LAWRENCE-ROXBURGH RAILWAY

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 27

LAWRENCE-ROXBURGH RAILWAY

DEPUTATION TO MINISTER Q$ , PUBLIC WORKS. MR M'KEXZDE FAVOURS LAWRENCE ROUTE. On Friday morning the Hon. R,. M'Kenzie, Minister of Public Works, ' was waited upon at the Excelsior Hotel by a deputation representing the Dunedin branch of the. Lawrence-Roxburgh Railway League. The deputation, whion was introduced by Mr J. F. Annold, M.P., was composed of Messrs D. M'Pherson (president of the Dunedin Chamber of Commerce), A. Bathgate, G. L. Denniston, W. J. Tonkin, E. Tain-biyai, A. Moritzson, J. H. Nimmo, H. D. Bedford, W. T. Talboys, J. M'Dwiald, E. ~S. Moss, C. T. Paterson, W. P. M'Dougall, and others ; Messrs J. B. Oallain, M.L.C., J. T. Paul, M.L.C, and R Scott (Tuapeka) were also present. Mr Arnold said the deputation wished to represent the matter not only from the point of view of those who had already spoken in other places, but as representing the whole of the Otago district and- the city of Dunedin. There was no question trat had been brought before the people in this port for some years that had agitated the -public mind more than that of the Lawrence-Roxburgh railway at the present time. They were of opinion years •njg-o- that it had been finally decided by the Government that a railway to Roxbusrgih, touching Dunedin, should be constructed. The battle of the routes had been fought out. it large deputation went from Dunedin to Roxburgh, and representatives of Southland also went to Roxburgh, and the Lawrence-Roxburgh people themselves decided that the railway would serve them bettor, and should be constructed, upon tha line afterwards adopted by the Government. The supporters of the railway were surprised to hear that it had been stopped, and they still marvelled at the fact, and could not understand what report could have been presented to the Government that had brought that end abo-ut. Personally^ as a member representing the people, be would like to see that report ■ and to know by whom it was m.3de. They held, too, that the question of route should not now be introduced. Experienced' men knew thai, if any Government could get the members or the public to fight over a question like this, it ■ was about the best excuse they could possibly get for hangingu.p a publio work for a period of years until it was convenient for them to undertake it. But they looked oin that question as settled onoa and for all. and they tbougit th« GorernoMot 9hould tell theiii finally what it was their intention to do, so that not only he re.pMS<*n;tatives ' of . tho T)cople but the citizens misht make vtn their minds as to what further ' course to follow. If the railway was not likely to pay when constiruoted it was a wonder why it had been constructed to the present point. The Minister: I suppose you advocated its construction pretty strongly to the present point? M.r' Arnold: Ye?., *Phe Minister: Why should yv>u wonder then why it b*s been constructed? Mr Arnold repeated that it was a wonder why the railway was constructed to the pre&ant point if it was not going to pay when completed. Surely the Government made full inquiry through ite officers before the, work was decided upon. If the Government w*re short of funds let' it cay that this t public work and others would have to ,&top in £be meantime, but fch&t it was intended at a later date to go on with it. If it were the fact that recently influence bad been brought to bear on the Government from a representative who perhaps had more influence now then he had a short time ago, and as a result the work had heen • stopned in favour of a lime up the Clutha Valley, the people had a right to know that that was the position. They had a right to know whether the Government was going to prosecute the line by way of lowrenoe. or by wav of the Clutha Vdl&y. One thins was clear: that a line from Edievale to Roxburgh could not be made to pay. All fche reports of the engineers showed that that route was out of the" question. — Applause.) Mr A. Bathgate thought his task had been greatly lightened by tba expressions of opinion that had had been (jiven by the Minister when in'herviewed by deputations at IJawTence, which demit at ions he had assured — rjarticularly the ladies' deputation — 'that they need have no fear, they would get their railway. It was not necessary _ for "him to draw the attention of the Minister to the urgent necessity for this railway: he had been through the district, beard the voice of the local people, and seen the country. v He thought he might ■ assume, therefore, that the railway was to be constructed. The Minister had, however, resuscitated the question of routes. The Minister: No, I did not; Other people .did it for me. Mr_Bathgate said that, at any rate, th© matter had been referred to. That question, as Mr Arnold had already pointed out, they had come to regard as settled. The matter had been thoroughly well fought out, and there was not the slightest doubt ac to which one of the two railway routes (Edievale or Lawrence) should bs constructed. In order that the Minister might thoroughly ivnid«aistand the nature of" the views that had been expressed fey his colleagues in former times on this subject, he. quoted the Hon. Mr Millar, who, at a meeting on April 11, I^os. had propose'] : "That the shortest and bast connection with- the district of Dunedin is via Lawrence. If it were not that after careful consideration he had come to the conclusion that the Lawrence-Roxburgh route was the best, he would not be on tho platform that night to advocate it." Mr Millar was not the man -to make a statement like that unless he meant it — certainly not for the sake of a little passing popularity. On the same occasion Mr Millar had 6asd: "The arguments in favour of the Lawrence-Roxburgh line were, that, as compared with any other Toute, it was cheaper in first cost, cheaper in maintenance, ofoeeiper in working expenses, opened up a larger area of land, and served a larger population."

