STEAM HAULAGE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4402, 25 April 1893, Page 3

STEAM HAULAGE.

■. A-New Enterprise. What the railways have done in opening up the country and • bringing settlers along the lino,' nearer to market, ihn tmclion engine is to do fur tho people in tho back country. So it is claimed by, the promoters-of these services that tiro now an estab-li-h.-d fac", in many parts-of tho Cohiy. Moreover,.these trac'ion .engines are running tidsby ' side, {■ rail;. : av.)_v, ar.d are hauling wool, gttin, etc,, at lower riitis than'the railway line 3 arc '!iu:ig. Ami why? Oi-e'great rtaso 11, Sv l.i ic I iviii ay-pV qliji n ly? It nv e lii-bn' eve;lookul when. the Riilwav Com:!ttii;:Ki^)iei;B^hjVG:; /■teqii.artini.te-ljwir.lv 'remissions ii' not Erocrinu thr traliVc, is, in that tljr- tniction enjiuc with its waggons, c.i! -so right up to the. sqittitter's: sheating shed cr into , t'no ' farmers' paddiick alongside' niacliint>,• wiicio i the waggons aie loidwl, and , the load is not remove!. until tiie produce is unloaded- into the. merchants wmeLotise. Thus the carlitig to ami .'lrbni -tliq' Vraihvay'Switfa--...tlib. ';'coinßig|i-; ■cases, avoideJ.. Airangi'inents arc being made to introduce this steam ' road hoito into. t!ie Wairnrapa, And the wool growers, in the outlying e'is; 'tricts iire' pijomisedjthntiithcir^vool

willlio taken lo the railway stations .atioiisideraUyilofferM tofoiv, providing that local bodies do not impose too many vexatious conditions ngiinst. the enterprise, in wliich esse, the rules must bo made higher than was iniendetl, to meet the risk of damage to uiT-afo bridges. Then tiio piogrc?sive farmer must pay, as ho who increases his outp.iit : rate of haulage, to intetn responsibility thai should rest on tlio whole dia-;. trict. Wooden bridges cannot ulwa-s •bear the strain even of ordinary . waggon traffic, but if put in'proper repair and crrct subatautial structures when new ones aro icquircd, we - are assured that the trac'ion.engiiie .would not have the • evil "effects SO much feared hy some oftho local' bodies. Mr E. S. SkevVwho is now preparing lO;"estnblish,this system'of lniuluKe iu . the Wnirarapa, otates that tbo Byelaw proposed by ; the Soiitli .County Council, wili .be found unworkable, ■ the speed allowed is too slow' and the delays necessitated at . bridges .will itnpedo the. qeneial traffic, us well as hinder the engines.. No allowanco has been mado as . between, tho rigid engines and trucks, ar.d thossmountcd on' springs, the- latter—which : •are .. now coming • into genera 1 use—nro much less severe on bridges, and. by their, increased speed are able to keep. clear of■ordinary following traffic. On all Mr Skey's engines'the electric light will be used for night travelling. He states that none of the gradients or . the .roads in the' Wairarapa will hinder-tbo.,working of steam haulage, and he-'.is .'confident that when the' usefulness of such a service is properly' understood, it'will bo so much appreciated that - any obstacles that may now be placed in 1 the way will be at once removed, and strong support , will bo given to an enterprise that must tend to increase .the-produdtiyGhefa'.of the (listrict. : : Mr Skey anticipates that passenger service -,will .be instituted, and eveii now has his eye on the Wlmreama district, where in the near future both passenger and light traffic, as well as heavy goods could bo run,. by traction 'engines,;' ; -'V v J: