NOT HALF PER CENT!

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 135, 9 June 1910, Page 2

NOT HALF PER CENT!

NORTH AUCKLAND RAILWAY'S EARNINGS. MIXISTEE'S INTERESTING STATEMENT. A rather remarkable statement was made by the Hon. J. A. Millar (Minister for Rail-ways) at-this morning's conference on the question of duplicating the Parnell tunnel. The Minister said he ■wanted those comprising the Commiesion to looli - u[>ou the question, not from the point of view of convenience, but of necessity. It had been said that the additional traflic from, the North 'Auckland railway, when it was through, would not be worth considering. In his opinion, the North Auckland line would never pay one half per cent.

A general chorus of ""Oh"s!" greeted this statement, and Mr. G. L. Peaeoeke, president of the Railway League, ventured to suggest that the present returns did not go to prove that assertion.

The Minister: Yes, but you have only been working as far as ■Hclensville, and there taking in the whole trade of the North.

■Mr. Peaeoeke: There are 50,000 people in the North. Admittedly, the line rune through a patch of poor country, but there is good land as well as bad.

The Minister: But will the poor make up for the 'bad?

Mr. Entrican: I would like to call your attention to the complaints of those in the North about freights on that line. A fruitgrower at Port Albert thought he 'Would send a shipment of canned (fruit from Wellsford to Auckland by rail. When lie~came to inquire into freights, he found it was cheaper to carry his goods to Helensville by boat, and then rail them to Auckland. He found it cheaper still to send the fruit by boat to I/yttelton, and thence back to Auckland.

The Minister: I know perfectly well that railway traffic cannot compete with water traffic, and 1 am not going to try to make it. I nm not going to run the railways at a loss, if 1 can help it.

Mr. Myers: But would it not be advisable to encourage industry and trade by cheaper freights 1

The Minister: The Railway freights are already worked out to scale for that purpose.

Mr. Entrican: It is rathrr an anomaly that tinned fruit can be brought from America at a cheaper rate than it can from the Kaipara.

Another matter referred to in connection with the Xorth Auckland line "was the waste oi time caused by running through Newmarket, en route to Auckland. Mr. Entrican said that it was the customary thing for passengers to leave the train at Kingsland, and complete the journey by train, thus reaching the city a quarter of an honr sooner. He asked the Minister had he thought of the possibility of connecting the Mount Eden and Auckland stations, by tunnelling u-nder K.lyber Pa-ss, and •running down Graffcon Gully, linking with the main line at Parnell bridge. It would not be an expensive undertaking, and would enable the journey to be completed in seven minutes, instead of twenty.

The Minister replied that the scheme would be too costly, but said that the Department wa-s considering the advisability of expending about £5,000 at Sewmarket to enable the Xorth-bound trains to proceed without the loss of time now occasioned by backing and filling at that place.