THE RAILWAY DEPUTATION

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 1 August 1913, Page 5

THE RAILWAY DEPUTATION

TO THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS. A STRONG OASR (MADE OUT. A FLYING SUiivlSY PROMISED. 'One of the strongest deputations that has ever left, the Wairarapa was that whioh went to Wellington yesterday to interview the Minister of Public Works in reference to the deviation of the Rimutaka and East Coast Railway, The deputation was organised *by the Masterton Chamber of Qommetrde, and represented nearly the whole of the local bodies of the district, besides the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, Harbour BoaVd and, City Council. Several city Members of Parliament were also present, together with Sir Walter Buchanan, M.P., Mr G. R. Sykes, M.P., and Mr J. H. Escott, M.P. The deputation was intrduced by Sir Walter Buchanan and Mt G. R. Sykes/- ' y.-'\ ' ' , Mr C. E. Daniell,- who was the first speaker, said the present deputation desired to again • bring under the notice of the Minister the business of developing the East Coast lands of the Wellington Province. In answer to the representations of a like* deputation last /year the Minister had visited in May last a part of the district,, seeing enough, he believed, to convince him of much possible further, development,; the one dominate they, settlers hje4ng means of commun|cat;lo!r. The . re-'' •oeittw the'; Minister throtighrthe bQBb mifetalled 'portkms of Temarkably fine weather, it was then hard to realise the actual normal conditions under which settlers live; 1 but 'these roads were the best in a ■great district serving lands,'which, if made, accessible to m&rkets, the, viar, lue, of products would quickly double, to the definite benefit of the Ration'. Pongaroa, thirty-eight miles from a railway, which was' the extreme end of the trap, was a point where roads (on paper,\ converge. The lands to the east, north-east and south-east, which, for lack of time, were not seen, were proved to be rich, pastoral country. Some, of it was held an large blocks. Other portions, originally let in small sections to Crown tenants, were now: in large holdings.' The settlers, shut sout from markets, were compelled to leave what they had hoped to make their homes. The one metalled road to the district went over a lofty mountain range. Some fifteen years r since, Jocal bodies and settlers, i failing to get suitable roadmaking material; proposed to build first a tramway,! which was blocked. Then, surveys of "possible "railway routes 'were made,, and later a Government aagtneer reported on a route as indicated on the map. Various counter proposals as to route resulted in this, railway being neglected, whilst the : millions of railway loan moneys were spent on works, which, he submitted, could not possiibly show returns such •as were assured in this case. Recent successful motor traction on good , roads had encouraged some to believe that this wab tiase where motor" waggons oould do the work needed. He submitted that .the excessive cost of road metal (about 14s per yard)' together with the peculiar natural formation of the country would here make motor traction fail ; suitable as it undoubtedly was' to many places and conditions. As. the .resiilt of the Minister's ipwh obs§r;, ration, % . Fomiwd * that " his Chief -Engineer ehould oyer ground and report on what was best" to bfe done. They were there that day to urge that a definite scheme be outlined, apart from any too local, interests; a scheme which would serVe'&S a guide'alike to the general government and to local bodies; 1 local bodies that are now, from loans and Government subsidies, making roads that under , other conditions could be made at greatly reduced co6t. Hence, it was suggested that the only scheme practicable must be a railway. If this was so, they; suspected that many rival routes would be urged. They asked, that all suggestions be considered, but the development of, the productive possibilities of the land be the object aimed at, rather than the interest of any particular town or district. It must be recognised that the land was not as flat as shown on the surface of the map; also that there were natural obstacles blocking access to points it was desirable to 'serve. On. the other hand, there were several main valleys,,any of which it may : .be practicable to traverse/ ;The, deputation asked, was a railway, ; in the. opinion of the Government, and their 'responsible advisers, the right method of serving this particular country ? To answer this question, would the Government appoint a commission this year of, say, three competent persons, to advise on this and the location of the Rimutaka deviation? Of the Rimutaka problem the Minister had reports from Public Works officers,. which showed that it was 1\ miles longer than is necessary. It climbed double the height it needed to.. In the cost of working, a saving (fourteen years since of £13,000 per year) with proportionate saving with increase of traffic, that may be fairly assumed.at £20,000 per, year, would be made; and in Addition the wearing parts of stock lasted only one-fourth the time . they , would under the improved conditions. The de- < lay • and] annoyance, As well as the actual lo6s, was. serious to commerce, "for whioh it was' presumed the railway was built. Travellers of all grades (including Cabinet Ministers) avoided the line in increasing numbers. Some facts would be submitted by other speakers. The engineers stated that 235 train® could do at a cost of £B2O, what now required 910 trains at a cost of £5200 to do. Members of the deputation, , starting from Masterton, 64 miles away,'* would spend nine hours in the train that day. Some of them did this pretty often, giving them much time to reflect on the waste of time and money going on. Many suggestions hadJbeen made as to route, as: Petone to Pig-

