THE EAST COAST RAILWAY ROUTE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 698, 24 December 1909, Page 14

THE EAST COAST RAILWAY ROUTE.

EXTENT OF THE LANDS AFFECTED. FROM TINIEOTO TO GISBOENE. (By Malcolm Ross, F.E.G.S.) t No. VI. ' Some idea of the nature of the country thai would be served by a railway along , this lin< of route will have been gained, by the reader and at this stage of my narrative it will be appropriate to give an estimate of tho greal extent of the lands referred to. After leaving the Hawke's Bay County near Petane, the route lies .through Native land for aboul twenty mile 6. We have the Kaiwaka Block ol 30,776..acre5, the Purahotangihia Block 26,300 acres, , the Tutira Block of 20,490 acres, . and' the Awaotc'.ara Block 0f.17,230 aores. With tho exception of Tutira (tho lease of which was recently renewed for a'long term), tho unexpired portion .of these leases -is • comparatively between the Waikari and Mohaka Elvers',"the land is nearly all Crown land, only-a small portion of freehold lying immediately west of the latter rivev. After, that, between the. llohaka and Waihua Eivers, the ■ l«P d „>s all Maori, land. . Thero is tho Mohaka No. 2 Block.of 16,700 acres, the Waihua No, 1 Block of C 8.20, and the Waihua No. 2 Block of 2400 acres. leaving the Waihua Eiver, the lino passes through freehold land for nearly thirty . miles. This_ is all excellent country, being ?n y ln ■ va " e y-'of.- the Wairoa Eiver. Thence—no matter which route is adopted—tho line would pass through land held by the East . Coast Lands Trust Board. Beyond these lands again, ' on to Gisborne, tho land is nearly all Crown and freehold, and of first-class quality. 'Summing up the position briefly, we find: thai the extent of country, tapped by the first Motion—tamely,'.as far . as the Waikari Eiver— may be roughly estimated at 117,150 ; acres, from the Waikari to tho Waihua. there: are 101,000 acres, after leaving out the lands served by tho i seaboard, In tho watershed of: tho Wai-. roa Eiver the railway would tap an area of !" some 400,000 aores. Beyond this; in the direction of Gisborne, there is a further. huge area of fertile lands that the' railway would 1 open up. Tho area would depend upon which -of -the two routes are adopted from the vicinity of •Frasortowri; but' in any case >-the-.possibilities' in this, direction, aro enormous. The-people who want the railway to go via Tiniroto teU you that the, Mangapoiki route. would be a vory costly one ana those who wish it to go Ana Mangapoiki say. the Tiniroto .route'is a . very costly one. As I have already stated the question must bo decided by competent. engineers. My. own impression is that.' the formation by cither route will bo costly as there ' "'ill be heavy cuttings and a considerable amount of bridging. ... > ..Beyond Tiniroto there is'good grazing. country in tho Hangaroa Survey District, and the country has all been taken up right, back to . Waikareinoana. The areas run from 1500 to 5000 acres, and the settler's are.felling tho bush and grassing their lands,us fast as they-can. Much of the.land carries a sheep and a half to the acre, and cattle as well. Cattle are necessary to break down the fern. Mr. Walter Wliyte, whom I met at Tiniroto informed me a j.l hftd cleared carries two sheep to tho acre. -It: is' papa country,- with ' tho' jimestoM- formation jutting out in. places. In tho Tahora County there is : a great deal of Maori land, which is mostly leased' to ..the .white settlers. There aro thousands of acres | of - forests containing,: amongst other timbers, rftotara.and red pine. This, forest is being gradally destroyed by lira and the axe, because there is no means of getting the timber out am, in many cases, owing to some restrictions lmvifi■ Isa , t . lve ,J (!ases »'' ; ho Settlers are not alThnrrf™ G l orern .Tf n , r to , sell'the timber; lliorefore, thev burn.it! "I," said Mr. Whyte, itef. "*°tion • from ~ the; Government with ' i j CU neighbour who: leases' tnfel thcrß is timber has tn/ w and burn xt off.-because Ho is 1 r li. sel1 j n ' e ' a single post! -On the Government roads made through the bush , tho timber is cut down and iacked tn tl,„ r .toucha smgle stick'of/it. . : There it lofn/ fh g ?