EVANS BAY BY RAIL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 683, 7 December 1909, Page 8

EVANS BAY BY RAIL.

WHAT THE PROPOSAL MEANS. THE CENTRE OP A VAST POPULATION. A big plan of Wellington and suburbs was spread ont on the table. Tho city proper was a mass of tiny sections oach with a number, thon camo tho blank representing the town bolt on the eastern side, and further on moro, "close settlement" at Kilbirnie and Kilbirnie South. . Mr. Charles Crawford who, with others, aro advocating tho extension of the railway system to Evans Bay, placed his finger on Kilbrrnio South. "Been ont there lately?" ho asked.' "■No!" "Well, the growth of that place would surprise you. Even while building everywhere else has been standing still, it has'been going on there. It has been a township for two or three years—now it is developing into a town.. There is also settlement going on above on these hills and farther on at Maranui. I don't speak of "Miramar, though I believe the future of the place is , assured. "For years past the population has trended towards Wellington South—at present the most thickly populated part of the city. So that if the railway were brought to the head of j Evans Bay, l it • wonld ■be in ■ the centre of what gives :eveory promise of being a very large population—a glance ,at the plan tefls | one that. • • Of Interest to the Harbour Board. r "Formerly/, the Harbour Board's policy was to do nothing 'except in Lambton Harbour. It has, however, of late broadened its scope, and is now erecting a larger wharf at Miramar, and , doing other work that must advance the, interests of the district, while giving it a "better, entrance to the water-front I do not say .that those works, will pay immediately—what works of that oharacter do? But in the long run it will pay, and I believe handsomely. The board has. also . considered the matter of reclaiming the shallow foreshore at the head of Evans Bay. Here is the plan for reclaiming nearly 200 acres. ■" If they want industrial frontages with deep water for wharves the board must go on with that work. It stands out as the, next reclamation to be done, and it can be done so cheaply. This land and the. Evans Bay side of the isthnids is fjoinjT to give Wellington its industrial area, so'it is not in the least absurd to suggest the railway extension. . The Terminal Station. "I would-suggest that the station should be on the site of the present recreation ground, or what was, a. recreation ground until the city took it over. " .The city was to -have sought power to'reclaim so as to give the • ground' an area of 18 acre's, which would' join with the Harbour Board's reclamation. A station there would- servo Newtown,' Kilbirnie South, Kilbirnie, Maraiiiii,'. Miramar, and .Seatoun admirably. There would be plenty of room for goods sheds, workshops, etc., and it would bo in close proximity to a Beep-water frontage." • Proposed Route.- . /And what route:do'you.propose, Mr. Crawford? ■ •. . * ■ , "J should..think,"., was tho reply, "that the best route would be to- continue the 1 railway east from the Ik Aro station over a bridge across Clyde Quay, and possibly Roxburgh Street, and then , mto the hill. The tunnel would;take. an oblique' line to /the , south-west, pass under the present tramway, tunnel, and come- out in. ; ths Town Belt just above where Nelson Street ends. This: would mean a tunnel of some 56 chains, Then running down the belt it might' be-necessary to • make a cutting and another , short tunnel under' Wellington Street, to come, out near the main road that runs by the. : recreation ground. ' "There is ;aribther alternative—to .make' one long timnel right through Mt. Victoria, to", come out at Evans Bay, .and to run the lino along, the foreshore to serve the wharves of the future. • . . The Cost. m .-"The. whole scheme would not cost so much as people imagine. It looks big on paper, but I have calculated that; it could all be accomplished for a sum of .£70,000, or thereabouts. The entire distance from, the Te Aro line to the Kilbirnie Recreation' Ground' would only be a mile and a half. This is how I figure it out:—' ■''■j ' v.."'-'--" ;56-cliain tunnel, at 4660 a chain . 36,960 ,'ll-mile railway, at ' a-, mi1e....;. 9,000 jCompeniation,"'station, goods shed; jf ( etc. 25^000

•; .£70,000 * "This, of course,.aa only the. soheme in the rough, but .I am, convinced that I am not far out. When estimatesnwere first prepared for' a tramway for Miramar nobody would. listen j but that project has long been, an accomplished fact. The Mt. Victoria tram tunnel cost approximately iESOO, per chain, and the Seatoun tram and vehicular tunnel >61000 per'chain, but the cost of 1 railway tunnels in - the Wellington district has been about JS66O per chain. 'I do not hold that , the proposed railway would be in competition, with the 'trams. Auckland has both a.tram .and train service to Onehunga, and the one does not kill the other; ' The head of Evans Bay :is going to be a good deal bigger, and more important that, Onemmga some day-' mark my words."