TE ARO'S CLAIMS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1505, 30 July 1912, Page 7

TE ARO'S CLAIMS.

A NEGLECTED STATION. GOODS SHED AND MORE TRAINS WANTED. REQUESTS iOF A DEPUTATION. > The .etention and improvement of To kro Railway Station and bettor train iacilities to that terminus,, were, strongly urged by a, large and represcntnive deputation which waited yesterday morning Upon the Hon. W.-H. Herrics (Minister for Railways). Dr. A. K. Newman, M.P., who introduced the deputation, said that the question of improving To Ajo Station had been before the city of 'Wellington for a very long time. They had a railway 3-unning right into tho heart of the city where thero wero something like -60,000 people served by the' line. This railway had been persistently starved and the deputation and those whom it represented thought that it should not bo starved ■any longer. At prosent no country trains, eavo , those from Upper and Lower Hutt, ran to Te Aro. Tho Railway Department oaid that the station did not pay. How could it pay when it did not get a chance? The express trains at present stopped at a terminus one mile and 47 chains from the centre of tho city. Te Aro, was surrounded by a busy business quarter, but all the goods' were 'landed at the other end of tho town. Te Aro Station could be made to servo more people than, .there wore, in/Hawke's Bay, .more than in Taranaki, and as many as there were in Southland. These people were hampered by the fact that all passengers and goods from the whole of the North Island 'were landed at tho wrong end of the town. The deputation ■wished that a goods shed should be erected at To Aro and that niore trains should w run to the station than at present. A Largely-signed Petition. .. :'Mr. R. W. Gilbert, secretary of the Tβ Aro Railway Improvement and Ex-tension-League, presented a petition which ho informed tho Minister contained the signatures of 7500 householders. Dr. Newman remarked that the petitioners represented at least 35,000 people, td\ of .whom desired that trains should run to Te Aro .and that a goads shed bo erected there. : Mr. A. Leigh Hunt said that the depuration represented--the To Aro Railway Improvement and Extension ■ League* ivhich had several > hundred members, She Wellington Citizens' League, four Ratepayers' Associations in the southern and eastern, districts of Wellington, and the Miramar Borough Council. The commorcial, industrial, and residential interests of Wellington .wero all represent- > ed. It had. been intended/that Mr. J. G. Wilson should represent the New Zealand Farmers'. Union, hyt ho had found himself unable to attend. Tfio deputation had come to ask that an auxiliary goods Bhed should be erected at To Aro station, tind.that soino improvement, should bo made, in-the running of passenger-trains to that station: At present, it was generally understood, the railway to. Tβ Aro was not paying for axle grease." Either the railway, should ba improved, or something, should be dono to stop the leakage which was taking place at present. A very large trade was awaiting development. There were three railway stations in different parts of Wellington, and neither singly nor collectively were they filling the wants of the-oily. They recognised chat before very long the city would be provided wfch a better station, but the improvement of Tβ Aro would give temporary and immediate relief. Since the taking over of the Manawatu line, all the ■ ports entering Wellington had been landed at one .end, and cartage charges were very heavy. These oharges were felt not only by commercial peoplp but by farmers who. eent their produce to Wellington, .''The vei-y heavy traffic along , the foreshore was causing a severe drain on the city finaitccsr-snia—thintreeta were becoming congested. \ Immediate relief would-be'given if. goods wer -takerf-to Te Aro by rail. At present tho station seemed to be run entirely in the interests ot? a'few :niillaiien; r who- had , their milk consigned there." The' passenger '.trado' amounted to very little, because, as- Dr. Newman had said, thetime-table was not suitable , . .. "■ V ' ■ - .-. , . Workers' trains, which ran- to and from Iβ Aro, one m tho morning and one in ™. evening, wore, always crowded, and GOOO season tickets were taken out for Te 'Aroi annually. , These figures ■ indicated tliat the volume of traffic was on the increase. -Oi-the 16,000 houses which Wellington contained,-no fewer than 11,000 -were ■ in the districts immediately • adjacent to and south of Te Aro. Twenty years hence'there would probably be a' population of 50,000' people on Miramar Peninsula. The city would necessarily extend to the south,- because it could not extend to the north. Evans Bay would ■no doubt in future be selected as a location tor industries now carried on in tho city proper. An extension of the line to iliramar must .como eventually. Probable Freights. _A careful estimate had been made, Mr Elmt stated, of the probable freights that would be obtained by. extending the goods traffic to To Aro. Nine-tenths til' the timber traffic of Wellington would bo unloaded at To Aro If there were sidings thero. Practically all the coal, chaff, firewood, etc., coming to the city would also be unloaded 'at Tβ Aro; The traffic from the iruit market alono would' be - very large. In addition account must be taken °l ordinary traffic, and he understood that the city authorities contemplated tho establishment of a milk depot in tho vicinity of To Aro. ' Mr. Hunt mentioned as opening up further, possibilities of tfevclopmont at Te Aro, that Mr. Marchbanks, at one tiru,e engineer to the Mauuwatu Railway Company, and now engineer, Harbour Board, had indicated that; it, might be advisable to build anJther wharf east of Taranaki Street, and pad said that the new structure could oe used as a terminus for the Lyttelton terry service, if mail trains were run through to Te Aro. The late Minister , for Railways (Mr. Myers) had infornlqd a deputation, which waited upon him in reference to the new central station, that' the officers of tho Department favoured the retention and development of Te Aro htation.- Thy did not wish, Mr. Hunt remarked, to rob the people of Thorndon of their railway facilities, but they asked that mail trains, at any Tate, should be run to Te Aro Station, and , that an auxiliary goods-shed should bo established there. A. year's trial of these alterations would show that the demands of the deputation were justified. Previous small deputations had gone so far as to say that the Te Aro railway should be pulled up,.but the. only real argument advanced j had been that it was dangerous to run trains across tho head of the Queen's '■ J The Element of Danger.' t Mr. Hemes: Have there been any accidents there? . ■ . - Mr. Hunt replied in the negative, and added that accidents had occurred at the Tliorndon end. The element of danger might be eliminated by putting the railway underground or overhead, hut at urasent tho danger was not excessive. Having mentioned that a petition, asking for the'retention of To Aro, was at 'present being largely ristned by fruit-growers iit Hawke's "Bay, Jlr. Hunt concluded !>r declaring that something would havo to lio done before Hio year was out hi remedy' the disabilities under which thr> people /if Wellington South now labourer!. The Centre of the City. The Hon. J. E. Jenkinson said that nothing tended more to the development of a city than putting its railway'station in the right place. Eminent experts agreed in stating that, the best, site for a largo passenger sfcatioii was the centre of a city. The plan which had been shown to the Minister left r.o room for doubt as lo where the. centre if 'Wellington was, and if tht Minister ndoptud tho view taken by tho most eminent authorities he would be "bound to conclude that the principal passenge.r station nf Wellington should ho at Te Ato. Mr. Jenkuiroii produced a ?lan showing the 'ground now available at e Aro. ■ " ' ' To a question by the Minister, Mr. Jonkinr.nn and T)r.'Newman replied flint tho Harbour Board would probably agreo to an exchange of land at To Aro. Mr. Jenkinson continued that the area available at To Aro was larger .'than that ooennied by ona of tho principal stations in Glasgow. At Te Aro there were 26 acres. Wav«rley station, .the largest.station in Edinburgh, covered only 23 acres. The timo was bound to come when the jailwaj; would' liavQ fca bq gxtejwled, .to