*'«- TBat is on roads ' f o, ne-jthrough .timber reservos. It . bo altogother the fault of the Government, who na fn ' l'if 10 ■,{ ault .'-0[!' 0T| s l, -o'ficibus; rangers, ' too. 1 nlltorally;« intferpret. al >- "lAtaftce. .of wnatiiocoursaj Ati6ottlcr pMained,permission ,from /the .engineer to split some of. the timber, for posts. \ When he had- done _ 50,.: the', Crown Lands Hanger came alonf-and l it. : ,After ;■** lot iof tiouble tho settler got his' posts tback again.'? ihe labour .trouble is; another drawback to dls fe cti ' v->Vlule:.we. .in l : the 'cities'- have been, putting our hands in our pockets to work--for ;the_.unemp l( )jed,- and - while; in'.tho- past; ten thousand co-operative la«.°n U w' ii vo ?, n i omplp.ved on- Government works, ; these settlors. have been' unable to hnd sufficient; labour. to improve their farms. ,J.ho' rate for • sheep-shearing l , is 225.. Cd., and many_ men shear their' 200 sheep a day. >At ono shed in this district last; year, out of ton shearers, ongaged, six shore over 200 sheep a K\ !'*' sheftrers are mostly' Maoris,. The settlors have provided accommodation;according•to thoi law,. for tho ' sh'earcfs, .but-, the latter won t go into the : huts, -' They - prefer toi usotheir; own' tents, and the . buildings, ■which a; benevolent Parliament has provided for; these poor l , working men, who can' earn their £6 a, week,' remain' untenanted! : Tho .'settlers'-in" tho .vicinity,.of l ,Tiniroto' did not appear, to .be,, as a body," greatly - interested; in the ;raihray..V Only, ono man came to discuss , tho question with tho Eailway League s' commissioner,' Tho others were too busy, attending a meeting about some sports." Sport is , becoming tho curse of New Zealand, and the sooner, young; N6w Zealand realises it the .better it will be' for the Dominion. Front Tiniroto I' drovo-to Gisborne, a distance of somo 42 miles, .That cost me ', I thought at first I; was being overcharged, 1 but after I had seen the road I came to the conclusion . that, tho man had earned his money, and.:;, moreover.' had taken considerable risk in oarning it, Wo passed' tho derelict wagonette—a melancholy spectacle— hopelossly stuck :in the mud..: The hotelkeeper was sending a man down with chains and two strong horses , and a long-handled shovel tb endcavouh to: get it 'Out. ! ':-For oUrselves, ,wo sank in, the mud to the body of our vehicle, camo to to standstill on two or three occasions, and had a standstill on ,two or three, occasions, and Sad could pull the empty trap through!' It was pleasant to find'oneself ', descending' from: the uold, cloud-capped hills of Tiniroto to tho warm and level liinds lof Gisborne,. -.where iristeria'was drooping in great clusters from the front, of a. suburban villa, rare 1 daffodils were in.bloom, and oranges and lolnons were getting gloripusly.yellow in tho spring sunshine. :?•. ,My journey was now . at-an end, but I was ! pleased to accept the invitation' of the Mayor of Gisborne 'to take a motor ride with him, in company with a'number of oflicers:from'ono of His Majesty's warships:then in port, in order that I. might see' a portion of the Gisborne district that I had not. previously visited. Olio could not but be struck, during this journey, with .. the • apparent prosperity /of the locality, and with' its great potelitialities. Tho ,town itself has a population of 7000, and' in the suburbs there are' another thousand people; The export of mutton from tho port has fisen froni; tcn-aiid-a-half million' pounds in 1902 to tjccnty-one-and-a-half million ■ pounds : in' 1901), In addition, there was an export of 6,251,0001b. of, lamb, 7,739,0001b. of;beef, and 47,112 bales of wool. The number of sheep in tho district now is just upon two millions, and of . cattle 127,000. There. are also considerable, exports of butter,' sheepskins, , hides, grass-seed, maize, etc. The imports of timber, coal, ; pdtiitoes, oats, chaff, and general merchandise aro -now very considerable, and are increasing, year by year, with tho incrcaso of settlement in . the district.

