D.—B

Session 11. 1912. NEW ZEALAND

WESTERN TARANAKI RAILWAY COMMISSION: REPORT OF THE COMMISSION APPOINTED TO INQUIRE AND REPORT AS TO THE RAILWAYS AND TRAMWAYS REQUIRED TO SERVE THE DISTRICT OF TARANAKI TO THE WEST OF THE MAIN LINE OF RAILWAY.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

COMMISSION. To all to whom these presents shall come, and to Robert West Holmes, of Wellington, Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department; James Burnett, of Wellington, Chief Engineer of the New Zealand Government Railways; George Henry Bullard, of New Plymouth, Commissioner of Crown Lands and Chief Surveyor of the Department of Lands; and Edmund Clifton, of Wellington, Director of the Fields and Experimental Farms Division of the Department of Agriculture: Greeting. Whereas the area of country lying to the westward of the main line of railway from Haw era to New Plymouth is devoid of. railway or tramway communication, and it is deemed expedient that adequate means of communication and facilities for the transport of produce and other merchandise should be provided, and that a Commission should be set up to inquire into the facts and circumstances necessary and proper to be considered in determining these questions : Now, therefore, I, John Poynder Dickson-Poynder, Baron Islington, the Governor of the Dominion of New Zealand, acting by the advice and with the consent of the Executive Council of the said Dominion, do hereby, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1908, and of all other powers and authorities enabling me in this behalf,*constitute and appoint you the said Robert West Holmes, James Burnett, George Henry Bullard, and Edmund Clifton to be a Commission for the purpose of making inquiry into the following matters :— 1. To inquire into and report upon the best means to be adopted to provide adequate means of communication for the transport of produce and other merchandise in the area of country lying to the westward of the main line of railway from Hawera to New Plymouth, whether by railways or tramways, and having regard to the opening-up and development of the said area, the probable traffic, and the necessities of the country through which such railways or tramways will pass.

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