BAY OF PLENTY LINE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 345, 4 May 1928, Page 12

BAY OF PLENTY LINE

DISTRICT BENEFITS TRANSPORT COSTS REDUCED Over 8,000 Head of stock were forwarded by rail from the Bay of Plenty district during the first four weeks the new line was in operation after the official opening. This, in the slackest season of the year, shows how valuable the new section of rail has been and will be to the farmer. From March 30 to Apx-il 28 the following stock was forwarded to the Auckland and Waikato districts: Cattle .. 2,015 Sheep 5 175 Figs ... .. ... I,’oSl Very large quantities of manures and a considerable quantity of grain and produce, including maize, have also been carried. The cost of landing stock and goods m the Waikato and Auckland districts has also been reduced considerablv. Stock no longer has to be driven to a railhead and then transhipped, and consequently it arrives at its destination in better condition than previously. An instance of the reduction in the cost of transporting maize by rail is shown by the fact that before the railway was opened it cost approximately Is fed a bushel to land in Hamilton compared with approximately 3td at present. Until the line was opened gram and produce, including a large amount of butter, were shipped to Auckland from Bay of Plenty ports and then carried by rail to the South! Wanganui and Wellington and other Southern centres are also reaping the benefit. During the first three weeks of the opening of the railway the demand for wagons was so great that over 000 were forwarded to the new area. These included 55 butter wagons. Stock and manures have been moved in such quantities that larger locomotives had to be sent to draw the trains, many of which were carrviii--300 and 400 tons, A powerful tank' engine has now been sent to Tauranaa from Auckland to do duty. In his speech on the day the line was opened, the Prime Minister, the Right Hon. J. G. Coates, expressed the opinion that in a few months the traffic through the Bay of Plenty would exceed that on the north line to Whangarei.

When the north line was opened six light engines and 13 men were sta tioned at Whangarei. At the present time 20 engines and 40 men are operating there. Maungataroto had ‘one engine and three men when the line was opened. blow it has six engines and 16 men.

Everything is running satisfactorilyon the Bay of Plenty line, but the service will be still further improved when the Railway Department takes over the section to Taneatua, either this month or next.