THE PUTARURU PRESS. ’Phone 28 – – – P.O. Box 44 Office – – – – Oxford Place THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1928. GESTURE OF GOODWILL.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 255, 20 September 1928, Page 4

THE PUTARURU PRESS. ’Phone 28 - - - P.O. Box 44 Office - - - - Oxford Place THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1928. GESTURE OF GOODWILL.

THE all-absorbing topic amongst settlers at Tokoroa at the moment is \ the question as to whether at long . last they are likely to receive relief by way of through freights, and the use of standard rolling stock, on the Taupo Timber Co.’s line running to Mokai. The feeling is that after years of struggle their legitimate desire in this direction was never more near to being fulfilled. The owners of the line have made a striking gesture of goodwill by offering a reduction of 33 1-3 per cent on manure freights and 20 per cent | ;on general goods in so far as all back i freights are concerned. These reduc- ! tiohs are also to apply to ail outward j goods from the Tokoroa Co-operative Cheese Factory, but their coming into effect is subject to the stipulation that the Government grant a subsidy similar to that granted to non-paying branch lines on the State Railways. Here is a definite basis to work on, and in view of the fact that the Rail-

way Department own a large area of some of the finest totara bush in New Zealand, which can be tapped by the line in question, the proposition is not the hopeless uneconomic one which some of the short lengths of State line are likely to be for many years to come. On the' contrary the local proposition, if properly handled, .should, give such a fillip to local trade that in a few years time any subsidy should be automatically wiped out by a great increase in business. At a conservative estimate, taking a radius of 15 miles on either side of the line, some 30,000 acres of unimproved land eminently suitable for subdivision into small holdings which are so essential in the successful cultivation of this class of soil, would be thrown open for settlement. On top of this large blocks of partly improved land would be cut' up to-mor-iow could better facilities for handling manures and produce be secured. Too long has the Tokoroa district, which has a particularly fine record so far as quality of cheese is concerned, been neglected by the powers that be. In view of the proved carrying capacity of its soil and also of j the fact that the Prime Minister has had the courage to definitely commit his Government to the settlement of . pumice country, it is to be hoped that I wjthin the next few weeks a satis- ■ factory solution for the successful use of the T.T.T. line to the limit of | its capacity for the benefit of the district will be made. No finer area could be chosen for a commencement of the Government’s new policy than that at Tokoroa, and - in view of the gesture made by the company, and the easy means of the Government assisting owing to the area of bush already mentioned being tapped by the line, we see no reason, if the interests of the people are to be made paramount, why a settlement should be long delayed.