fho, benefit of a railway iri, connection with suck fertile country can scarcely be overestimated. | The question arises in, which direction tlie district should secure its outlet. To ray mind, unquestionably, it should look to tho southward, and that is the view the, people themselves are : now- inclined to take. -f-This idea will, I know, be heresy in the'north, and i i « oons 'derod "another injustice to Auckland. ~ Nevertheless,:, as/soon, as ■ the present; Ojsborno railway gets as far as the Motu, whereat can : tap the timber supplies,; the great majority of settlers-and townspeople' will, Be content that it should stop there. And they will be quito right. ;A;railway'oven-to-Wai-r°a would add tremendously to tho prosperity of Gisborno, and if the line is continued 'to Napier, a rich district, capable of inuenmto expansion, instead of being isolated as at present, will ; be 'in--direct communication, with , tho capital of tho Dominion, with the West Coast of the North island as'for; as New. Plymouth, and will al»o th( > F '? st nnil ?> st Coasts'of tbo South Island, It is scarcely to bo ; won. cored at. .. therefore, that tho ' shrewder, members of the Gisborno community should prefer such an outlet to one that Would connbct them only with Auckland. In the fullness of -1 Vconnection limy come as w ell« but, moauwhilo—after tho urcsont : lino reaclios the Jlotu—tho railway policy of tho Kreater nort'on of tho island should Ufor a line between Isapior;, and Gisborno, The through traffic oh such a route would bo verv heavy, and it would, erow rapidly • as cK .settlement followed on tho V tho irra.

liorse., . Aiiy,,:. Government that ; can ."com# :W i a ,. statesmanlike policy to f<? J'P 0 ' would add enormously fc tbo •..••Wftlth v of the- Dominion! llio prompt acquisition of the ; Native lands 3?/i ld ,, bo OI J. important factor in connection with tho making of suck a railway, That tho Maoris themselves are not capable of dealing with such country is evident to all who have seen their efforts so far, V' / 'V- : nil i aor ' s th® North Island now own : nearly seven and a half.million acres of .land, ?i j '' "s profitably occupied. Of i S ir • 2)560,000 acres have been leased direct •' by Maori owners,. 486,000 liave been leased on oolialt of Maori owners, and-360,000 aercs only are in occupation as'papakaitigas and farms ' J-hese figures tell their, own: talo. I wish U state here,, and state ■ emphatically, that millione of ; acte of Maori lands-arc lying prao \ tically. in an stato in this Do. numon, and that hundreds of thousands of acres of other- Maori lauds in the hands of It!® mon are not producing up to anything hko. their full Capacity; bccauso of the of ' tc ® ur ® under which- they are neia, Thes© : matters have a very important bearing upon the question of - the East Coast railway. J l *-. G \P- Doraelly, who is largely;interested m Maori lands, says: "It is certain that : the. time has arrived when something should ■ ue done to open up a large'and valuable dis;«°t that, has been neglected, for years. All the laud lying, between the, road and the coast consists of rich limestone downs and hills, and ; papa in the vicinity -of Walroa. This land, in the hands of small settlers, would bo oapablo 2,', from .two. to three shoep per acre. ±ne balance of tho land on tho western. side oi .the road; is of pumice formation, and with the spread of the native Danthonia grass, ij rapidly becoming good sheep country. It has ' been clearly proved that soil of this quality 13 more suitable, for growing root crops ihan is heavier; lands. The greater part of the land ' through which the railway would bo taken: belongs to the Natives, ana from my personal Knowledge of the country I' am quite sure that it would be to the interest oi the . Natives and • Europeans, to have il taken up in small areas for grazing runs, as, if let . m its present state, the land will b» ' overrun with blackberries; briars, and noxious weeds. I would strongly advise' that the Urovornment should set aside sufficient land for ,™ Natives, and that',the balance be leased or' '■ "M m suitable blocks by publio auction, If the settlement of these lands were properly carried oat by tho Government,' it would bo to the. interest of the" Native owners that certain " areas of thoir lands should be Bet apart .towardsdefraying tho cost of construction of the pro-i ' posed line.' JI ■ hare discussed this matter with • ' some' of the principal Native owners, and tboy 'quite agree." ■ ' ... ...- -. . ' The total longth' of the railway would be 116 miles. The Minister for-publio Works—who has a shrewd knowledge of Uuch matters—has placed it on-record that the 'lino will eventually pay, and ho has added thit it • would probably be started in a few years' time, and from both ends. He told a deputation that waited upon him recently that valuable land >. be ; opened up, by such; a railway,'and .added that' the, people could >roly- upon hit giving, them. every' assistance-in Parliament. •It romaihs, therefore, for. tho people from' Gisborne to Wellington to band themselves togcther and endeavour to secure tho prosecutior. of this ..national undertaking as soon as tbt funds at the disposal of tho Publio Works 1 r Department will permit.' The whole East Coast/ from , Gisborne to Wellington, the . SouthiIsland -with N its grain supplies and -..its coal ', measures, and the Dominion as a whole will. >■■■ .-benefit, by its construction. A, start has been i made,,and good work ha's been done by the • East Coast llailway League, -but branches of.. I : this league, should bo formed in every,locality,., ! ' and every: effort .mado to get tho line on tho ■ ' authorised list. ■ . (Concluded.)