MINISTERIAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 225, 11 February 1913, Page 8

MINISTERIAL.

tue iiox. w. iiekries. | lINI.-'TMH i'F RAILWAYS OX TUl.'i:. ] )EI'UTATIOX OX LOCAL MATTERS. The Hon. W. 11. llerries, Minister of Railways, arrived in town last night by lie express. ami is located at the White lan Hotel. The .Minister is on a tour of nspection of the railways of the Dominion, and he is accompanied by Mr. | I'. \V. Ronaync (General Manager of) .lie Railway Department), Mr. 11. Dux:on (Chief Traffic Manager), Mr. A. \ocli (Assistant Engineer), Mr J. E. Armstrong (District Traffic Manager), and Mr T. \V. Fisher (Under-Secretary of the Native Department). Mr. llerries was waited upon by a large deputation from the Chamber of Commerce, upon various public matters. To-day lie will receive deputations between !) and 10 o'clock, and at 10 o'clock will leave by special train for the Breakwater, accompanied by members of the Harbor Board, to inspect the new wharf. At 2 o'clock be will leave, by special train for Waitara on his ordinary tour of inspection of the Egmont branch, arriving at Stratford at night. On Wednesday lie will go up the Whangainomona line to Pohokura, leaving at 8 a.m., and will return by special train to Eltham and Hawera, and then journey to Wanganui. He has an extended tour of the country, north and south, before him. and will not be able to accompany the Prime Minister on his projected visit of inspection of the Round-the-Mouutain route . CHAMBER OF COMMERCE DEPUTATION. A representative deputation of the Chamber of Commerce, arranged at the eleventh hour, waited upon the Ministei at !) o'clock last night to ventilate a number of lecal matters. The deputation was introduced by Mr. H. J. II Okev, M.P. Mr. F. S. Johns, chairman of the Cham ber of Commerce, briefly welcomed th< Minister to Xew Plymouth, on the oe easion of bis first official visit. Thei j had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Herrie: ; before, but it had been when he was oi the other side of the House. THE BREAKWATER FREIGHT. The first matter Mr. Johns brough under the notice of the Minister was th general freight of 3s a ton haulage fron the Breakwater to Xew Plymouth oi general cargo, taken by measurement in stead of by dead weight. The towns people felt' that this was a very grea dra» for the distance covered. It was very old grievance, and the Chambo hoped to get some early amelioratior Even a reduction of Gd would be warml welcomed, and would enable the town; people to compete much better agains

the through rate. Mr. Tlerries: Does 2s delude wharfage ? Mr. Johns: No; it is purely height. There is ail extra charge of 2s wharfage. COAL CHARGES. The next subject introduced was the charge imposed by the Department for taking delivery of coal at the ship's slings For many years the Harbor Board had put the coal in the truck and paid for the labor. Recently they had transferred this cost to the consignee. | Now the Department was collecting Gd a ton on the coal purely for taking delivery of the coal into the trucks. The cost "to the Department was only 3d a ton, so that the Department was making a profit of 3d a ton. He had the assurance of Mr. Firth, of the Westport Coal Company, to this effect. He would be glad if the Minister would consult with his officers upon this subject. GOODS SUED ACCOMMODATION*. Mr. Johns continued that the goods shed and railway yard accommodation at Now Plymouth were most unsatisfactory. The Department had come to the end of its tether so far as the present accommodation was concerned, unless it spent a considcmble sum of money. On many occasions the tradespeople had been put to a great amount of inconvenience, owing to the delay in the delivery of goods, and this had been particularly noticeable at Christmas time. lie could mention many cases where, through no fault of the Department. goods iuul been hung up for from four to seven days, and these were Christmas goods which were urgently required, and which the tradespeople had lost the sale of. They were goods from the wharf, lying In the trucks, for which there was no shed accommodation. He knew the Department had done its best with the accommodation at its-disposal, but they hoped that the facilities would be ma terially increased. It was rumored that the Department intended to revert to the old site in Morley street, but the whole town would .he upset if this were done. The town was moving eastward, and a reversion to Morley street would mean heavy cartage charges. The Chamber would suggest that the Department should approach the Harbor Board with a view to providing the necessary no-1 commodai ion at the Porr. His officers I agreed that the provision of shed and j shunting accommodation at the foot of the Breakwater would be best, and if the Department could arrange this it would earn the heartfelt gratitude of the townspeople. The Department would meet with every assistance from the Harbor Roard. and this was the most urgent railway work New Plymouth was at present !n need of. THE STRATFORD TRATN. Mr. Oovett introduced the subject of the early train from the south. He Mid that the early train from Stratford did not arrive at a reasonable hour, particularly 011 Saturdays, when the banks and an increasing number of business places closed at 12 o'clock, leaving the country people only an hour in which to transact their business. Tt was understood thai some time ago the reason for the late despatch was that there was no engine accommodation at Stratford. La tel e the Depa r I men I: had pur-j chased land there, giving plenty of room j to erect an engine shed. He suggested that the train arriving in New Plymouth' from Stratford after the express might he delayed to leave the southern town in tile morning in time to arrive here at o.:i(> a.m. It would be a great convenience to country people and tradesmen. as it would enable business to be . transacted in time for a return by tlie ;j 1 o'clock train. j

