DEVELOPMENT OF FIVE MILLION ACRES

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 121, 12 August 1927, Page 16

DEVELOPMENT OF FIVE MILLION ACRES

ROTORUA-TAUPO RAILWAY MR. EARLE VAILE’S VIEWS "It’s a national crime that this j area should be left undeveloped for want of a railway," said Mr. E. | Earle Vaile in an address on the benefits to be derived from the Rotorua-Taupo railway, given to the Chamber of C ommerce yesterday. This line, he said, would open up 5,000,000 acres of cultivable land—a twentieth of the total in New Zealand. Because branch lines in the South did not pay, said Mr. Vaile, that was no reason why this important extension to the Main Trunk should not. The difficulties of making a concrete road, would, it had been estimated, make the price greater than a railway and road transport of manures and general supplies would cost mo.re than rail carriage. Invalids, overseas tourists and people who had to travel inexpensively, would all prefer to use the railway. The line was not to make the fortune of the land-owners, for the biggest part of the area was Crown lands. About 10 per cent, was in the hands of private owners and the rest was Maori land. The tract was no rich man’s country and it would one day be divided into 100-acre and 200-acre farms, like the Waikato, which it resembled. "NO POLITICAL PROPOSAL" “It is not a political proposal,” said Mr. Vaile. “I doubt whether there are more than 50 votes on the route.” As in the early days of the Waikato the land looked unpromising, but had great potentialities. If only 700,000 acres of the land at present rendered useless there were made worth £ 1 an acre, the capital cost would be defrayed. The railway would cost about £400,000 and would open up one and a-quarter to two million acres of pumice country. Vast resources of timber would also be thrown open by the line which would attract many tourists. “I don’t pretend that my interests are not closely connected with the line,” said Mr. Vaile, “but I believe that the railway would be the most beneficial work in New Zealand today.” Mr. Vaile displayed the many prize tickets he had won with products of his land. He said that only the land above the level of 1,500 feet was “bush-sick.” Mr. A. G. Lunn, president of the chamber, said that members would need some further information before they gave the proposal their support. It might be premature to try to force the Government’s hands. The Railway Committee was asked to report on the railway at the next meeting.