MINISTERIAL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 226, 12 February 1913, Page 6

MINISTERIAL.

lIO.V. MR. JIERKIEK' VISIT. VARIOUS DKPUTATTOXS. '■l'lM-: CMAST RAILWAY PROJECT. The 11..: i. Mr. W. 11. 11,.,-nV.s put in a busy day yesterday. At nine o'clock in the morning he ivas waited upon at New Plymouth by several deputations, ami at ten o'clock, accompanied bv Mr' T. \Y. Ronaync (General Manager of the Railway Department), Mr. 11. Buxton (Chief Trallie .Manager), Mr. A. Koch (Assistant Engineer), Mr. J. E. \ rm . strong (District Trallie Manager), and Mr. T. \Y. Fisher (Under-Sccretarr of the Native Department), he paid a'visit of inspection to the harbor works at Moturoa. where he met the members of the Harbor Hoard. At 2 o'clock he left by special tram for YVaitara. subsequently proceeding to Waipuku for the purpose of inspecting the Kgmont railway. ( pou concluding his inspection, he went on to Stratford, where he staved over night.

UAILWAY LEAGUE DEPUTATION. A representative deputation from the Western Railway League, which was introduced by Mr. 11. Okey, M.P.. waited upon the Minister at Xew Plymouth at ' nine o'clock in'the morning. > As chairman of the League, Mr. A. H. ' Johnstone referred at length to the advisableness of constructing a railway line from Opunake to Xew Plymouth.' He was aware, he remarked, that the matters which formed the subject of the deputation were perhaps somewhat outside of the Minister's Department, but they felt that they were of such vital interest hi the district that they hardly thought I it was necessary to apologise" for i«en- I tioning them on this occasion. Mr. I Herries, continued the speaker, was doubtless aware that a very considerable area of rich pastoral land lay between Xew Plymouth and Opunake. closely settled for nearly 40 years, relying upon the port of Xew Plymouth, for the export of its produce." These settlers on the western side of .Mount Egmont had to depend on the Main South road as a ! means of getting their produce to the port of Xew Plymouth, and their goods ] to their farms through the same source. I Until four or five years ago the road did ■ practically all that was required, the j horse traffic being sufficient to cope with the need 3 of the district. Since then. owing largely to the increased output ; of dairy produce and the introduction ! of manures for fertilising purposes, the horse traffic had been found to be of practically no use. Petrol-driven motor • waggons were placed on the road, but Jie company concerned lost all its money ! in. the venture. Yorkshire waggoirs were , l next tried but they also proved a failure., Quite recently a service of traction engines was instituted, and it was no tincommon sight to see two traction engines laden with produce from various parts of the district. Within the last month, however, the Taranaki County Council had taken up a very strong stand against this form of traffic, and had billed the owners of the engines with £IJ7O for special and ordinary damage to the road. The Council also proposed to pass a bylaw prohibiting the traffic unless the owners agreed to pay the sum estimated by the Council as that which would covci the extraordinary damage said to be done on the road by the engines. The Council bad also brought in heavy iraflic by-laws, which made it almost impossible for the traffic to be conducted in that way. The seriousness of the position would be realised by the fact that it had been found utterly impossible to bring the dairy produce up to Xew Plymouth by means of horse traffic. It was imperative that dairy produce should be despatched to the port quickly and cleanly, under conditions that would keep it in a condition reasonably fit for the markets to which it was being consigned. It had. he reiterated, been found practically impossible to conduct the traffic, and. proceeding,he pointed out that the cost of transporting the produce, front Rahotu to New Plymouth —a distance of 30 miles—was no less than 35s per ton. In fact, the cost of bringing imports from the Old Country to Xew Plymouth was just half what it was to take the stuff the additional 30 miles to Rahotu. Touching on another point. Mr. Johnstone said that one reason for the increased production along the coast was that manures were coming more and more into vogue, and the League had evidence to show that in the very near future the quantity used would be still greater. It had been long felt by ihe settlers that the proposed railway would pay handsomelv. Some twelve months ago a Royal Commission set up bv the late Government went into the. whole matter, and iis report was entirely favorable to the construction of the railway. The line would, they reported, pay right from its installation. The hopes of the settlers rose accordingly. However, when the Government made known its intention it stated that authorisation would be from a point on the main line to Opunake only. This would be of no use to the settlers down the coast from X'ew Plymouth. Accordingly a deputation waited upon the Hon. Eraser, and lie was a good deal impressed bv what they said. Indeed, the Minister had then admitted that something must be done, and that quickly—to quote bis actual words. Mr. Eraser could see that it was quite impossible to maintain a traffic which was costing 35s per ton. with, at the same time, the additional burden of the damage to the road. The Taranaki County Council paid no less than €2OO a mile for the maintenance, of the road in question, while the Eltham County Council had paid £2OOO per mile for re-laying the road under its jurisdiction. ' The Taranaki County Council was thus faced with the expenditure of about £BO.OOO for re-laying the Main South road before long. THE SETTLERS' OFFER. Proceeding. Mr. Johnstone recalled thai the afore-mentioned deputation had made a point of the fact that the people down the coast were so much in earnest and so convinced of the success of the proposed undertaking that they wore actually willing to rate their lands, so as to insure the Government against any loss. Mr. Eraser had pointed out that thcie was no legislation to give effect ro their wish, but expressed his own opinion that where the Government, from stringency of finance or other reason, felt iiself unable to build a line, it should give power to the settlers to build it 'themselves. Tt was this point that he (Mr. Johnstone) wished particularly to impress upon Mr. Herries that day. _ If power were given in the coming session to build district or local railways under a Local Railways Act. before very long something would be done to alleviate the troubles of those people settled along the South road on the Taranaki coast. Continuing, the speaker emphasised that the people on the coast were really in a very bad way indeed. It was practi- [ rally impossible for them to pay the verv beavv rates and also pay freight to the amount of 35s a ton. They had taken up a very meritorious stand. Summed up. the League wished to know whether the Government would itself build the railway, or. on the other hand, "ive the settlers power to build it themselves. Mr. D. K. Morrison (manager of the Producers' Freezing Works at Moturoa)