The Minister: It is not the cheapest, not the shortest, and certainly does not open up so .much country. Mr Bathgate eaid that he thought that Mr Millar's statement was ab=olute!y correfct. However, it was a matter of opinion.

The Government had been guided by its own experts, and had fully weighed thsir reports. He went on to say that Mr HallJones and the late Prime Minister, Mr Seddon, had been impressed with the claims of this railway, and had expressed themselves accordingly The only man who (for reasons best known to himself) had changed front in connection with this matter iiad been the Hon. Thomas Mac-" kenzie. Since the question of a route for a railway to Roxburgh had been raised up again, Mi Mackenzie had contrived to bring about a change of opinion in some quairters. Sir Joseph had stopped the prosecution of the railway, and then Mr Mackenzie, "probably with the idea of drawing a red herring across the scent, had stirred up the Clutha Valley League, and that route had been strongly advocated. The following was taken from the press files of April 11, 1905: *" Mr T._ Mackenzie, M.P., who supported the motion, said it was supererogation to even point out ftie self-evident fact, as Euclid expressed it, that the Dunedin via Lawrence route was the shortest and best connection and that the Dunedin district was the largest market and the port of Dunedin undoubtedly the natural outlet for the export of the produce from . Teviot." The Lawrence-Roxburgh line was now within three miles of Beaumont, and there was a possibility of its going right through. If the other line wae built up_ the Clutha Valley - they would have a triangle, -with the main line as the base, and two lines converging on the same point. That would be a manifest absurdity, and he did not think that the Government would do such a thing. After what had already been done it was absurd to delay the opening up of this large district until the Government again decided upon what route the line of railway should follow. Obviously, the thing to do was to carry on the Lawrence-Roxburgh line to its original destination. It had been stated that the matter would be submitted to Parliament, but Parliament had already sanctioned the construction of this line, and to adopt that course meant the killing of the - whole scheme. The Government could not get rid of its responsibility in this way, after the route had already been decided upon and the work commenced. In conclusion, he deprecated the suggestion that local jealousies in the country in the matter of railway construction had had- that, influence on the Government that it had stapped the construction of one line, already authorised, in order to consider the advisability of proceeding with another in the same direction. He hoped that the Government would not be guilty of this. Mr A. Moritzson said that he had epoken somewhat fully upon the question at a social given at Roxburgh a few evenings before, and he proposed to repeat «ome of the p°irrts h& had" elaborated there. He was very 6orry that it was necessary for ihat deputation to be there at all that day. He commented on the fact "that Mr M'Kenzie had no sooner been raised to his high office than they had received word from the Prime Minister that it was not proposed to continue the construction of the Lawrence-Roxburgh line^ — news tliat was received with very great consternation by the people of Dunedin and the district concerned. When Sir Joeeph Ward came here he was -asked the question point-blank, and it was asserted that some information must have been given from a source that was tainted, and the people were under the impression that the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie must have had something to do with it. The Prime Minister contradicted tho statement, and his denial was accepted, but Sir Joseph Ward said that the report given to him cams, from the Hon. R. M'Kenzie, stating that the line was not a payable one. If such a Gtatement was made by the Hon. R. M'Kenzie no doubt he acted conscientiously, and no doubt also he thought that he had ' been supplied with firoper information. But seeing that this me had already been authorised by Parliament, and authorisation granted as far as Beaumont, after having been gone over by experts,, and further that the Government was in possession of information as to the likely trade and revenue, he thought the Government might have stayed its hand a little longer, and checked the reports of its officials so as to ascertain the correctness or otherwise of the information received. The Minister: Do you mean to infer, then, that because Parliament has authorised the construction of the