Railing the Coast

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 278, 25 April 1914, Page 8

Railing the Coast

AX INFLUENTIAL DEPUTATION

TO MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS.

SPEED! ASSISTANCE PROMISED.

A very largo and influential deputetion waited On the lion. V\\ Eraser, .Minister of Public Works, in the Borough Council Chambers yesterday, to urge the speedy inception of the railway linu from New Plymouth to Opunakc. The deputation numbered nnout iortv —representative of the Western Taranaki Railway League, the Tarauaki Chamber of Cpmrnerce, dairy companies of faranaki, Tourist and Expansion League, importers and exporters, and prominent men in Xew Plymouin and Xort.li Taranaki. The deputation was introduced by Mr. 11. J. 11. Okey, M.P. for Taranaki. , TIIE RAILWAY LEAGUE.

Mr. Newton King, president of the railway League, was the iirst speaker. The New Plyniouth-Opunake line, he said, was fast becoming the burning question with settlors of OpHnake and its district, who were in a sad way for lack of it. The Minister had on his last visit to the district admitted the necessity for the line, aijd had intimated that the Government would act speedily in the matter. The disabilities which had been made apparent to 'him then were increasing, for as more cheese was produced it became impossible to cart it, and the upkeep oi the roads became a serious tax. He could only reiterate that, as previously indicated to the Minister, the settlers themselves would con-

struct the line, with (government assistance. All they wanted was the necessary power to do so. Mr. A. H. Johnstone, chairman of the League, remarked that in the ordinary way it would have been unnecessary to again impress on the Minister the desirability or the urgency of completing' the line which meant a means of connection for the settlers with their port. The Minister had been in the district twelve months ago, and had been able to express the opinion that the line which they asked for would be from its inception payable, and, moreover, he had been able to see that its absence entail- ' ed squandering money on excessive rates and freights. The evil was, however, increasing, and the urgency became great- ( er as the days went by. This year the county councils had had to spend f'2oo per mile for maintenance of roads alone. Because of this, they asked, firstly that the Government should grant them relief by State-constructed railway, or, secondly, if the Government could not do this, tnat the settlers sho ilii be given power by legislation to do the work themselves. Application had previously been made to the Government, 110 reply had been received.

The Minister remarked that he thought a reply had been given. A PRACTICAL DIFFICULTY.

Mr. .Tonnstone rejoined that there had been no appropriation made or authority given, so they could only assume that no reply was vouchsafed. There was nc satisfactory legislation empowering settlers to build the line. An amendment to the Railways Construction Act certainly authorised existing local bodies t» do such work, but this was useless for a district such as this. There were two count}' councils claiming jurisdiction of separate parts of it, but the portion of , the district to be traversed by the Opunake railway in each county represented only about one third, of that particular county's area. Moreover, the county councils already mentioned had their hands full, and what was everyone's business was nobody's work. That was the practical difficulty. The Taranaki County Council had intimated through

its chairman that it could not undertake a work of such magnitude. Indeed, it would h'' impossible for such bodies to undertake the work. They iia i neither the stall' nor the machinery to cope with it.

A RAILWAY BOARD WANTED. It was clear that any body which undertook the construction of a district railway must oe a special ono, with expert assistance at its disposal. Soeing that there were Road Boards for roads, River Boards for rivers, and Drainage Hoards for drains, it was only reasonaide to assert that there should He n Railway Board for a railway. Tint was the only satisfactory solution. The

settlers proposed that they should be empowered to set up a special Railway Board covering the district between New Plymouth and Opunake. A poll would be taken amon? the ratepayers in this district to decide the area of the Railway Board district and its boundaries. Tliay would then have a board with power to raise money and construct the line, responsible to its own ratepayers; and

a management superior to any which a county council or a combination of county councils could furnish. If the Government could not construct the line, let legislation be brought in for th« formation of a local Railway Board. There would be a great deal oi" preliminary formality, and he would emphasise the real urgency of the case and the necessity for legislation at an early date. The borrowing powers of the! board should be by Government' guaranteed loan. The limit to this class of lending under the present legislation was WOO.OOO in one year for the whole' country. I

The Minister: With % maximum of £GO,000 to any local boiy. Mr. Johnstone, continuing, said that the coastal settlers felt that they had a good case. There had been little public money spent in their district, and they were willing, moreover, to rate their properties to provide for the railwiv they so urgently* nee led. TOR THE DAIRY COMPANIES. Mr. Arthur Morton spoke of the hardships which were entailed on coastal dairy companies by theahsfnee of a line from New Plymouth to Opunake. The increased tonnage brought about by the widely adopted change from Dutter to cheese manufacture made carting a very serious problem. Some of the factories had to cart over 35 miles of road, and even if they could near it, how could the local bodies maintain the roads? Ihey were at the present time harassing the companies by heavy traffic bylaws. Every class of traction had been

tried without satisfaction, ami to the companies it appearej a - the railwiv asked for was not only j,weird for hauling their output but for opening up the back country. Ik p ( mp.:as:sml. the need for some cheaper meu..s of Retting to the farmers in the b:.ci; country the manures which' they we.e every year beginning to value more. If manure were not used, the land would be poorer, and the dairy companies' output less, so in two ways they felt the lack of a railway. Tie pointed out that the Commission set up by the previous Government had admitted that the railway would pay from its inception, and as this was so,' whv should not the . Government build it tnemselvcß, or let the settler.-* do so? ITe urged that tin- settlers should be given every facility to deal with the matter, and said that they would be willing to shoulder the burden.

THE EXTREME END. Mr. E. Maxwell said that he represented the extreme end of the district. The settlers were quite satisfied that they were going to have that railway. The Premier and Mr. Fraser had both stilted that the matter was merely of finance. They considered the Government should build the line, as it was important to all the settlers, who must export througn New Plymoutn.. and th.:y were looking to the immediate future for direct slapping with urn world's markets. The steamer Walkure, which iou „e here -an iiull, was o«e of what they hoped would be a continuous line of oversea ships. He said it cost him £2 per ton to cart his produce, and supplies, and the same applied to many others. So uetermined were tno settlers in regard to this matter that if the x overnment would not build the

line they would. He predicted that the Government would eventually take over the line, and link it up with the Opunake line through Soum Taranaki. 't was therefore to the interests of the Government to guarantee the loan for construction, so that when tney did take u over, the interest on the loan with which I it would bo encumbered would be thraequarter» to one per cent, lower Dlian I otherwise would be the case. The legislature should give general power for i the construction of district railways, ; subject, of course, to the consent and , supervision ot tne'yMinister of liailwavs. j This l would prevent the Government be- | ing asked to take over useless and badly constructed lines.

Mr. T. P. Iluglison, who spoke as a coastal storekeeper of. 33: years' standing, said the cost of getting his goods out from New Plymouth had increased from 22s 6d to 3as and 40s per ton. Tile carters wefle noi benefiting by the increase. There was urgent need for re lief from this great burden. He would advocate construction by the Government, but, failing that, by the settlers as proposed.

A DISAPPOINTED ENGLISHMAN. Mr. Gibson, Rahotu, saU the district was prepared for a railway, for there were roads to feed it. Therefore there should be no delay. He had expected better things as the outcome of tfie last deputation. He had come to -New Zenland expecting much from a Government which was reputed to be free from the red tape wnic.i hampered the English legislators. He found no fault with the country, but with the treatment of the

settlers. If the railway was going to be profitable, why delay? Let the Government guarantee the loan, and the settlers would do the work in half the time, and later, hand over a payable asset to the Government. Let them take the devil of political expediency by thu horns. The district wan overburdened, and should not be denied the right to meet its own requirements. There was a strong and a rising feeling on tne matter, and the settlers would not mince words. It was a straight-out business proposition.

The Minister: What is your business proposition? Air. Gibson: We laid three proposals before you, and were told we would uc given power to do the work ourselves.

, SOME HoME THKUS'iS. Mr. W. J. Gray, of Okato, said that the Minister on his last visit had said that the West Coast Settlements lie-

serves matter must be settled before the railway was dealt with. That had been settled. (Applause). 'lhey had been to.'d that the Government was' financially embarrassed. According to the recent reports of the High Commissioner, the credit of New Zealand never v/as higher than to-day. Then wnv the delay? Carting to the breakwater was expensive and damaged the product. He had to take delivery of imported goods at New Plymouth, three miles further away than he wanted to, and pay for that three miles of carriage, it was :io use raising a loan for roads. The raaoa would last eight years, and the loan 32 vears. Mr. Johnstone, to clear up .Mr. (Jibson's point, said that Mr. Aiaxwell had on June 2nd 1913, waited on the Minister with certain proposals, a copy o( which he had with him. He had under-

stood that legislation would be brought in to sanction the construction of a special Railwav Board.

Mr. Maxwell confirmed Mr . Johnstone's remarks, saying that there was no question among' the members of the League as to what tney -ad asked for. It was absurd to expect existing local bodies to form a suitable board of control for the work.