eon Bush, 30$ miles; reducing the distance . Wellington to Woodside, now 50 miles, to 46}, saving 3} miles (but requiring long tunnels). "Upper Hutt to Woodside, via Featherston, 23J miles, saving 6| miles. Upper Mutt to Woodside, via Tauheremkau "Valley, 22J miles, saving 7£ milee. The grades available in the new proposal were at most 1 in 70, against the present 1 in 36, and the Fell incline of 1 in 15. In answer to interjections as to where the money was to come from, Mr Daniell called attention to tho way the railway vote had been spent in the, ten years, 1901 to 1911, a period during which the agitation for works now asked for had been going on. , A total, of £12,399,218 had been spent ton railway construction. Of this sum, apparently about £3,260,000 had been existing on open lines, leaving |£9,189,000 far newlines, for which we apparently got 549 miles of railway, and according to to-day's time-table, some of the rait- ■ Ways so made were made but use of. In Canterbury, 28 miles ran a train up one day and down the next. In North Auckland a length was used three days a week. Another train in Otago ran ome 'day in each week, and to find money for this work, the lands and energies of tho deputationists and others had 1 been mortgaged. Surely this was a good reason for protest. Mr J. 0.. Cooper, managing director of the Wellington Farmers' Meat Co., urged the exceptional value of tho . lands for grazing purposed, and th» loss entailed -by farmer sin bringmg : their: to market,' also thegreat .value •, of Native' and other lands' . .awaiting develojscnent. O&thelliimu- '• takja' Mr Ooop,er flh<<#ed : how the delays in carrying frotfen" meat from the works to port took 6f hours, whereas the 62 miles might fairly be covered in hours. His depreciated the value of frozen pro- * duoe, while the ihooming goods often ; took a week on, the' way.'. vf• iMr McDonald, of Pongaroa, stated < that the land interested in the railway was valued at £10,000,000,, and & railway costing half a million pounds would be money well invested. s Tho population of 10.00Q would quickly* inorease if access was given. Previous; Governments had expressed Bynnjlwthy. They wanted more than, that now. Settlers had offered' to guarantee the interest on the money required. Mr Mclntyre, of Pongaroa, produced a letter from a former Minister of Works, promising a survey, and ho said that many settlers had left the district and aggregation was going oa because the lack of .rommimication with the markets, 7 ' Mr 0„ SmitX of Waipukurau, n*Bed Mr Fraser to continue his trip north of Pongaroa; where the better land lav. \ ■- r . . -. y- • {Mtf Fletcher,' chairman of the Wei- k lington Harbour Board, said he waa in hearty accord with the programme outlined. :• ; .' iMr Malbin, President of the Wellington Chamber of Commeroe, urged the importance, to commercial ist better access to producers. 1 , .. y , iMr W. Benton hoped that the-in-. terests of Lower Wairarapa would aot be overlooked. .y-vy. l . '■ . THE MINISTER'S REPLY. ' The Hon. W. Fraser, in reply, ae- . knowledged that the requests of the; deputation were not immoderate. As a practical man he learnt a good deal . about the country on his recent visit, , and he wpuld, on the first possible op- . portunity," extend his.-visit. Her

lata, ti§ r .' splendid country to be served.' u Yoii ■ want better roads,he said,- "and you want a both of which , would be good btiainka. -1 can only promise now a fljdj»g-survey—a reiy important step—-and xio light work if properly carried out. y I don't want , mistakes. Your presence to-day is evidence of a Rimuteka incline. I will go up and view for myself, and then confer with say engineers. Should it he found the Gov- * ernment could .not find the money, I see xio reason why a company should not be Allowed to build the line. In V any case, we will get a full report prepared." In reference to the deviation of the Rimutaka, the Minister said: ' 'You. have a railway—such as it is. Others want railways, who now'have none; but this is a workthat must be done when money can be got.. I will do something ,te initiate a scheme to "carry she work ■ through. I hope to meet you. again oh the ground, and together we can do something to gain your object." ' 'Mr Sykes thanked the Minister for the : favourable attitude he had taken, .. up and the promise he hadSiade. .yriie deputation.then retired. ,