TAUPO RAILWAY.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19735, 27 September 1929, Page 13

TAUPO RAILWAY.

PETITION FOR CONSTRUCTION. (PBSSa A3SOCIATIO* TILMUK.) WELLINGTON, September 26. The M to Z Committee of the House of Representatives heard further evidence to-day in regard to the petitidn by Mr Vaile for the resumption of work on the Taupo line. Mr P. Gr. Dalziell said he ventured to say that if he and Mr Vaile went to the Prime Minister it would be possible to arrive at a solution of the difficulty. He asked the Committee to assist them in that connexion. Eeplying to Mr Vaile, he said he did not consider fifteen millions an excessive amount to cover the cost of developing the area. Mr Eustace Lane, a farmer, of Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, said quite a portion of his present holding was pumice land. Pumiee land, if properly fertilised, was the best in the world. He had a good knowledge of the land the proposed railway would traverse, and 'he thought it would carry a big population when it was developed. It would be necessary for the settlers to obtain fertiliser at a cheap cost, and the only way to do that was to put a railway through. Eeplying to Mr H. R. Jenkins (Parnell) he said he had no faith in the carriage of stock by motor-lorries. Witness colud not give the cost of developing the land, but said it would probably be between five and ten pounds an acre. He did not favour small areas of fifty aeres. The hearing mm itjmnil