Need for Rotorua-Taupo Railway

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 103, 22 July 1927, Page 13

Need for RotoruaTaupo Railway

MR. EARLE VAILE’S VIEW “TIMBER WILL PAY FOR IT” THE carirage of available timA ber, according to Mr. E. Earle Vaile, will pay for the RotoruaTaupo railway three times over. Mr. Vaile, writing to THE SUN, states his viewpoint; “I feel- that the desire of THE SUN will be to support all public works making for the advancement of this city, province and Dominion, and therefore ask your indulgence to show that the above railway will confer great benefits upon the community as a whole and is, indeed, a necessary public improvement. That some other railways do not pay is no argument. The point is solely whether the Roto-rua-Taupo railway is justified. It is not a branch line, but an extension of a main trunk line—and that a very profitable one. DISCUSSED FOR 20 YEARS The railway has been discussed for 20 years. The reports have been uniformly favourable, though the Royal Commissions advised construction only as far as Reporoa at present—a distance of 28 miles. And this is all that is asked for. The engineers of the Public Works Department stated the cost art £II,OOO a mile on a grade of 1 in 00 —something more if the grade was flattened. The commission found the total cost would be £700,000, plus £50,000 for additional rolling stock. As we are asking for only half the line the outlay will probably be not more than £400,000.

The commission found that the annual freight immediately available was 30,000,000 feet . of native timber, 7,500,000 feet of exotic timber and 2,614 trucks of posts, etc.; and that there is urgent necessity, in ordex- to avoid, great national waste, for an extension of the Rotorua Government railway to Waiotapu with as little delay as possible. A certain number of tourists will doubtless follow the road, but invalids, old folks with a ton of luggage, and winter traffic will always go by rail. Cheapness will influence many. The commission which sat in 1920 made a painstaking investigation, and its report was entirely favourable. The commission which sat in 1922 made no investigation on this side of the question, refusing to visit a single farm. INDIRECT PROFITS

The indirect profits of the railway will be immense. The saving of Is per 100 feet in the carriage of the timbei* available will pay for the railway three times over. Then there are 700,000 acres of Crown lands. A start has been made with giving them away. Settlers must have the railway. Why not put it in now? Settlers could far more easily succeed with a railway and the land priced at £1 per acre than they could without a railway and the land free. Here again the increment in the value of Crown land alone will easily pay for the railway. This railway is right away from the sea and must get all the business offering. The Public Works engineers gave evidence that a concrete road oaly 12ft. wide would cost "as much as—probably more than—a railway.” The commission dismissed the idea as being useless.

The questions of private profit having been raised, I venture to remark that all new railways have greatly increased the value of the country which they entered, and the Rotoruu-Taupo railway will certainly be no exception. If it be of public interest, I personally have no objection to giving the names, Starting then from Rotorua on the east side of the railway, State Forest plantations for 10 miles: Crown land subject to lease; Rainbow Mountain reserve; , again State Forest plantations for about five miles; Reporoa Soldiers’ Settlement of about 30 small farms and an eqaul area Crown - owned sections.

On the western side native land for seven miles, Crown land about three miles, native land again about ten miles, series occupied farms from 250 to 3,000 acres. Past the railway to be built, but on the stipposed extension to Taupo, comes H. R. Butcher with 8,000 acres:

Mr. Butcher went in tliere 30 years ago when there was not a white 'man within 20 miles, and he has spent many thousands in developing the country. Next conies “Broadlands,” my own place, 10,000 acres. For the best 20 yeai-s of my life I have been battling in thex'e against all kinds of neglect, and even opposition, from the Government and from institutions that ought to help settlers.

Then comes the New Zealand timber lands (5,000 acres being planted); then j the estate of the late W. C. Macklow, 6,500 acres; W. J. Macklow (improved), 6,500 acres;.the Afforestation Proprietary, Ltd., 25,000 acres being planted; Crown land (including the valuable Rotokawa sulphur deposits), right to Taupo. To the east ward of the properties named and about four miles distant lies 250,000 acres of Crown lands. To the westward. Crown and native lands in about equal proportions. AGREEMENT TO SUBSIDISE At the time of the sitting of the Royal Commission all private (including native) owners signed an agreement to subsidise the railway to the extent of Is per acre pi'ovided construction was undertaken at once. This was turned down with what seemed to be scant consideration. _You will recognise the difficulty of getting a very numerous body of owners—especially Maoris—to sign such an agreement. But, had the railway been granted on condition of a higher subsidy, I feel certain it could have been arranged and a great principle voluntarily introduced without the odium of compulsion.