CLUTHA VALLEY RAILWAY

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 18 August 1909, Page 38

CLUTHA VALLEY RAILWAY

DEPUTATION TO HON. R. M'KENZIE.

CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSAL

PROMISED.

(Fsou Oub Special Bxpo&teb.)

BALCLTJTHA, August 15. On arrival here on Saturday afternoon the Hon. R. M'Kenzie, Minister of Public .Works, was waited upon by a very large deputation from the Clutha Valley Railway League. Mr A. S. Malcolm, member for the district, introduced the deputation, and said that as it wa3 a matter in which Mr Allen was as vitally inteiested as himself he would hand it over to him.

The Minister: Evidently you are not a strong advocate? Mr Malcolm said certainly he was. The Minister asked Mr Allen which side of the river they wished the railway to go up

Mr Allen: Either side, so long as the railway gets to Tuapeka Mouth. Personally, he believed that the northern would be the better side, but he was not going to be parochial about it. He thought the Government should send its officers to find out the best route. Several routes were spoken of on either side of the river, and an alternative route in from Stirling or Novell's Flat. He would say nothing to prevent t going anj way, so long as the railway got to Tuapeka Mouth. He did not advocate an expensive railway — costing, say, £15.000 a mile, -but thought they could set one for about £4000 per mile at the outside, which would serve the district for many years. The speaker went on to Bay that the means of communication with the inland farmers were now utterly inadequate. Recently Mr Begg had cut up portion of his estate, a.nd Clydevale and Greenfield were now cut up, and closer settlement had increased the volume of produce so much" that the steamer on the xiver could not cope with the traffic. The Minister asked why they did not get another steamer.

Mr Allen paid it was an irregular service. Some days the river was in such a condition that no fteamer could get up. Mr Malcolm said they were unanimous in being willing to leave the question of route to the Government. There had been two surveys made-*one on each side of the river. On the north side Mr Dobson had estimated that a railway of 25 miles in length could be made at £7418 per mile. Evidently it would be a very cheap line. Perhaps the Minister would wonder why the railway bad not been advocated at a much earlier date. One reason was that until recent times the Clutha Valley was- held in very large areap, but it had now been settled. He did not think any, district in the whole of the island had better claims for a railway than tlij Clutha district, and he thought the railway would be easy of construction, an 1 would pay from the start. Mr John Dunne, president of the league, said there >vas no risk whatever about the line paying. The settlers were willing to sub.Tiit " to taxation to make up any deficiency — they were so sure the line would pay. Mr D. Stowart. vioe-jrresident of the league, went into some detail to show why a second steamer was undesirable. He reviewed the condition governing the acquisition of the present steamer, and said that the empowering act of 1890 had been necessary for them to borrow money. One condition, then, was that they were not to pay above 5 per cent., but they could not get that rate now. There was also the cost of running the steamer and the risk and delay in travelling. They had understood from a recent speech by the Prime Minister that tha railway policy had been altered, and that if a district guaranteed a portion of the interest the Government would make a railway. Prior to that announcement the Battlers hud some thought of securing a second steamer, !n spite of the difficulties, but now they had changed their views, and took up the position that if they gave the Government a guarantee they almost had a right to demand the railway. He believed they were prepared to give that guarantee. iTbe railway asked for was of standard gauge, but of relatively light construction of the Btvle of that between Winton and •Hedgehope. tl-o cort of construction of which they understood had been £1000 per mile.

The Minister interjected that they could tiot run Government rolling stock on such a line.

Mr Stewart asked: Then why build it at licdgehope ? The Minister remarked thai £1000 per tnile would not pay for rails and sleepers of a proper railway. A Member of the deputation called out, «'Make it £3000, then." The Minister: "That is more like it." Mr Stewart, in conclusion submitted statistical tables showing the productivity of the Clutha Valley.

The Minister handed these to his secretary for reference. -'

The main thing, Mr Stewart added, that the settl-ers ' relied upon was their guarantee. The River Board had an endowment of two runs and two grazing areas to provide for the cost of the river service. 'These yielded £1300 per year, and as the railway would be performing- tho work, some portion of this might go to the Railway Department.

Mr J. R. Mitchell (Clydevale) also spoke, emphasising the uncertainty of the- river traffic, as sometimes produce could not bo moved for four or six weeks.

The Minister said the same thing sometimes happened on the railway, because of ihe shortage of trucks. Mr Mitchell said the remedy was to build more trucks.

