TAUPO TIMBER TRAMWAY.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 129, 22 April 1926, Page 4

TAUPO TIMBER TRAMWAY.

AND SERVICE TO SETTLERS. Passenger Traffic to be Stopped. Unless P.W.D. Grant Permit. I An important meeting to settlers served by the Taupo Totara Timber Company’s tramline from Putaruru to Mokai was held on Tuesday, April 13, at Tokoroa, when local farmers met at the request of the directorate of the Timber Company in the public hall. Mr. Ingle, chairman of the local Progress League, occupied the chair, and Mr. K. S. Cox, chairman of the Putaruru-Taupo Railway Board, was also present, together with some thirty local settle^. Representing the Taupo Timber Co. were Messrs. Dalziel (chairman of directors), G. O. Bayley and Abraham (directors), H. B. Coupe (general manager) and S. J. Parker (secretary). In explaining the object of the meeting, Mr. Dalziel pointed out that a difficulty had arisen in regard to the carriage of passengers. Passengers had been carried for years, but it had been done unlawfully. Although the company’s order-in-council allowed, them to carry passengers a permit from the Public Works Department was also necessary, and .this had never been obtained. The position had been known to the Public Works Department, Minister and settlers,, and nothing had been said. Recently, however, the Railway Board had demanded that the company he called to account fertile irregular proceeding. COMPANY’S LIABILITY. After the recent accident on the company’s line the speaker had gone into .the position, and found that the company was liable for very serious damages, and on account of the traffic being unlawful the liability was aggravated. In view of this he had wired to Mr. Coupe to carry passengers free until his board came to a decision. The board had met and resolved that the carriage of passengers could not continue until a permit was /obtained from the Public Works Department. NO CONCESSIONS. The speaker then reviewed the history of the company, and pointed out that when the company started in 1901 there was no intention of carrying goods or passengers, as there were no prospects of them. The venture was purely a sawmilling one and like many other similar companies they found they were short of capital. They were in difficulties when .the first or-der-in-eouncil was applied for. The company bought all land on which the line was laid out but not the roads, though they had the right to cross the roads. They got no concessions from the Government, and therefore there was no obligation to carry either passengers or goods. Finding there was no profit in the venture a scheme was evolved to extend the line to Taupo in conjunction with a land settlement scheme. Arrangements were made with London capitalists to take over the line at book value and extend to Taupo on condition the company secured for them 250,000 acres of native land at 7s 6d per acre. Parliament .turned this and a similar scheme down, and then the war came. PROMOTED OPPOSITION LINE. In 1922 at the instance of the com- : pany, a Railway Board was set up, the company refusing to be represeni--1 ed on the board, as it felt it should be . confined to settlers. Instead of carrying- out a round-table agreement the board promoted an opposition line running through property of members. This action had been the cause of the 1 whole trouble. After years of labour the position now was as it had been in 1922. The proposal of the Railway Board was a wild-cat scheme, and was condemned by Public Works engineers. Not only did the railway board act most unfairly, but they further suggested that the company was not carrying- out the terms of its order-in-council. The 1913 order-in-council was obtained- for the proposal to extend the line to Taupo. When after the company had spent from five to six thousand pounds this scheme was abandoned they reverted to their original order-in-council. MESSRS. “ MUD.” Now, the company did not propose to make application for a permi 4 - to carry passengers unless requested to do so by the settlers. All sorts of odium bad been .thrown at the company and Ministers, members, and the Public Works Department had been told that their names were “ Mud.” If the settlers desired it the company was prepared to carry on, but the traffic did not justify the provision of a carriage. The conditions might be a trifle rough, but he believed they were (Continued in Next Column.)

