POLITICAL INFLUENCE DENIED

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 776, 24 September 1929, Page 1

POLITICAL INFLUENCE DENIED

Mr. E. E. Vaile on Taupo Railway NO PERSONAL INTEREST IN LINE Press Association ... ELLINGTON, Todsv. ADEN! A i, that political influence entered into the question was S l ' en aile before the committee investigating the Taupo railway petition today. He had offered land to the Government for £30,000,' its present value, and had no personal interest in the construction of the line.

Concluding his evidence. Mr. Vaile admitted to Mr. T. Makitanara, M.P., ih»t he had been tor 22 years a land agent at Auckland. A further question as to whether he bought his 30,000 acres of Taupo land for speculative purposes was disallowed. He denied that he had used political influence with the late Government in connection with the railway. He had none to use, anyhow. Replying to Mr. H. S. S. Kyle, he said he had hoped, by offering the land to the Government at its present value, contingent on the railway going through, to divest himself of any personal Interest in the construction of the line, but as it had been suggested that the offer was discreditable to himself, he now wished to withdraw it.

Mr. H. K. Jenkins. M.P., said he took off his hat to Mr. Vaile as a pioneer, vho had gone into the wilderness and made a garden of it. Replying to Mr. R. Semple, Mr. Vaile said that between Rotorua and Taupo there might be 100 votes, so that from the voting point of view his political influence was absolutely nothing. Since he left Auckland in 1908 he had contributed absolutely nothing to the Reform Party funds. There were no Reform supporters iu the area concerned able to make big contributions, and in the last election the Reform Party had a minority support there. It was a pure invention to say that

the railway was a political one. He could not see how his offer to sell the property for £30,000 could be construed into an inducement to the Government to build a line costing £ 700,000.

Mr. Vaile said the Public Works Department had made the conditions too onerous for him to subdivide the land. He contended that motor transport would be much dearer than rail and it was an economic loss to the country as much of the money went abroad. There was less justification for the Rotorua line when it was built than for the Taupo liue, which would open up 2.000,000 acres. Replying to Mr. F. Lye, he said he had no complaint to make about political bias on the part of the committee.

Mr. F. G. Dalziell, chairman of the Totara Timber Company, referred to the company’s activities in advancing settlement. If Mr. Vaile had not for many years been fighting the company there would have been a great deal of settlement on the area, but he had chosen to oppose the company’s efforts. In 1912 a Parliamentary Committee had recommended an extension of the company’s line to Taupo, but nothing had been done. Such an extension would sufficiently serve the national interests. In 1925 a commission had expressed the opinion that the presept line was sufficient. Th£ inquiry was adjourned till tomorrow.