s:ii,l it. was computed that .'WOO tons of ■ ■'.■mliH'i! from the south side of Moturoa »■(,■:!(! pass through the port next dairy- : 11 ■_>" season, and with the advent of a ra ; vay there would lie no tm.it to the iu< ;tsc possible. 1 r. 11. Okey, M.P., mentioned fliat th- County f'oiuicil had power, subject i" the ratilieation of Parliament, to ii-'lil tramways nlonj? the Main South .iad. lie questioned, however, whether it would be advisable for a local authority to have the power to construct thi' trams, for possiblv the settlers at the other end of the district would, being <o far removed from the county's headquarters in Xew Plymouth, have insufficient confidence in the undertaking to leave it in the hands of the Taranaki County Council. The Gov.ernment should set up ,i Railway Board, with full power to borrow the necessary money and construct the line, rather than delegate the matter to a local body. THE MINISTER'S REPLY. Tn his reply, the Minister said that although the matter did not fall directly on his Department, it would really become a Cabinet question, and lie would be pleased to bring it again under the notice of the Hon. Mr. Fraser. Personally, he could see perfectly well that the railway proposed by the League would be n very great benefit to the settlers on the coast and to the country. The question was how the work was to be done, and in stressing this point he cited j the present state of the money market, I and the faet that there were so many lines at present already authorised or being constructed—sonic of them nearly completed—that would have to be completed before this proposed line. For instance, the route from Opunake to some point on the main line had been authorised and had a prior claim. The point the deputation had raised, where any settlers, not only in this district but right throughout the Dominion, wished to construct a railway which the Government was not prepared to undertake, they should be <>iven legislative powers allowing them to construct a railway themselves, was one deserving of very serious consideration. So far as he knew it would receive everv consideration by the Cabinet, and if they could I put a proposition before the Government it would be carefully weighed. "If." he I continued, "we find that it can be nianj aged, well, I think it will be done. Mind -. you. I don't say it will be done. We ! know what bad roads are, and the difliJ culties they entail." He added that it I had always been a QUESTION OF POLICY

whether it was advisable to allow private' concerns to build railway linos. Up to the present it had not always been a success, and the Government liad taken over private lines that were not payin* propositions. However, it was his belief that the line being urged by the League would pay very considerably. He advised the League to come before Parliament next session and try first of all to get the line authorised,' and, failing that, to put its alternative proposition before the House. It could rest assured that it would receive every consideration. Concluding, he said that he hoped ', the Prime Minister would be visiting the district before the next session, when opportunity should be taken to show him over the district which it was proposed the line should traverse, A TOURIST LEAGUE MATTER. A deputation from the. Tourist and Expansion League next waited upon the Minister. • The object that the deputation hud to do. explained the chairman of the League (Dr. Lea than) was the preservation of the scenery along the banks of the Mokau river. The speaker mentioned that the matter had formed the subject of some correspondence between the League and the Prime Minister, but although certain portions of the river front had been surveyed, the area had not yet been proclaimed as a scenic reserve. The League was afraid that unless this ' was done soon, the owners of the land i might be inclined to destroy the beautiful area of bush in question. The sad feature was that if once destroyed the hush could never be replaced, and the League was actuated by a desire to preserve the stretch of forest untrammelI led For future generations. All the League asked was that the bush fronting this side of the river should be proclaimed a scenic reserve. He understood from private sources- that a very large area, on the other side of the river which was beyond the Taranaki province was in danger. The bush was the heritage of the race, and. he felt very strongly on I the question. "It all depends," commented Mr. TTer- ' rics. "upon what the Mokau Land Company will sell the bush for."

