Stockyard removal upsets farmers

Press, 27 March 1980, Page 10

Stockyard removal upsets farmers

| The removal of railway stockyards at Cass and Craigirburn has upset nearby farmers. The farmers have said the yards should remain as a more economic alternative to road transport for stock, and they are . not happy with the justification for the closings given by the Minister of Railways (Mr McLachlan). While the yards at Cass have been partially demolished, a Springfield farmer is making a bid to save those at Craigieburn.. Mr W. E. Woods won a contract earlier this month for dismantling the yards and salvaging the timber. : However, he said this l week he had no intention ' of paying the sale price or of carrying out the work. Mr McLachlan said, in a . letter to Mr Woods, that his department considers the yards at Craigieburn • to be run down and in . need of “extensive renovation” to be kept in service. The Minister also said that the decline in livestock carriage since 1961 meant the Railways now had very few serviceable stock waggons. “To maintain and in

some cases rebuild stock waggons would .be very expensive,” he said. Under his contract, Mr Woods has five weeks left to complete the demolition. He intended to use that time to bring the farmers’ case before Mr McLachlan. Mr Woods said the Craigirburn yards were not in poor condition as asserted by the Railways. They were surrounded by the Craigieburn sheep station, and it was only common sense to use the railway, instead of road, to take stock to Christchurch and Other centres in between.

Mr F. .A. Westenra, owner of Craigieburn station, also said the yards were in generally good condition.

“They were virtually rebuilt 15 years ago, and apart from a few boards on one of the sheep ramps — a small maintenance job — they are in pretty good order all round,” Mr Westenra said.

The yards could be left standing “at no cost to anyone,” as he was prepared to do the little maintenance needed. Mr Westenra ' said his use of the railway was limited .to when stock waggons were available on trains from the West Coast. Although he • had not moved much stoc on the line in the last three years,, common sense pointed to the yards, being left, for the future, he said. The Craigieburn homestead was only several hundred yards from the line and a mailbag was dropped from a train each day. . . Mr Westenra said his closest road transport was at Darfield which meant that trucks had to travel 100 km before they could even begin carting livestock.

In addition, he thought stock arrived at their destination in better condition after travelling by rail. Mr Westenra had also been told by Mr McLachlan that the Craigieburn yards were run down and because of the lack of rolling stock were not worth maintaining.

The manager of Mount White station (Mr R. G. Marshall) said he had put

no stock through the Cass railway stockyards for three years because the Railways had consistently said there were no waggons available. The yards had needed only a little repair and when tenders were called to demolish them, “none of the locals would tender because they knew it was wrong,” Mr Marshall said.

He said it was ridi« culous to substitute road transport for rail, in view of the oil crisis and the line’s “passing right past our backdoor.”

Each year, Mount White sent out at least 1000 head of sheep and 300 cattle. Without the railway service, they had to be driven about 30km to get road access on Grassmere station.

Mr Marshall said Grassmere and Flockhill stations also used the Cass railway stockyards. The acting district engineer in Christchurch (Mr M. D. Kennedy) said the stockyards were being removed because “there no longer seems to be any need for them."

“The process for getting rid of facilities is reasonably involved. We don’t want to inconvenience our customers,” he said. It was normal practice to consult Federated Farmers and any other interested parties before rural stockyards were removed. Mr Kennedy said he assumed this had been done for Craigieburn and Cass.

“Everything seems to be in order,” he said. The Railways were continually assessing the need for new facilities and the use of existing ones, said Mr Kennedy. He said the Craigieburn yards were near “the rebuilding stage,” and required “substantial man hours and material to repair them.” Mr Kennedy was not aware of Mr Woods’s intention about the Craigieburn yards, but said he would have until the end of the two-month contract period to complete the demolition. If the yards were still standing, the department would ask why Mr Woods had not fulfilled his contractual obligations, and might have to recall for tenders. '