ALL AFTER VOTES.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 112, 17 June 1914, Page 8

ALL AFTER VOTES.

WELLINGTON RAILWAY CLAIMS.

A HINT IN ORGANISING.

From Our Special Correspondent

WELLINGTON, June 16

On all sides claims for public works proclaim that this is election year. For the first time an organised effort is being made to bring the various districts of Wellington province into line behind a united railway construction programme, a,nd possibly roading and other branches of communication will be included. For many years the Auckland Railway League has served the northern district well by focussing —or appearing to focus—its railway claims into one ambitious programme backed by one advocacy. The league did good work by appearing to speak for the whole of the north whether it really did so or not; and Auckland members of Parliament backed this up by working together in accordance with that local patriotism—some people call it parochialism—which is a tradition of the northern city. Now Wellington is endeavouring, by means of a conference including metropolitan, provincial urban, and backblocks interests, to achieve a similar solidarity, so that Ministers may be duly squeezed in the pre-election session and compelled to disgorge a generous mileage of steel iail.

Two Chambers of Commerce.

Considering the Auckland example, it has long been urged that Wellington should give a lead to its out-districts and undeveloped hinterland in order to unite all of them behind a progressive public works policy. For some time the Wellington Chamber of Commerce talked of the thing. Later, after a Press agitation, it woke up sufficiently to send delegates to have a look at .the Wairarapa portion of .the big sheep runs on the isolated East Coast. Also, it lent its moral support, and wrote a few letters in favour of improved transport. Meanwhile a disaffected section of the chamber seceded and formed an opposition body, the Wellington Central Chamber of Commerce. So far, there was not much sign of solidarity, but the new body has shown intelligent activity by stepping in front of the old "chamber and inviting the provincial chambers and local bodies to a conference to be held next month. So the credit of fcjiis , initiative at least belongs to the Wellington Central Chamber. A Third. North-and-South Railway.

Whether conflicting inferests of city, country, and backblocks will be subordinated to agreement remains to be seen. On the East Coast side of the province there are two big propositions —one an'improvement of the existing railway service (a deviation to avoid the expensive Fell engine haulage over the Rimutaka range) and one a pioneering railway line in new country. No. 2, being the least known, may be dealt with first. At present two truffii railways run north and south in Wellington province—one along the West Coast to Palmerston North, and eventually to Auckland (the North Island Main Trunk), the other along the eastern side of the backbone ranges to Napier. Between this WellingtonNapier railway and the East Coast is a long strip of country which in its widest part has a width of 30 or 40 miles as the crow Hies; and through this strip is now projected a third railway running north and south, to link up with the Wellington-Napier line at Masterton and at Waipukurau. To distinguish it from the East Coast Trunk •Railway now under construction from Waihi to Gisborne and southward to Napier, the new project may be called the East Coast (Wairarapa-Hawke's Bay) line. Isolation and Sig Estates.

There is no doubt that haulage from the eastern coastal districts to the Wel-lington-Napier railway is in many eases very expensive; and, owing to the inhospitable nature of the coast, safe harbours or ports workable in all weathers even by small steamers are non-existent. There is a proposal to artificially construct a partially-protected port near Akitio, on the coast of the county of that name, and the Minister of Marine gave a conditional promise of a Government grant of £15,000 for that purpose. But Akitio would serve only a portion of the isolated coastal area. Owing to the lack of harbours and the cost of haulage to the railway, the progress of the district has been hindered, and there are large holdings under sheep where there would otherwise have been small holdings and possibly the intensive production of dairy-farming. Difficulties of access and cf transport handicap industry in a hundred ways that need not be detailed. In the past a Liberal Minister opposed the railway project because of the existence of large estates. But the large estates are really the result of lack of transport. Isolation and big holdings have thus been partly the cause, and partly the effect, of each other. A Question of Preference.

Now for No. 1 proposal, the improvement of the existing railway by a Rimutaka deviation. There are various schemes, and the cost is anything between a quarter of a million and half a million. No. 2 —that is the East Coast (Wairarapa-Hawke's Bay) railway—would cost wfell over a million. Which is to have preference? Advocates of the deviation argue that the cutting out of the Fell engine incline with its heavy expense would reduce haulage charges and thus benefit the whole of the trans-Rimutaka district as well as the capital city. But some of the coastal back-blockers, having no railway at all, are inclined to think that the construction of the new developing line (No. 2) is more important than the improvement of the existing one. At the northern end, Hawke's Bay people unaffected by the Rimutaka haulage would naturally be more concerned in a new East Coast railway giving them an additional connection with the Wairarapa. In the approaching conference the Wairarapa townships on the WellingtonNapier railway will no doubt be found in favour of making the deviation the main card. If the out-districts agree to the East Coast (Wairarapa-Hawke's Bay) line taking second place, there should be no further obstacle to united action. The Eketahuna Chamber of Commerce will test the question by means of the following remit: "That in the opinion of this conference the most

pressing public , work in the Wellington province is the deviation of the Rimutaka incline." An Inter-Island Comparison.

Assuming that Wellington province agrees upon a programme, the proposed works must next be considered in comparison with the claims of similar railway proposals in other parts of New Zealand. Ih last year's Public Works Statement the votes proposed for three North Island lines, the North Aucklaud Main Trunk, East Coast Main Trunk, and Stratford to North Auckland Main Trunk, aggregated £312,000. In the South Island the Midland vote was £135,000, the South Island Main Trunk only £20,000; total £155,000. Can the North Island claim a further large appropriation for improving the Welling-ton-Napier railway, or for the new East Coast (Wairarapa-Hawke's Bay) line, or for both? Can a province which has two parallel railways ask for a third, while the South Island's southern system still remains unconnected with its northern lines!

An organised effort by Wellington to do what the Auckland organisation has been doing will probably give rise to counter-organisation in the South Island. Admittedly organisation counts for much in the division of the spoils. Backblockers and City Buildings.

The Government has no official cognisance of inter-island jealousy, but it has expressed strong views on the necessity of giving the back-blocks a fair share of' public expenditure. The outback road is deemed of more urgency than the urban building. It happens, however, that Wellington has a genuine claim for a new central railway station, more commodious, better situated, and better connected with the South Island ferry steamers. Most Wellington people anticipated that the commencement of the railway station would be authorised by the expiring Parliament; but the recent proposals for building on the Mount Cook site were hardly expected at this juncture. They may be in part attributed to the electoral outlook of the Minister of Customs and Marine. This is not to say that they are not full of merit. But with Mt. Cook, the central station, a new goods shed at Te Aro, and sundry odds and ends referred to by Dr Newman in his speech to his Wellington East constituents, what will those backblockers think?

By the way, the Doctor says that the traffic will soon be more than the Rimutaka incline can cope with. He also approves the amalgamation of city electorates, in which the Minister of Marine is specially interested. He disclaims any intention of retiring from Wellington East, an£ his speech last night was mainly a recapitulation of city and provincial interests in the direction of public expenditure, governmental and municipal

E. V. H.