Foxton Chamber of Commerce.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3711, 13 September 1906, Page 3

Foxton Chamber of Commerce.

A meeting of the Council of the above was held last evening. Mr Frankland (Vice-President) occupied the chair. A fair amount of business was transacted. The reply of the Acting-Minister for Railways to the inter-district railway deputation held in the early part of the year was read. The Minister replied at great length to the requisitions submitted by the deputation and had apparently given the matter full consideration, though scarcely a single request made by the deputation was granted. That part of the reply which mainly affected Foxton was that referring to the Palmerston North-Foxton railway service. In this connection the Minister said ; ‘ Regarding the request for a daily service between Palmerston North and Foxton, and that a train should leave Palmerston at 8.5 p.m. on Saturdays and run straight through to Foxton without doing any goods business, the Minister thought that the existing trains provided ample facilities to satisfactorily deal with the present business. From data it appeared that the average number of passengers on the raid-day trams is 23 from Palmerston and 32 from Foxton. This gave revenue of less than ,£5 for the double trip, not sufficient to pay working expenses. Experience bad shown that additional services would not improve or increase business, and, as the existing business was not profitable, it was regretted the request could not be complied with. The same answer was made with regard to the suggested 8.5 p.m. Saturday train. A purely passenger train, as suggested, would only save 10 minutes time, and under the circumstances it would be inimical to the interests of farmers and others to alter the existing arrangements. With respect to the request that the morning train from Foxton on Mondays should connect at Palmerston for Waipukurau, the Minister found that ihe Foxton people were entirely opposed to any earlier departure; in fact, they desired that the train should leave an hour later. Therefore, until such time as there is more unanimity in the districts served by the train it will be quite impossible to make any alteration. As far as could be ascertained the connection suggested by the conference would be convenient to an occasional passenger, but the earlier hour of departure necessitated would be distinctly inconvenient to the bulk of the regular passengers and the residents of Foxton generally. It was decided that the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce, through whom the Minister’s reply had been sent, should be written to acknowledging the letter, and suggesting that if any alteration were made in the local railway services it should be in the direction only of adding the mid-day and afternoon train on Wednesday and Fridays corresponding to the other days of the week. A letter was read from Mr John Stevens, M.H.R., enclosing a letter from the Premier intimating that the Government was not prepared to incur the extra expenditure necessary for extending the Foxton wharf or giving increased facilities in the railway yards.

On the proposal of Mr H. Frankland, seconded by Mr Barnard, it was decided that the District Traffic Manager at Wellington be written to asking that an old shunting engine be sent to Foxton on the occasions when the coal boats are in port to deal with the extra traffic on the wharf instead of using horses.

A letter was read from Mr John Stevens, M.H-R., enclosing a letter from the acting Minister for Railways giving information as to dredging at rhe Foxton wharf, and repeating the statement already referred to in the letter from the Premier with regard to the question of the wharf. As both letters contained a statement that only one steamer trades regulaily to Foxton, it was decided to write to Mr Stevens in reply to his letters pointing out that this appeared to be a mistake, and that the position was considerably altered in view of the fact that the shipping at the port had been increasing considerably for some time.

a letter was read from the Palmerston North Chamber of Commerce requesting the support of the Foxton Chamber of Commerce in urging upon the Government the purchasing of the Manawatu railway, and asking that a representative be sent to a deputation to wait on the Minister for Railways and the Premier to propose the project. This letter evoked a considerable amount of discussion, the mem-

bers being of opinion that the acquisition of this line by the Government might possibly facilitate the Levin-Greatford connection and reduce the freights in certain respects. It was also suggested that it would lead to expenditure of a greater amount of public money on this coast, as at present the larger proportion of public works were executed on the Wairarapa line. It was finally decided to take the same action in this matter as had already been done by the Borough Council and that Mr Frankland should be appointed the representative of the Chamber on the proposed deputation. A conference at Palmerston North which had recently been proposed by the president of the Palmerston North Chamber in regard to certain matters affecting the interests of Foxton was referred to. At the request of the Council, Mr Frankland agreed to represent the Foxton chamber at this conference. On the proposal of Mr H. Frankland, seconded by Mr Barnard, it was resolved to approach the postmaster with a view to having additional receiving boxes placed at the corner of Robinson and Duncan streets and Johnson and Union streets and the plate on the Avenue receiving box repaired. It was also decided to ask the postmaster to arrange if possible a despatch of letters, etc., to Westport and Greymouth by the regular coal steamers leaving Foxton fortnightly. Messrs J. S. Watchorn, G. W. Morgan, A. R. McDonald, J. K. Hornblow were elected members of the chamber. Mr H. Frankland mentioned that as he was leaving Foxton shortly he -would be obliged to resign his position on the Council, but he would be pleased at any time when in Wellington to do anything he could for the Foxton Chamber of Commerce. The Council thanked Mr Frankland for his offer of assistance and assured him it would be taken advantage of if occasion should arise.