railway it should carry it on whether it pays or not? Mr Moritzson said certainly not. But where the Government had received information to the effect that a line would not pay it should see that that report was so exhaustive as to allow of there beinij no possible doubt about the matter. However, Mr M'Kenzie had now made inquiries personally, and was able to base his conclusions on his own observations. They had provided the Prime Minister with figures showing the revenue that was likely to be earned by this railway. The Prime Minister had challenged these figures at the time, but since then he had acknowledged that they were correct. The very same figures were handed to Mr M'Kenzie by the chairman of the league at Roxburgh, who admitted that the quantity of fruit estimated might be correct. The Minister : Yes ; there will be just sufficient to keep six trains going every week. Mr Moritzson said that in addition to fruit there would be a considerable quantity of stock, grain, i>otntoes, coal, etc., ecnfe by rail, and in addition to that there would be the trade that would spring up as soon as the district was opened up by means of a railway. A bipr trade would undoubtedly grow up as time went on and lands were thrown oi-en for settlement. There wa^s in that district 300,000 acres of land in the hands of the Government that might be opened up. The Minister: Not in the hands of the Government, Mr Moritzson. Mr Moritzson said that there were also 28.000 acres of agricultural land there, besides 27,000 acres rrady for fruit-grow-ing. Furthermore, the settlers in that district had distinctly told him that thpy were so sure that the figures submitted were reliable that they were prepared to stand by them, and if there was any deficiency they were ready to pay a doublo freig-bt on the carriage of their fruit. 'Even then they would be saving- money, because at the pre "Mii time their cartage to the railway, etc., involved them in an expense of 10d per case. Double freight would mean Is per case, so that even if ths double freight were insufficient, they would s«till be m-iking money if they bad to pay a little further tax. Ceicals were not nearly so largely grown in tho district as thej might be, "yet it was a district

where grain of high quality might ba grown in large quantities. "Oats were nowselling at Is 3d to Is 4d per bushel— a good price, — but even under those conditions it did not pay the Roxburgh farmer to grow them, because of the heavy cost of cartage- on top of the railage round by Edievale. Going on to speak of the questions involved in the different routes, he said that Mr Anderson, M.P. for M-ataura, had advocated the continuance of the line from Waikaka. The branch line to Waikaka had been built by a private company and then taken over by tho Government, and was now a Government line. But the suggestion that it should be extended to Roxburgh had reoeived 6hort shrift at the hands of the authorities. Then the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie and the Clutha Railway League advocated the construction of the line up the dutha Valley. He knew Mr Mackenzie well — was a personal friend of his. He had travelled with him, slept with him. Bat up a gum-tree with him while a buii gambolled underneath, and had been carried by him across a river. Therefore- ho considered that their friendship had been scaled — and he was able to say that Mr Mackenzie was a very cute gentleman, and one well fitted for the position of politician. . Immediately Mr Mackenzie had known that the Lawrence-Roxburgh line was not being proceeded with, he had roused the' Ciutha Valley League into action after 20 years of somnolence^ ar.d had stirred up strife in the LawrenceRoxburgh, camp. But the Minister of Public Works had been over the Clutha Valley route, and had judged for himself, and he had told the people of Tuapeka Mouth that they were aJrettdy well served in the matter of communication with a market. They had a good river service. If one steamer on the river was insufficient, they might put on a second steamer. Then there was the proposed route via Edievale. Now the Minister himself had stated that the reports he ha>d from professional engineers was to the effect that although the route from Edievale was shorter than the Lawrence-Rox-burgh route, the expense of constructing the former line would be £60,000 more. The Minister : That is go. But that is for construction. But the running up would be eight miles shorter. You must not forget that. Mr Moritzson pointed out that if the line went the other way (via Edievlae) it would lose a great part of the Beaumont trade, which would still go to Lawrence. There was only