Mr. C. H. Burgess, as a business man and a distributor, confirmed the statements as to the hardsnipo of settlers. The railway must come, one way or another.

THE 'LOCAL BODIES. Mr. C. Andrews, as a member of the Inranaki County Council, supported iht? previous speakers, saying that in seven years the cost of road upkeep had increased from £OO per rm.e to £2->5 per mile. Mr. D. McAlluni, a member of tile sa lie body, supported Mr. Andrews. The connallocated at the ~egmning of the year £4405 to the upkeep of the main South road, and at the end of February the roads overdraft was r 15(19. The council could not tackle a railway. Tlie roads were onough. THE MINISTER'S UK PLY.

The Minister remarked that he had anticipated a discussion on this question when he said he would come to New Plymouth. Dealing first with the i|uc:ition of the Governments bnildin«- the railway he said: "You don't want to know whether we will build tlie railway or not, but whether we will bnild 't

now. Some of you speak as if it wero a mere question of 'Ves' or 'No,' but vou must remember that Inc Govern-

merit yiust liav > good grounds for whatever answer i'. makes. i his matter was !l]l tliriSHllCll 01. L , lust VCill'. ;! ltll wllllt WHS determined I. the Prime Minister, ami other mombeis of the Cabinet is wJiat w • 3 believe now. You admitted, ha we told you, tJr.u we count not. do both ends ol the line at once, ami we have strtecl .it the To lloti end, while we realise that in time it will be a tliroiign line." At the same time, ne remarked, it must be remembered that the railway estimates amounted to tSOII.IMil), and lines were being built. If the Oovcrnmcnt put on another linn, it inennt that someone, wo.uu have to go witliout, and hone would agree to ti.is. There was a limit to what ooulci be. borrowed in London. So that the Government could not build the railway at on.'e. "You then asked us," he continued, "to let Von build the railway, and to this we agree 1. I understood, however, tlwt you want-d ' the line built by the existing local bodies." His idea then' was, he continued, to j form a company under tnc District Railway Act, but that v;as not acceptable. Then came a deputation concerning the formation of a railway boarn, but lie understood that the board was to be constituted from the existing local bodies, and the existing legislation, lie believed, allowed local bodies to depute their powers to a railway board. There j had been no bad faith on the Government's part. He had himself been *o

great trouble to bring in a measure last session, and if it was not sufficient he would bring i» an amendment. "I do not know," he continued. ..nat you have done your share. This is the first intimation I have received tnat thp .aw I brougnt in is inadequate. I would suggest that the League depute some of its number to spend a few days with me | in Wellington as .soon as possible, and we

can draft a measure which shall be introduced during the lirst wee«.s of the session. I will give whatever tiinc is necessary." (Applause). Referring to the question of guar.\|itee, the Minister said lie had been under the impression that his Bill provided for it. If it did not, tliey could provide for it in the new Bill. (Applause). He could not bind the Cabinet, but could say with confidence that tlioy were anxious to help the district. He hoped he had said enough to disabuse the mind of the

most bellicose speaker. "I want you," he said, "to send a deputation who will make clear what you want, for I doubt if it were made clear before." There were difficulties, ha pointed out, in the way of a Government guarantee, there were two local todies in the district, each limited as far as State borrowing was concerned, to £60,000, and they would hare to be. consulted before any part of that iponcy could be allocated to a district in which it had been shown they had little interest. Mr. Johnstone: But a railway board gets over that. <! The Minister: The guarantee under ' the present law deals only with loans to ; local bodies, and a railway board is not that. Air. Johnstone: We wans to hare it ■ made a iocal body, 1 The Minister said the'matter would

have to be carefully threshed out. The amending Hill paesed last year was not a local 'Bill but one ot general application. In any case, time did not permit of the passing of a local Bill, the pre- ■ liminariea of which hail to no completed 1 Before the session. If they luui to make the new Bill they asked for a local one—- ' it might have to he one also of general > application—then no time was to he lost. ' He hoped therefore, they wouia arrange 1 two or three representatives to meet him in Wellington towards the end >f ' May, when they could go carefully into ' things. (Applause). Mr. Okey extended thanks to the Min--5 ister and the gathering dispersed. . At a subsequent meeting of the Rail■j way League Messrs A. H. ohnstone and B. Maxwell were appointed to confpr with the Minister in drawing up the Bill. Mr. E. P. Webster undertook the duty j oi secretary to the League.