of service to the settlers. It was necessary, however,, for tire, settlers to move to get the Government to grant a permit. The company had. had serious difficulties and to-day every saw- ' milling company was up against it. owing to the heavy importations of timber from overseas. The company was not making a profit out of the railway. They had. been losing money and .that was the reason, for the meeting that night. They could not afford to carry passengers free, arid they were liable for heavy damages if they charged. They had nothing to hide, and there was no ulterior motive in view. They had drifted into the position of acting unlawfully without realising. their liability. The matter was in their (the settlers’) hands, and. he was prepared to answer any questions in- regard to the line. RAILWAY BOARD’S VIEW. Mr- K..S. Cox, chairman of the local Railway Board, explained that though his board had been criticised for turn- . ing- down the round-table scheme, the pc sition was that after having tlior-oug-hly discussed the scheme it was rejected as not being suitable for the requirements of the distri :t. The route proposed by his board did not go. through the property mentioned and. was the only one by which a suitable grade could be got to carry Government rolling stock. Undei- it the settlers would have benefited before the mill-owners. The proposal failed because the Government would l not enter into any scheme. Since then his board had written to the Timber Company offering to go on with the round table (1922) scheme, but no reply had been received. The position now was that the company wanted the settlers to. ask the Government to allow things to go on as usual, othei'wise the company wouldn’t carry anyone outside of its own employees. Although the previous, speaker criticised the Railway Board, possibly the board had saved the company some money. SIGN PLEASE. Mr. Dalziel: We certainly got a scare. The whole trouble is that we are carrying passengers unlawfully. The Public Works Department won’t give a permit unless pressure is brought to bear. The speaker went on to explain that under a permit settlers would have to sign on the back of their ticket releasing the company from damages. Such an agreement had to be signed when anyone travelled in the guard’s var. on the Government line. While they carried passengers unlawfully such an agreement had no effect. QUESTIONS. Mr. West: What revenue is necessary before you will provide a carriage ? Mr. Dalziel: It is purely a question of what will pay. We have got to carry a maximum load. If we put on a van we have .to put off a truck of timber. '■ Mr. Coupe, manager, stated that £2OOO per annum would be necessary. An amount of £ls per truck per trip . was the charge entered in .their books. A. voice: That’s a pretty stiff rate. Mr. Cox thought the engines were not capable of pulling a full load up the Waiwai hill. A passenger carriage was not equal to a truck of timber carrying six and a-lialf thousand feet. Mr. Dalziel: But we would have to buy carriages. A voice: You can get as many as you want for £SO each in Auckland. Mr. Dalziel: We are prepared to consider any proposition. Possibly, the Public Works Department would give a permit for 12 months and not ■ a permanent one. , Mr. Price: In the event of a permit being- granted will there be any alteration in the scale of fares for passengers ? Mr. Dalziel: No. MOTION CARRIED. Mr. Cox then moved that the meet- . ing apply to the Public Works Department for a permit for 12 months for passenger traffic. The motion was seconded by Mr. Price and carried on voices. ; Mr. Dalziel then asked how long it would be before the request was put in. The company was prepared to carry on for a fortnight as they were doing’, but no longer. Mr. Price: Did the T.T. Company ever make a definite offer of the line to the Railway Board? Mr. Dalziel replied that he would not care to say how many offers were made. It had been published in .the. papers that no offer had been made, but it was all bluff. The speaker had prepared and made a written offer himself. A voice: Is there any chance of freights being reduced? After all it is back loading. Mr. Dalziel replied that recently offers had been made to other timber owners with the object of bringing them together. If the other owners came in, then they would have an interest in the question. Some cross-talk then followed on a comparison of freight charges made by the T.T. Company and on the Gov-

ernment line, during which Mr. Coupe ♦ stated that the company tariff compared favourably with that of the Government, and in many instances was less. Mr. Cox agreed with Mr. Coupe that in some instances the charges were less, but pointed out that in essential things to the farmer, such as chaff,, oats, potatoes, and manures thecharges were three and four times that of the Government line. This was a very serious matter to the farmer. In regard to the company’s charge to themselves of £ls per truck,, per trip, it had to be borne in mind; that the line was only worked to a. third or half of its capacity. Withs six or eight more trains per week the overhead charges would come down itt; proportion. A voice: It is nice to talk off' the- 401 Company’s rebate of 3s per ton fon manure, but during the war they increasedl the rate from 8s to 13s perton. Mr. Dalziel: We kept down thee rate -till the Taupo scheme failed’, and' we were hoping that we should' not have to raise it. They had only made a- profit during the past 12 months, and he didn’t see how they could' reasonably be expected to reduce rates. Mr. Abraham stated that it appeared unreasonable to expect the- company to do what the Government was doing on money borrowed at ftom 3 per cent to 4 per cent, and’ with no rates to pay.. A voice: Will the company assist in the matter of getting the Government to take over the line to the 19 mile peg. Mr. Dalziel replied definitely that the company had no such intention, and he was satisfied the Government would not consider it. It was a waste of time, and they were not going to take part in anything that was a waste of time. They were prepared to sell anything at a fair price. A voice: Would it be possible to bring Government rolling stock up tbe line? Mr. Dalziel: No. That has all been thrashed out and nothing came of it. The chairman then asked if tire company would protect their crossings from stock. A working man’s horse had been killed and got nothing. Mr. Dalziel! We got nothing for damage to our engine. The horses were sheltering in a cutting. Loud laughter followed and puicli comment was thrown at ,the speaker’s head'by members of the audience. Mr. Dalziel: Well, we have our* report. (Renewed laughter). You sjiy we ought to be compelled to fence, but when we got our order-in-council no fences were thought of. Mr. Coupe: When a road is dedicated we make it a condition with the body asking for tbe dedication that cattle stops are erected at their expense if deemed necessary. We have . been going for 20 years without accident. The chairman: Yes; but settlement has taken place since. The meeting then terminated with votes of thanks to Mr. Dalziel and to the chairman. \