WELLINGTON TO WAIPUKURAU.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 9 May 1913, Page 5

WELLINGTON TO WAIPUKURAU.

AM INTERESTING RAILWAY PROPOSITION.

WOULD 6FETN A LARGE AREA FOR CLOSER SETTLEMENT.

THE ADVANTAGES TO COMMERCIAL INTERESTS,

(By "Progress," in ite N.Z. Times.)

Sir, —You are entitled to the thauks of the community fpy your recent article an the question of closer settlement. It wiU probably be admitted by Tiost reasonable people that it is advisable both for the betterment of our national character and for the defends of the Dominion that active steps should be taken in the direction of encour&ging a rapid increase in the population of this country. At the present time there is very little indication that capita] will be put into the promotion of manufactures in New Zealand, and the only other means by which the desired end can be obtained is the development of our natural resources, and so far as the city of Wellington is concerned, this means the closer settlement of the surrounding country. It is plain, however, that you cannot have close settlement without reasonable railway facilities, and* glance will show that the eastern portion of the province will require to be served by a railway running between the present Wairarapa-NapieiT line and the sea coast, before it will be available for profitable settlement. At the" present time there is an agitation for an improvement in the Rimutaka portion of the Wairarapa lino and the Johnsonvi He portion of the Manawatu line. Each of these proposals would no doubt result in substantial benefit to the community, but neither of them would assist greatly towards the desired closer settlement. There is a great area of country lying between Wellington and Waipukurau, splendidly adapted for dairying and close settlement. It may be that.the country immediately outside the city of Wellington is too rough to enable a line from Wellington to Waipukurau. by way'of Gollin's Valley to bo '.profitably maintained; but there euu bo no question that such a line, if it ..can be" COll»tinicte<l at reasonable cost, would-be] so far" all the city of Wellington is concerned, the" rniost beneficial means of opening , up this country, On the oilier hand, it is possible I that the proposal which has b&efl. 1 made to improve the JUmUtaka PW- ■ tion of the Wiir i0 v a p a \[ m &nd ] Rtn, £ « 'nftf line' from Masterton to I "Waipukurau would, be the better scheme.' The question of route is one for experts to determine; but what- | ever route may be selected, it is desirable, if the* pity of Wellington' is to arise from its present stagnant position, that a strong effort should be made to bring about the immediate development of the East 'Coast cf the Wellington province by means of a railway. It then becomes 'a question a.s to how tli© money is to be raised for this work. No doubt if the agitation is persistent enough, a grant from the Public Work* Department will be xiltitnately obtained; but it is certain that thiß will be a very slow process, and that a period of fifteen to twenty years will be occupied in the construction of a work which, if it is going to be profitable, ought to be oompleted within a period of five years. It would therefore seem advisable to* adopt some means of having this work done other than in the ordinary course of public works construction. Everyone knows that at the present time New Zealand, in common with other countries, can only borrow a comparatively small sum by means of Government stocks. Of recent | years stocks of this nature have, j owing to their serious fluctuation in I market valne, ceased to be quite as favourably looked upon by investment companies as'thw formerly were —many oompanies having been forced to the necessity of writing down in their books what were .formerly looked upon as gilt-edged securities. It is a question for consideration, therefore, whether the money necessary for the construction of an East Coast railway could not be more speedily raised if it were borrowed upon security of the district to be : served by the line. There can be no doubt' that, if the railway can, be shown to be a profitable investment, it would pay the landowners of the city of Wellington and the district served by the line to charge their lands with any possible loss on the running of the line. May I (therefore suggest for the consideration of your readers s ome such scheme as the following : , /the capital necessary for the construction of, the East Coast railway should be raised, upon the security of the whole district to be benefited, including the city of Wellington, .by a special board, consisting of men selected from the business and farming *cmmunity. The loan to be.guaranteed by the State. The line to be constructed by the board, subject to the supervision and approval of the Public Works Department. The line, when constructed, to belong to the Crown, and to liecome part of the railway system of New Zealand A sinking fund might be established, payable over a long period, and as the State would own the railway, it should provide the necessary annual contribution for the purpose. It may be that the working of the line would not at first produce sufficient to pay working expenses and interest, and any deficiency would have to be txirne by a rate upon the area included within the district. It is probable that for. such a loan raised in this way a slightly higher rate of interest would have to lie paid than would be payable in respect of Government stocks; but there can be no question that the benefit to be derived by the immediate construction of the railway would be greatly in excess of the additional amount payable . in interest. It is always to be remembered that the whole of tins country is at present comparatively unproductive, and that, if it can he .opened up Iry railway within the period of five years instead *f fifteen or- twenty years, there will be a great increase.in the produce from the soil during a period of from, ten to fifteen years.which otherwise will be absolutely lost. There can be no doubt that, assuming the line can be .profitably run, it is a good business proposition to con--1 struct it immediately. The only ques- ' tion is: Can a»y Ttcheiae be devised