Miramar. Mr. Jenkinson supported what .Mr. Hunt had said, and elaborated some of his contentions. He endorsed a suggestion made by Mr. Myers that the question of limling a" location for the Central Station should be referral to a board representing the various local bodies. Some improvements at Te Aro would satisfy them in the meantime, )>nt eventually it would become the principal passengw* station of Wellington. Essential Improvements. Mr. J. P. Luke said that the Minister must have noted that the progressive cities in the Old Country all had their principal stations central)} , placed. The citizens of 'Wellington would not give way to any Departmental eugineeio in asking for the improvements nt To Aro which woro considered to bo essential. .Mi. Luke urged the Minister to start with a clean slate, and put forward a. progressive railway policy. Tho expansion of the city made it essential that the railway should be extended. If the Minister did not give heed to tho representations mado that morning he would seriously retard the progress of this city. ■ Mr. T. Ballinger, representing the Citizens' League, said that its members woro unanimously in favour of the improvement of To Aro railway station. Personally, he thought that the railway to Tβ : Aro should be elevated. The arches underneath could bo , used as stores. Mr. F. G. Bolton emphasised that the deputation was representative of at least three-fourths of tho people of Wellington and its eastern and southern suburbs'and' was absolutely non-paKtical. A great majority of the people of Wellington approved the demands advanced by the deputation. Mr. Bolton suggested that tho name of the station should be changed from Te Aro to Wellington South. THE MINISTER MY REPLY. A QUESTION OF Jl.s.d. The Minister thanked the deputation for tho information it had laid before him and remarked that the Government desired to pursue a progressive policy. No Minister for Railways could help being impressed by eq large a deputation and by such a as they had laid before him. Tiro questions had been touched upon. One was that of the central railway station. Mr. Luke had never said . a truer word than when he said that it was a question of ifi.s.d. Tho matter had been put before Cabinet with other items of proposed expenditure. Tho money for a number of these largo works could not be found, this year at aft events, and ho could not hold out hope that anything would be dons this year in reference to the "stationing" of Wellington. There was a restivo feeling in the country about large Expenditure in the cities when many country districts had no railway facilities at all. As to the minor Question of train- running and of the goods shed, he might say at once that he had no intention of pulling up the lino. (Applause.) He, believed that, there were potentialities in the Tβ Aro lino which ought to be fostered. He would go into the Question or train-running with his Departmental officers and see what could be done. There was no likelihood that an expensive shed would be erected at Te Aro. This, like the larger question, was one of A member of the deputation remarked that if the Manawatu Station were abolished in the near future, it should be possible to shift some of tho disused buildings to Tβ Aro at small cost. Mr. Herrics replied that it was a question whether the Manawatu Station would be' done away with in the near future, or in the distant future. It depended upon the-money, market at Home. Dr. Newman thanked the" Minister for receiving the deputation.