Mr. llerries; Do you think more people would travel 1 I Air. ('ovelt: Undoubtedly. Mr. Covett, continuing, -aid that iho Ministei' -would presumably meet the Opmiakc Railway League. ''lt is one of our children,'' he said, "and 1 hope it ' will be treated with more consideration than even its parent." Mr. Newton King said that certainly' < ' more people would travel on an early - [train. ''We're a cow district." he said, ' | "and can't wait for 111" 4 o'clock (rain. : Even if we don't do our own milking, j |we like to watch others do it." A lot more would come to town if they could get in earlier and br.r:-: earlier. SPEEDTXG UP THE EXPRESS. Mr. Morrison made, an appeal for speeding up the mail train, in which jhe was supported by Mr. Griffiths and several other speakers, it being eontended that the train was little, if any, faster now than it had been twenty years ago, a statement that was challenged by Mr. Ronayne, who said that the time had lieen reduced from 15 hours to n little over 12. THE DIXTXG CAR. Mr. E. Griffiths drew attention to the great inconvenience caused through no dining ear being attached to the express until it reached Hawera. The excuse was that it did-not pay for itself, but some people would not travel if there were no facilities for obtaining food. An average of 120 passengers each way arrived and left by the express daily, and at least two-thirds of these would tane a meal on the train. Mr. Johns added that if it was impossible to run a dining-car all the year round, it might at least be attached durincr the summer and tourist season. ifr. Newton King said that people ar- ! riving by steamer from Auckland were > inconvenienced, because they could not r get anything to eat until they reached t ITa.wera. Boats were now arriving on - three days a week, instead of once, and . the novelty of a passage by the wearisome Main Trunk line having worn off - the traffic by way of New Plymouth was e increasing weekly. THE MINISTER'S REPLY, v Mr. llerries thanked- the deputation s for its warm welcome. He was only n paying a visit of railway inspection to (lie district, but he had thought it right to notify the various public bodies of his arrival, so that they might lay before him their requirements. He was only new e in his official capacity, but both he and n the Government were anxious, wherever n they could, to remedy legitimate grievanees. With regard to the 3s haulage rate from the wharf, he remembered it as a grievance of many years standing. a jit was brought up regularly every session * r |by the then member for the district. 'He

would look into the files on his return to Wellington, and see if the matter was one that should be remedied. With reference to the charge of Gd a ton on coal at the ship's slings, this was a standard rate all over the country. He did not know whether it was excessive, hut he would go into the figures and ascertain. They must remember that when the Department had to deal with labor it was necessary to have an insurance fund at its back, for they had had hitter experience lately of what labor strikes in the country meant. Further, if the charge was reduced here it would have to be reduced elsewhere. As to the goods i sheds and yards, he would inspect them I to-day. The Government was contemplating large works throughout the Dominion, and the claims ol New Plymouth would be taken into consideration along with the others. He hoped to meet the Harbor Board and learn'what, the members thought of the sheds and yards being built adjacent to the wharf. It cer i n inly seemed as if it would be better to have the goods sorted there than at .New Plymouth. Referring to speeding nj) the express, this was a request that came from every terminal station. The terminals asked for this, and the intermediate stations asked for extra stoppages. It would be easy to run ■ the express from Wellington to New Plymouth without a stop except for watering-- (A voice: And to pick up the din-ing-car.)— The train could be easily expedited, but he was not prepared to risk the obloquy of being called the worst Minister of Railways the country had ever had. With the growth of population, stopping places were naturally growing yearly. This could not very well be altered until the Ira flic warranted running express trains as feeders, as was done in England, When the money market eased the Government contemplated raising a special loan to be spent in four or five years in easing the grades right through New Zealand. He believed that thev would save money by doing this. It would decrease the cost of haulage, enable them to run heavier trains, expedite the speed and add dining cars. He would consider the question of putting on the dining car during the next tourist season, and if money was easier and the railways were paying he would be prepared to risk a little money in trying the experiment of a dining car. The early train was purely a departmental matter, upon which lie could not I pass an opinion without first consulting liis officers. 1 After warmly thanking Mr. Tlerries for his courteous hearing, the deputation withdrew.