RAILWAY TO TAUPO.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1212, 22 August 1911, Page 6

RAILWAY TO TAUPO.

e A SCHEME OUTLINED. A petition formulating .tlio proposals in connection with (lie scheme for the extension to Taupo of the existing private railway from Putaruru, on tlio AueklandRotorua line to -Mokai, will be presented to the House of Representatives, probably this Week. The existing fifty miles of railway is tlio property of tlie Taupo Totara Timber Company, and is run under the authority of an Untor-in-Council, which fixes maximum rates for the carriage of passengers and goods. It is now proposed to extend the road over tlio interval of sixteen miles to tlio steamer wharf on Lake Taupo. An explanation of the project was given to a meeting of Auckland members of Parliament yesterday morning by ilr. l>. Dalzieli, of this city, chairman of directors of the Taupo Company. Tlie completed railway, in co-operation with tho existing steamer service oil Lake Taupo, woiiul serve an area approximately 1)0 miles long and 15 miles wide, which comprised 800,000 acres of Native lands, 330,000 acres of Crown lands, and a lesser area of privately-owned lands. Additional means of communication would probably bo' provided by the construction of a lino from tho Main Trunk railway to Lake Taupo, of which a survey bad been made by the Tongariro Timber Company, but as the route traversed very rough country, it was unlikely that tlie project would bo undertaken for some time. The l'utaruru-Mokai line could bo completed to Taupo within nine months the construction of the existiug line had cost the Taupo Company ,£300,000, and, according to the report of Mr. John Coom, late chief engineer of the New, Zealand railways, an exi>jnditure of' ,£7OO would entitle the company to a certificate enabling it to carry passengers. There had been some suggestion that members of tho Government were interested in tho scheme, but the only Minister who had at any time been connected with the railway was Sir John Findlay, who held a number of ordinary shares accepted by him in .settlement of legal costs. Tho ordinary shares were of littlo value, as capital amounting to .£325,000 had a prior claim on the company's profits. ,

The Taupo Company, Mr. Dalziell explained, had no fluids to make the extension, and its unfortunate financial record prevented it from financing tne echcmo itself. Tho present proposal was that a new company should bo formed, and certain capitalists wiioni ho had approached were prepared to consider the project if they wero enabled to purchase 1250,000 acres of Native lands, on which the increase in value by the construction o£ the railway would bo compensation for the unprofitable working of the railway, which could not bo expccted to pay for some years, until the value of the pumice lands was more widely appreciated. Tho Government would be asked to authorise the completion of the lino on the condition that tho. _ State ivould retain the right of acquisition at a reasonable prico at any time. The probable cost of the extension and of improving the present line would be <£50,000 and that expenditure would have to be accompanied by the encouragement of settlement in tiio adjacent country. An independent company would bo necessary for the control of the tourist resorts of Wairakei and Taupo, over , which options 'had ken obtained to preserve the increase in value that ivould follow the construction of the road. Ultimately the line might 1m continued to Runanga and Tarawora, at a cost ot about ,£ISOO per mile, though the cost would be abyiit .£2500 per mile if the line was built on tho State railways standard. The members present declined to express any opinion regarding the scheme, but promised to consider the information given to them. Tho Auckland "Herald," commenting on the sclicme, says:—We need hardly point out the enormous public advantages of the scheme. At no cost to the public and under conditions wholly in harmony with tho law of the laud, an immense area of now worthless and unproductive country would be brought under cultivation and filled with tho smal.l farmers who alone can successfully work this class of land. More than this, one of the most beautiful and enjoyable parts of the Dominion would bo mado easily accessible from Auckland, tho health and pleasureseeker being enabled to breakfast in Auckland and to dinici comfortably beside Lako Taupo. . . . The Government tells us plainly that settlement must go ahead of railways, that lines cannot bo built until business is waiting for them, and so forth, while this private company is prepared to birfld a line ahead of settlement, to creato business, and to open up country which is now to all intents and purposes a' 'no man's land.' If t.lio settler can obtain access upon fair terms to liow-ioeked-up and inaccessible land, if rates and freights arc fair and safe-guarded, what objections ran he ha v e to a companv's line, without which he could not have the land at all? . . . Auckland members should not hesitate to do their utmost on behalf of the development of the country, remembering that the proposed line'will make populous and productive a great waste region, and that if tho terms of the bargain to bo made - are mutually reasonable, the public cannot possibly lose, and will most vastly gain."