ROTORUA-TAUPO RAILWAY

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2503, 2 July 1915, Page 2

ROTORUA-TAUPO RAILWAY

SETTLERS OFFER TO BE RATED. A petition was presented to Parliament yesterday by Mr. W. D. S. MacDonald, M.P., from E,. E. Vailo and 224 others interested in lands that would be benefited by the construction of a railway from Rotoruato Taupo, in which it was stated that the lands, though possessing many natural advantages, could not be brought into profitable use by men of moderate capital until such time as cheap and efficient transit facilities provided. While firmly believing that a • railway from Rotonia to Taupo would from the tourist traffic alone pay at least the average rate of interest, they ■ recognised that under the existing financial circumstances it was the duty of landowners who would be benefited by public improvements to contribute to the cost of those improvements. They therefore offered to have their lands rated to the e.\tent of an average of Is.- per acre — say,' a total of £100,000—as a contribution to the cost of the proposed • railway, and to have their lauds declared a lating area for that purpose, Crown, Native and European lands all to be placed on the same footing. The rate was suggested as payable on lands to the north of Waiotapu one year after the railway was open to Waiotapu and on lands to the south of Waiotapu one year after the railway was open to Taupo.