The Otago Central Railway.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 356, 5 March 1903, Page 5

The Otago Central Railway.

A NORTHERN MEMBER'S IMPRESSIONS. (" Evening Star.") Mr G. Fowlds, who represents Grey Lynn (Auckland) in the House of Representatives, is one of those members who believes in spending part of the recess in making himself acquainted by personal observation of the many places throughout the colony where important public works are being carried out, and with that object in view he arrived here a couple of weeks ago for the parpose of going over the Otago Central Railway, and later on the Midland Railway on the West Coast. Knowing that he had just returned to town from a visit of inspection of the Otago Central line, a member of our staff waited on him yesterday afternoon, when Sir Fowlds courteously consented to give a few of his impressions of the works in hand there. First of all Mr Fowlds went to Southland, and stayed a day or two with Mr M'Nab, the member for Mataura, with whom he went over the proposed line they are clamoring for in the South—namely, from Gore to Waikaka. Asked what he thought of the South, Mr Fowlds replied: " I found good rich agricultural land there, but in comparison with the North the people down there are well off for means of communication by having real good roads—such roads as are not obtainable in tire North. In reply to the next query the member for Grey Lynn said : " From there I went to Queenstown, thence to Wanaka by coach, and from there I came through the famous Hawea Plains on to Clyde and Alexandra. I then joined the Otago Central at Ida Valley." And what did you think of the country up there ? "Well," said Mr Fowlds, "the great bulk of the country beyond the railway that I saw seemed to me to be comparatively poor. Some of it, in fact, was very poor indeed. In the Hawea Plains and down on this side of Alexandra there were some patches of cultivation that appeared to be growing fairly good crops, but of course I had no means of ascertaining whether they had used manures in getting the crops through, or whether it was just the natural product of the soil." As to the line itself, what were your impressions respecting it ? "The thing that impressed me most," answered Mr Fowlds, "in connection with the whole line was the enormous waste of money spent in carrying the line up through the gorge, about thirty Ktiles long, a mile or two up from Wingatui junction. The line there can never be of any value to the country through which it passes. Even at places where there were stations it seemed to me that they would want a balloon to take them to the top of the mountains, which are about a thousand feet above the level of the railway. The country beyond the gorge, right up to Ida Valley, with the exception of a little valley through which the train runs, was mostly rugged hills with tussock growing in between the rocks. The valley itself in some places seemed to be capable of growing fairly good crops, but what surprised me was, if it could grow payable crops, who so poor an attempt had been made at cultivation, when there was a railway running alongside. The great bulk of the right up where the railway has been running for some time is still in tussock and grass." Well, then, you don't think the line ahould have been taken over the present route 1

"No; I hold the opinion that it should have been taken from Palmerston. The line might then have been on to Hawea by now, and at a less cost. Of course, now that such a. large expenditure has been made on the line it will probably be policy for the country to continue it a little further. From Ida Valley on to Alexandra I did not see an acre of land that was worth patting a railway through. Still, Alexandra is probably the natural terminus for the line for many years to come, seeing that there is a considerable population there, and further on at Clyde, and also to Lake Wanaka, and the line when made to there will probably induce a larger number of tourists to make the round trip through by Wanaka and Wakatipu. By comparison with places in the North Island where no railways exist, the quality of the land is very much inferior to land unopened in the North. When I think of the 40,000 people living north of Auckland, with hardly a mile of railway communication—many of them have been living there for forty and fifty years with the hope of being brought into touch with civilisation through the extension of the railway— help feeling that the men who are responsible for the waste of public money in running the Otago Central Railway through those gorges ought to be hanged." The question of fruit-growing in Otago Central was next touched on by Mr Fowlds, who remarked: "There seems to be an idea that the country round about Hawea and up there is specially fitted for fruit growing. I had a look at some gardens where there were fruit trees, and the fruit seemed of fair quality, but I don't think it ever will be fitted for the production of the higher classes of stone fruits, such as peaches and apricots. It will probably grow apples all right, and it might possibly be suited for vine growing, but for almost any kind of fruit culture it will require an enormous expenditure on irrigation."