TAUPO-TOTARA PETITION.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 23, 20 September 1912, Page 7

TAUPO-TOTARA PETITION.

THE EVIDENCE

(Per Press Association.) Wellington, September 19

The first witness examined to-day before the Select Committee that is enquiring into the Taupo Totara Co.'s petition was 11. Holmes, Engincer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department. The- witness said that some time ■ago he had been instructed by the Government to go into the question of the best means of bringing Taupo into communication with the existing railway line. The country round ltotorua, thence to Taupo, and back across to Putaruru was on the whole inferior, and heavy farming traffic could never bo expected from it. There was ft limited extent of native forest, but it would provide traffic of a temporary nature only. The State afforestation plantations between Rotorua and Waiotapu and Kangaroa would afford with re-afforestation a perpetual source of revenue. It was on excursionist, as distinguished from tourist, traffic that the railway to Taupo would have to depend for a considerable part of its revenue. Mr Holmes presented the following estimates (cost of Putaruru estimates being exclusive of any sum which might be paid to the company for its line):—Putaruru, via Oranui, 67 miles, £451,000; Putaruru, via Atiamuri, 77 miles, £512,000; Rotorua., via Arakei, 56 miles, £448,000; Rotorua, via Waiotapu, 56 miles, £392,000. He adds: "Viewed from the standpoint of cheapness of construction and suitability of the line when constructed and future working expenses, probable traffic, and therefore revenue, or from the point of view of satisfaction to the travelling public and the greatest good for the greatest number, the route from Rotorua via Waiotapu is unquestionably the one to be adopted."