one route (Lawrence) that was absolutely satisfactory and unassailable. The next fact that he wished to emphasise was that authority for the construction of the line as far as Beaumont had been given, and the understanding was that it would go on to Roxburgh from that point. The position— the Government haying* authorised the line and then a Minister, taking ov>er the -department, stopping its construction — was, he 'thought; exceptional in the history of the- NewZea^ land Government. Ha went on to May stress upon "the fact that while the Law-rence-Roxburgh line was stopped, railway construction .was proceeding on the Catlins line, in Southland, and on the line that was to connect Canterbury with the West Coast. If there was money for those lines, there fhould be money for tho LawrencaRoxbirrgh line. — and even if they were assured that want of money was the difficulty and that the stoppage was only temporary, they were prepared to wait. He thought that the Minister should say, " This line was granted by Parliament and I will not stop it," or he might say that he now found, after going over the line, that the information on which he stopped it was not correct, and he was now satisfied that ■ the line would pay. They ell hoped that instructions would be given to resume the work. — (Applause.) Mr Moritzson concluded _ by han-ding •in a set of figures contradicting the Hon. Thomas Mackenzie's figur.es about tho Panama Canal. Mr Tonkin thanked the Minister for visiting his farm at Moa Flat, and felt sure he would now be satisfied that ho (Mr Tonkin) for one took the late Mr Seddon at his word when he urged them, at the time of the turning of the first sod at Lawrence in connection with this railway, to lose no time in planting as many fruit trees as possible, as the people were most assuredly going to have a railway into the district to take the fruit away. One could well imagine his disgust and surprise, after he had spent over £2000 in pre paring and planting an orchard, to learn that orders had been ghen to suspend operations on the line. Mr M'Kenzie had 6tated that work had not stopped on the line, but as a matter of fact it had, as not a single man now at work there was engaged on formation wcrk. It was true a number of men weie building stations, platelaying, etc., but this money would be practically wasted if the line were not carried at least as far as the Beaumont. A great deal has been said as to the great future before the district in the shape of the fruit export industry, but so far as the district to be served by the Lawrence- Roxburgh railway was concerned it would be "quite useless to entertain any idea of fostering this trade without a railway. ' In the first place, the period during which the fruit could be shipped would only extend over sit weeks or two months, for this •reason : the fruit would not be ripe before the first week in March, and it would not be advisable to ship anything from New Zealand after April, as apples must arrive Home not later than about the second week in June, from which time forward the new season's cherries and other soft fruit came on to the market, and the demand for apples dropped quite into thp background. The Home steamers worked to a definite time-table, and about the time the fruit would have to be shipped thes? steamers had their cool chambers fully, occupied with lamb, butter, cheese, etc. This meant that if spare were en•raged for fruit they would be compelled to fill it, and it would be quite impossible to do this without a railway into the district, as the fruit would require to bo railed to Lyttelton probably, for tho reason that about that timp the best olass of steamers could secure a full cargo without coming any further south. To think of working 1 an export buMnPss from Invercargill was quite out of the question, as such steamers as the lonic, Corinthic, and Athenic scarc«lv ever called there. Ho would ask, " Who was SGritaTinc for any diffe enfc rouf'* into tli» Ro\-'*ur<;h district than from Lawrenrp?" Only a mere handful of Invercarerill p°r>ni<\ who «-aw a grr»at future for this district, and who would like to sernro tlm traffic* for tho Jiluff. Xo doubt Mr Amlev<=on would likr> to see the produce fro to Maiaura to be frozen. Ili.s (tlip rpoaker's) fieezincr ac- , count at the Mataura Freezing Works