Mr D Murray (Clydevale) said that something like 100,000 sheep and lambs came from the district yearly for freezing in Dunedin, and that the present grain production would be increased 10 times if the line were put through. According ■to iooraputation, something like 100,000 acres of first-class arable land would be served by the railway. The Minister asked if the speaker would admit that about 35,000 acreß of this would be served bj the Invercargill line and another 25,000 by the Lawrence line. Mr Murray said it was not so. The nearest point of land he wae referring to would bo eight miles from any railway. ftlr J M. Begg (Hillend) also spoke, and said tho question appeared to him to be which would be cheaper : to dear the rivc-r or build tho railway. Ho believed that even if the river could be made navigable, it would cost much more than to build the railway. Mr J. Hartstonge • (Tuapeka West) sak!

that his people were prepared to guarante< 3 per cent, on the cost of construction. The Minister; That would not* b< enough. Mr Haxfcstonge asked what would b( enough. , The Minister replied that at the presem price of money they would have to paj 3£ or 4 per cent. — 3£ anyway, and he ok not say that e%'en then the railway would be built. He had had offers of 3£ pei cent, from other places which had no) been accepted. Mr Hartstonge went on to say that sc far as he was concerned Tuapeka Mouth would be quite far -enough to take the line. Mr P. M'lnerney (Tuapeka Mouth] pointed out the- suitability of the land between Tuapeka Mouth and Beaumont i for fruit-growing. Mr C. H. Cameron (Tuapeka West) remarked that tho line asked for was only 21 miles in length, and the people were perfectly satisfied that this would not inter- , fere with any other line, j Mr J. E. Keenan commented upon the valuable timber which would be made available. i The Minister, in reply, said he was pleased to listen to their advocacy of the line, and he would explain the position to the Government' of which he was a member. j It 6eemed to him, he might remark, that ; the argument that the line was only going 21 miles (to Tuapeka Mouth} was not a very strong one. because in his experience when the settlers had to load up stuff and cart it any distance they would just as soon cart it the whole distance if it was within a day's journey. Out of the total I distance of 21 miles, be reckoned that 15 j miles could be cut off the length available for profitable traffic. Trere were now five j or six railways being advocated, with Roxj burgh as their objective, and the whole -of these proposals would have to be considered !on their merits. The Clutha Valley scheme j would be Considered when these railways j were under consideration. As to the guarantee, the Government had a number of others from settlers all over the country, some of which were very much worse off for access than the people at the Clutha, and the guarantees in some cases were 3£ per J cent. There were reasons against accepti ing such offera. One was that the Governj ment was limited m the matter of borrow- ( ing. He might mention that the OpunakeElthem line (50 miles through country equal 1 to anything in New Zealand) was one of the lines for which a guarantee had been i offered^ but the Government found it could not undertake it. He would like if he couidv.to give railways wherever there was , a far prospect of their being of service, J even if thoy did not promise to pay for a ! while, because he realised, with the Liberal Government as a whole, that even if they did not pay directly they would certainly pay indirectly. Settlers in this part of the j country had very much better railway facij lities than in many parts of the North Island, some of which were 100 miles from any railway, and these portions certainly had the first cjaim. Otago had the advantage that the three railways in Southland were practically finished, and when j they were out of hand this part of the Dominion was entitled to every reasonable consideration in the matter of" railway con- ' strtictinn, and no doubt some- sections would havj to 'be extended. Mr Stevcart's opinion |as to the cost was entirely wrong. Personally he thought that railways should not be made lighter than' they were being made ; 401b railways were " quite light enough, and the cheapest railway that could possibly be ir-ade under such conditions would cost £4300 per mile. Even then most of the buildings would have to be left out. The New Zealand railways were sufficiently light ac "it was, and a narrow gauge railway would be of liifcle or no use. Separate rolling stock would have to be provided, and if a stiff breeze came along such a line would not be safe for passengers. However, he would represent the case to the Government. No doubt the country aoout Beaumont was as good for fruitgrowing as any part of New Zealand, and the Government had decided to encourage prru it-growing for export. Of one thing they might be sure, and that was that only one railway would be built into the Roxburgh district, and it was for the Government to decide which route it would take. The Government was anxious to use every possible effort in giving the greatest facilities to settlers in getting their produce to market. The Minister concluded by saying that there was not the slightest doubt that 6ooner or later the railway would go into that part of the country. Mr Dunne returned thanks, and the deputation withdrew.