by which the money can be raised for the immediate construction P It may bo that the scheme here out- ' lined is not practicable, but the purpose of this letter is merely to draw attention to the fact that the means of development for the city and province of Wellington may be available immediately if our business and financial men will only set about finding a method by which the work can be carried out. I am also aware that the slow process of railway development at present obtaining fix' New Zealand is easier to conduct on sound lines than a more rapid method; but surely the people of the Dominion ought not to admit that the present rate of progress is all they are capable of efficiently managing. •REASONS FOR CONSTRUCTION.

Till© length of the proposed line is given by the New Zealand Times at about eighty-five miles, and the estimated cost'is £1,000,000. The objects cf the proposed railway have been set out briefly as follows: 1. To bring about a scheme which is a good business proposition from a national point of view—namely, tin? opening up, by a trunk railway, for closer settlement over 1,000,000 acres of exceedingly fertile land. In this connection it may be mentioned that large areas c<f native lands at Weber and elsewhere are at present producing very little. 2. To provide cheap metal fo" roads, the present cost of road metal being practically prohibitive (up to 20s per yard, as compared with 2? 6d per yard, near Masterton). 3. To bring about a quicker routs from Napier to Wellington. The dis tance will .be lessened, and, the country being more or less of on unbroken j nature, fast trains could be run j and to hink tin in' g t Sfttl>fa.otorj •" manner j tlie whole of the East Coast by run- I ning fast trains between Gisborne, | Napier, and Wellington. ]

4. To relieve tlie, Cfluiostiott of fruMq OH ifte Manawatu line by bringing back the Hawke'K Bay traffic to its natural channel down tinEast Coast. The Napier-Wellington express traip, via the Manawatu line, is at present run at a considerable loss. 5. To effect an enormous saving to the general taxpayer by doing away with the necessity for duplicating 'the Manawatu line, which the present congested traffic suggests. 6: To force the deviation of the line over the Rimutaka, and thereby secure a better and safer grade, alsa reduce the distance —say, by a line from Woodside to Kaitoke or Upper Hutt.

7. To construct a railway which will immediately pay interest and sinking fund on cost cf construction (approximately £1,000,000, V 8. To \aid .in the development of coal and oil deposits which are known to exist in the vicinity of the proposed railway. 9. To bring into use valuable timber that otherwise will be burnt by settlers in the process of clearing their land.

10. To facilitate and reduce the cost cf transit. Settlers at present ar e struggling agaiinst enormous •difficulties in this connection, at heavy expense, caitage .being from £5 to £7 per ton, according to season.

11. To keep faith with the settlers. who, when they first took up thei" holdings, were old that they would be given satisfactory access to tho markets. In the. case of the special settlements in the Alfredton and Akitio district the "L.1.P." holdings were specially loaded to provide satisfactory aceesss, which has not been given.