TE ARO STATION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1511, 6 August 1912, Page 7

TE ARO STATION.

MOTION TO CLOSE IT, ADOPTED BY CHAMBER OP COMMERCE. Tor some weeks past a Railway League has been canvassing for signatures to a petition urging the extension of IUo To Aro railway station and tho erection there of a goods shed. The matter cropped up yesterday nt the monthly meeting of tho council of tho Chamber of Commerce. Sir. K. G. l'ilcher, in referring to anotlier matter altogether, noticed that tho namo of . tho Chamber of Commerce had been usid in connection with a recent deputation to the Minister for Railways, on the subject of tho extension of the To Aro station. Ho reminded the council that there was on the minute-book of tho council a motion that a deputation should wait upon the Minister urging that tho lino to To Aro bo closed. That motion hud never been carried into effect, and ho thought it was timely to mention it. Mr. F. W. Manton urged that the matter of this station at To Aro was one that should bo reopened by tho council, and that as a body they should interest themselves in tho proposals, ti> extend tho facilities at the Te Aro railway station, but gave those present clearly to understand that he ditf not favour the proposal. lie said that Petone and the Hutt were tho real manufacturing quarters of Wellington. If tho hydroelectric scheme came into being, why should it be taken all tho way to Miramar, when there were any amount of flat lands at Petone and the Hutt? Tho only industry at present at Miramar was tlio Wellington Gas Company, but there were any number of industries at Petone. It would be years and years before there would bo enough industries at Miramar to warrant the railway being extended to Miramar. Mr. Thos. Ballinger supported the idea of extending the station at Te Aro, and pointed out that it wak as much for the benefit of passengers as anyone else. At tho present the passengers were dropped nt ona extreme end of the city, and had to find their way to the other end of the city—the real centre of the city. . ■ Mr. E. G. Pitcher moved— "That representations be made to tho Hon. the Minister for ■ Railways, urging the closing of the To Aro rail., way line, with a view fo avoiding the" great waste of money now incurred in running useless (rains between the terminus and the Te Aro Station." The mover said that all the .whaives and streets had been laid out by the Harbour Board and City Council, in view of a centTal station being built, and deputations had been assured that the. pite for the central station:was to Ims in Bnnnv Street. It Was said/that later on Miramar would carry a population of 20,000 to 30,000. That was ridiculous. Miramar traffic, if it grew as predicted, would be by sea, and thc.Hnrbour Board-had already made preparations for-that contingency. _ A lot of tho work involved in a terminal • station hud ■ already been done—lie suppcicd that .£IOO,OOO hod already been spent in that direction, and it was too late to propose that. it should, be Changed to Te Aro. Then there Was the question of running cost—the Department knew that it was losing money on the line, and if the lalo Government hod had the courage of its opinions, the lint would have been closed long ago. It was largely a political railway, anyway, from the first. Mr. Jas. M'Lellan, in seconding tho motion, said he did not'think that the population of Newtown, warranted a railway station at Te Aro, and tlia.t il' a railway were needed there iu.future years—and it , would be future :years—it would have to come round the hills from the Manawatu line to Newtown. That would be jn the distant future, if ever. Railways tunning through a citv were always bad— .they closed the streets up for a certain time, and were an impediment to tho ordinary traffic. , , Mr. Tiros. ..Ballinger-reiterated that a goods station was needed at Te. Aro, and that later on thc'TttilKay"-wbiil<i'l[ave: to go through to Kilbirnie. It might not be in their time, but it would come. Mr. Jas. jVPLollan: But that is not the way it should go' ■ . - Mr. Ballinger: That is « detail! . - The chairman (Mr. A. E. Mabin) said that there were crimes against civilisation, and bringing a railway through a city was one of them. One member of the-Rnilway League had mentioned in a-.Saturday's I paper that it was probable thiit an overhead railway would be built in the future. Ho did not know whether the writer hnd visited America recently. If ho had he would not have dared to suggest any such thing. Streets which' had been used for overhead railways had been spoiled for business.- It would be better for Wellington to lose many things rather limn introduce overhead railways. Let it lose Grainger Street, and even the Farmers' 'Co-operative Association, rather than bo throttled with a railway round its neck. On being' put the motion was carried, Mr. Thos. Ballinger dissenting.