Mr. T. 0. List mentioned that when tln> company purchased the lanil it agreed to allow a portion of the rivoi'-front to be proclaimed a scenic reserve. Ho was one of a party which visited the locality some nine or ten months ago, and this was then pointed out to them. Re-visit-ing the river some five weeks ago he had found to his dismay that seventeen miles of the erstwhile beautifully bushed riverfront had been quite disfigured.! What the League was anxious to do now was to preserve the first seven miles. If l'lilhinjr were done, ami that done soon, there was a chance of the seven miles in (|iic-iion sharing a similar fate as the hush higher up. Tt was almost enough to '-make the angels weep" to go np there and see the heartless destruction. A lo! of the land was of no practical use when denuded of the hush. To proclaim the area a scenic reserve was not point; I i cost anything beyond the fencing, and the Tourist League would have been very pleased, had ,Mr. Tlerries had the necessary time at his disposal, to have taken him on a visit to the Mokan. Tn replv. the Minister said that directly l)e aot back to Wellington he would put the matter before the Prime Minis-, ier. detail the League's arguments, and see if something could not be clone. WEEK-ENTD RATLWAY COXCESSTOXS. Mr. List then voiced another request of the Tourist and Expansion League, in the shape of an application for week-end excursion tickets on the railway from down the line as far as Hawera to Xew Plymouth. A similar request which had been made to the Railway Department some months ago had not been favorably entertained, and it was now the League's desire for the matter to be re-considered. The speaker felt sure that if the concession were granted there would be a very considerable increase in the week-end traffic between Hawera and Xew Plymouth. The League felt sure that if the Department could sec its way to issue the tickets for the train leaving TJawera at 5.30 p.m. on Saturdays and arriving at New Plymouth at S o'clock it would result in a good profit to the railways. New Plymouth was differently situated to the big centres in the Do"'nion. Tt was the capital of Tnranaki i-i the same wav that Wellington was eauital of the Wellington province, but New Plymouth had not the same facilities in the shape of suburban trains which ran out a considerable distance at reduced rates. In lieu thereof of these concessions the League asked | for the is«ue of week-end excursion tiekI els. Mr. 0. W. Browne took the opportunity to urge the putting on of a late | train leaving Xew Plymouth on Satur- I dav evenings and running as far as Stratford. " " >■

Mr. Herries replied that he was jour- 1 neying south that day, and if he found that the other parts of the district were in favor of the proposal he would readily place the views of the deputation before the Department. MOTUROA VISITED. Before leaving New Plymouth, the Ministerial party visited the Breakwater and inspected the improvements to (lie wharf. Mr. Herries expressed himself as very favorably impressed with the progress of the port since his last visit some five years ago. The oil wells and refinery were subsequently visited, the Minister expressing his surprisa at the extent of the operations. He remarked that very few people had any idea of the size of the undertaking. A RAPID SURVEY. In continuation of his rapid survey of the railways of Taranaki, the Minister left at 2 p.m. by special train for Waitara. En route, Mr. Herries stopped at the East End platform, where the Department has been requested to erect a gate. On the run to Waitara, Mr. Okey, M.P., drew the Minister's attention to the dangerous crossing at Waitara road. Arrived at Waitara, Mr. Herries was met bv the Mayor (Mr. W. F. Jenkins) and Mr. W. T. Jennings, ex M.P. for Taumarumii, and conferred with Mr. Lennon in regard to an exchange of land which Messrs. Borthwick & Co. are desirous of effecting with the Railway Department. Cm behalf of the Clifton County Council, the county clerk (Mr. H. E. Vaughan) brought under the notice of the Minister the question of rating/ on the West Coast leases, into which 1 Mr. Herries is making enquiries, pending sending a reply to the letter which he has already received on the subject. The party also found time to inspect the wharves, a»d after a brief stay proceeded to Waipuku. From there the "special" pioceeded up the Mount Ej/mont branch line, traversing the whole of its length. The Minister, in company with the Departmental officers, made a brief survey ol the continuation of the line to the quarries on the slopes of the mountain—some three miles further on—which the Public Works Department at present has in band. The journev to Stratford was then continued, which place was reached shortly before p.ix o'clock.