ; the whole district? Witness: The line from Rotorua. as there is settlement on the route. There is little or none on the other. i

Replying to Mr Dalziell, witness said although he thought the RotoruaTaupo route a better one, he now favoured the company's proposal, on the principle that half a loaf was better than no bread. William Louis Luxford, farmer, of Hamilton, also strongly supported the company's proposals.