J averaged something like £500 per year for i produce from the Roxburgh district. How ! many of the Moa Flat settlers had any . serious objection to the line coming from I Lawrence? With a station at Ettrick on i the Lawrence-Roxburgh route there would 1 not be a settler on the Moa Flat Estate | who could not take a load of grain to a ! station with a bullock team and get back home the same day. No doubt they would always find a few people to throw cold water on an undertaking of this description, but he could only say that better men than ever condemned the Lawrence-Rox-burgh railway condemned the Suez Canal 40 .years ago, and what was it to-day? They had been told that the Government had been furnished with information that proved the line would not pay, but it seemed to him a most extraordinary thing that he had never been approached by anyone on behalf of the Government to ascertain what steps he had taken, and intended to take, in the way of orchard planting and cultivation likely to provide revenue for the line, neither had he heard of a single person in the district ' being asked for similar; information. Had such a person approached him he could have" | supplied him with some interesting inforl mation as to what, he had done in the district. - During the last four years he had distributed ;n; n hard cash throughout the Roxburgh and Miller's Flat districts the sum of £22,327, besides £4000 which he had be^n instrumental in distributing in connection with the mining industry. I During the same period he had sent over j the Edievale line about 1050 tons of proi duce, and from Lawrence about 450 tons, — making 1500- tons of produce from the Roxburgh-Miller's Flat districts alone. — (Applause.) The Minietea-, in reply, expressed his j pleasure at meeting the deputation. The i gentlemen who had epoken seemed to imagine it was the duty of the Government i to construct railways that had been au- [ thorised by Parliament, no matter how I much they might cost the taxpayers after- ! wards. There might have been Governments in New Zealand who would do that, but they would find it difficult to persuade the present Government to do it. If they | took the members in the South Island; he | thought they would find that, outok'e I fclie Dunedin members and, possibly, the j members for Chalmers, Bruce, and TuaI peka, none of the other members would ! subscribe to srch a policy; every one- of 1 them would be against it. The deputation 1 no doubt wondered why tho rate of expenditure on the lin© had been reduced. He was chiefly responsible"- for it. As a matter of fact, the railway had not actually been stopped, as some of them seemed to think, as there were still 50 men at t work on it. After looking into all the routes his opinion .was that it was preiua- . tare fo make a railway at all, .becau=a there i was no*" traffic- co far to warrant it. •and,~ therefore, "if constructed, it would have to run at a lossy Certainly, it was encouraging to learn that?, as the settlors were planting fruit trees — Mr Tonkin had planted 10,000.— there bo traffic for the railway before many years had pa?ssd. but thoea trees would not be bearing until they were four or five yeare old. Lr6H ynar the fruit export from. Roxburgh and BAaumont was IKO tons, which went to Edievale, while 51 tons w^nt.to Lawrence, ' and the other business on the line would bo very small as oompa.red with other railways. He had looked at the route up the Olutha Valley. Let him cay at that point tKat they were doing thellon. Thcs. Mackenzie an injustice when they said h-? i:a<l something to do with stopping the railway or that he was a stronger advocate of the Clutha Valley route than some of the residents of the Clutha district. The present member for Clutha advocated both routes — I/awrence to Roxburgh, and Clutha Valley : lie had two strings to bis bow. The WaimaTiaka line was not likely to bs extenJefl any further, and the Waikaia and Orepuki , linos were practically finished, so that there : were three sections of lino that were abont ; the finishing point. He thought two of 1 them would be finished next month, *nd I one was practically finished. Another 1 would be finished in about 12 months — ' the Waimahaka-Tokonui line. The trouble wa^ that not only in Otago, but elsewhere the Government had been extending railways ahe.-«d of public requirements, with tho rosnlt that the railway system was not paying,th« taxpayers as it should pay th»mAfter examining the routes in dispute he had no hesitation in exprossin.sj the opinion that when th-a railway wa* rnad-3 the best way to take it was from. Lawrence to Roxbweh.