RAILWAY TO TAUPO

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 392, 28 June 1928, Page 12

RAILWAY TO TAUPO

Big Work to Start at Once SETTLEMENT OF LANDS: TIMBER TRANSPORT (From Our Resident Reporter.) WELLINGTON, To-day. A BIG railway construction work is to be put in hand immediately. Its completion will link Taupo and Rotorua by rail, will open a large area of land, and provide transport for the marketing of the Forestry Departments timber.

Tn making an announcement to the | above effect, the Prime Minister, the Right Hon. J. G. Coates, stated that the Government had had for some time under consideration the question of the opening up of further areas of Crown j and other land, which might be suit-! able for settlement. It was well known to all those possessing the knowledge of the lands of the Dominion how very j scattered were such areas of suitable | “From experience gained by the use of fertilisers, and by research work, which is being directed to find a satisfactory solution to many problems of disabilities attaching particularly to second and third-class land," continued the Prime Minister, “we are beginning to get a better realisation of the possibilities of land which in past years, although much talked about, has never been seriously contemplated for closer settlement in any practical manner. There are many obstacles to be overcome, but it is confidently believed that they will be mastered and thus render possible the development of land of the nature I have indicated. “A careful survey of such land has been undertaken, and indications all point to the pumice country of Rotorua and Taupo districts holding out opportunities. The first necessity to any development of the kind must be road and rail communication. I may point out that, in the course of about five years, it will be necessary for the Forestry Department to have access by rail for transport of its product to markets. When this time arrives a continuous supply of timber will be available for railway transportation. "Already two commissions have dealt with the question of continuing the line from Rotorua, and both have recommended its construction. The question of constructing a road sufficiently strong to carry loads necessary for economic transportation has been very thoroughly gone into again. The decision works out in favour of transportation by rail. “It must be remembered that the successful working of large areas of forest land in this locality depends largely on cheap transport and the railway will also provide the cheapest form of transport for thousands of tons of fertilisers necessary for farming these lands. “After full consideration of all these factors, the Government has decided to extend the line. The work will be put in hand at once and men who have been employed upon the East Coast main trunk line will be gradually transferred to the new work.”

It would be necesary to run each way one pa sender and two goods or mixed trains daily at an annual cost of £ 52,547. Traffic within 10 years was estimated as follows: Average of 66 passengers a day each way, £15.650 a year; 30.000,000 superficial feet of timber a year from indigenous forests, 7,500,000 ft. of timber, and 2.614 trucks of posts, mining timber, and firewood from State plantations, £ 39,892 a year; farm produce, £1,380 a year: inward traffic, £4,570: making a total estimated revenue of £61,492. It was thought that from 1,250.000 to

2.000.000 acres would be served by the railway, including' Crown Lands and native lands at present unproductive. Among the possibilities of the line were the greater exploitation of the thermal regions of Taupo, the easier and cheaper working of great indigenous forestsy'and State plantations and the cartage of fertilisers to the interior pumice country.