—(Applause. i It should certainly be made to the Beaumont — he did not say it j ' (should be made to Roxburgh yet — but so i i much money had been spent on it that i ft should he pushed 00. to thp Beaumont ! in the next few years. — (Applause.) He ' would say this, too: If he had been re1 sponsible for the railway before it wa>= i made to the Big Hill he should certainly ■ havo said that a up the Clutha I Valley would have been the natural wav j of onening up that part of Otago, ar.d | not by way of Lawrence. However, it 1 wa/5 too lat-» to think of that matter now. 1 Whether the Government would continue the line from Lawrence or not he could not say that day. The reason it had been stopp**! was that tho Government had too many lines in band already — too many that had to be carried on urgently. There was no urgency in this case. If there had been, the work would not have been stopped. The rate of oxipenditure on the line had not , bfwi reduced for the reason that it was ' likely to com? into compeftition wffch a railway from Edievale or with a railway ' from Ba-kJutibja : it had been reduced bej cause there were too many lines being prosecuted in New Zealand at present. The Government, tli>e<refore, had to curtail its •expand itiire and reomjranise the staff to j enable i+ to cope in a proper rroariiner with ' rnilwav construeion and other ■n-üblic works. Tbp Prime Minit=feir and M.r T. Mackenzie had ro rnr^-e to do with the determination ;' to c top t/jni' line fh&n any other member i of t.he Ministry. The reports the Govern- ! mevt had rwived on the railway stated j that tb a population of the districts to be served by the line might be multiplied by i four nn<\ the produce l>v eisrht before , tlr* vn.i''-.va T- wrvld pay. Mr Tonkin seemed to f'u'r>k tb<* Oov^i-nmonit jumrK^'J to rar.h rorV.'i*'^- I'—rMt1 '— rMt it hrul nothing- to base ir-3 nrnpaoi'is anvl dooisior.fl upon. But tlic> fiove'-mnenf ■dnd not act in t>hat, way. Ho could tret statistics from his depart-l'-wnf ror corning the prospects of any work in contc-rr.-nlation or in hand. Ho could ascertain, for instance, what a.rea Mr Tonkin I had un<?cjr crop last year, and, haviro? the same information regarding other settlers.

the department was able to judge how • railway would be supported', and how it would pay. At any rate, when a railway "was made to Roxburgh he was satisfied it should be made by way of Lawrence and Beaumont. Too much money had been expended on the railway now to think of taking it any other way.— (Applause.) The Government had no intention of extending railways to bring them into competition with each other. If they extended the Lawrence line to Beaumont and carrfed the Edievale line* further on or made a railway up the Cflutha Valley the one would take the- traffic from the others, and that was a position the Government would not accept. They w<?.re prepared, however, to make a railway that would give a reasonable return to the people who h^d to pay the interest on tlh© cost of construction. Whether the railway would be pushed thorough the Big Hill tunnel without any discontinuance be could not tell them. There were many lines of railway that -weirs necessary, and* it was in the best interests of the country that they shou!< he constructed. , Comparing, for instance* Auckland province with Canterbury an« Otago, he recognised, -after travelling a* over New Zealand, that in the. Auckland diatrics the people had a legitimate, grier< ance in connection with railway construe*, tion. There weme lands there that woulcf support railways in many directions, ara yet it would be ..years before the people could get the railways that meant so muehl to them. Of course, the deputation might tell him that was no reason why the Law-rence-Roxburgh line should not be continued. He looked at the matter, however, from a different point of view. If the lin«t were pushed throwgih the Bigr Hill tunnel, the portion to bo finished to carry Win lintf to Beaumont would cost about £80,000* It was not an easy line until they got some distance beyond the Big Hill. Even although there were a large number of people who reckoned the line should not have gone any further, he thought -the lesser evil of the two was to push it cr» to Beaumont. It was a. much lesser evil than a line up the Clutha Valley or by way of Edievale. — (Applause.) He would not be doing justice to ihe people if he were to be a party to approving of either of the other proposed routes, and h« would! not have approved of extending the Law-rence-Roxburgh section— and that not for> a few years — only he recognised the fact that the country had already spent co much money on ifc that it would mean a still greater loss if the line was not to be continued. — (Applause.) Mr Bafchgate thanked the Minister for having received the deputation. He expressed the gratification be felt on obtaining from Mr M'Keome the assurance tihat the stoppage of 'this line was cxnlv temporary in character and was not intended* to be p&rrnarMspt. The Minister's remarki woixW put new heart into the people cor*' cerned.