A RAILWAY NEEDED.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVI, Issue 43, 19 August 1908, Page 8

A RAILWAY NEEDED.

_,THE PONGAROA DISTRICT, DEPUTATION TO THE MINISTER OF RAILWAYS. f .For some years ,'iowthe settlers at '^Pongaroa have been agitating for a irailway to their district, and rarely a .session passes that the matter is not ■brought under the notice of tbe«Gxxvern'.ment in some form or other. To-day, ■Messrs. A. W. Hogg and R. B. Ross, jM.P..'s, introduced to the -Minister of ,Railways (the Hon. W. Hall-Jones). Messrs. John M'lntyre and James M'Donald (representing the Pongaroa Railway League), and Mr. J. ,S. Mason i.(chairman of the Masterton vsChamber of Commerce) to once again^urgo the. construction of the line. Mr. Hogg pointed out that application for the construction of the line had heen made for years. The -settlersiwere ■selling out or- leasing* their lands. Ow-. ing^to the absence of road-metal, a rail-. way line was -an ahsc-lute necessity. He did not know of any other district in New Zealand which was so closely settled and yet so isolated. Mr. E. B. Ross, M.P., said that ever since he had been in this island he re- - cognised the necessity of -a railway to the back country. There was no metal in the district, and, consequently, a great difficulty in forming roads. The* necessity for a railway was, therefore, rendered doubly urgent. He was not advocating any particular place from which the line should branch off the main line. It was about time that the -settlers in the back-blocks of this island '.had a gleam of hope. The Minister had been over the country and knew the • need of a railway. It had been the 'policy of the Government to build railways where necessary, and he knew .that policy would not be departed from. Mr. M'lntyre, representing the Railway League, urged the construction of the line from Waipukurau. The settlers had gone into the back country with the determined idea of making the place their home. A dairy factory had early been established at Pongaroa, but the difficulties of transit were so great that settlers had to accept 7£d for their butter. He outlined the difficulties under which factories had been run, and said that the only thing for the settlers was . a cooperative factory. It was -to be ,-r-egretted, however, that capitalists were .now coming into evidence in connection with tiie industry. It was a fact that the district was losing its population, many of tha settlers having sold out. The small man had to go. Mr. Hall-Jones : Did they sell out at a profit? Mr. M'lntyre : Most of them sold out at a small profit, but the loss of small .Bettlers is a permanent loss. Mr. M'Donald and Mr. Mason also ( tpoke. THE MINISTER'S REPLY. The Minister said this was only one of the several deputations that had been asking for railways, and other people pleaded that they were in circumstances similar to those outlined by the deputation. The Government's difficulty was to know where to start. With the early completion of 'the Main Trunk Line, the Government would be able to consider which were the most urgently required. Six years ago estimates and trial surveys were made. A line to traverse the -country from Masterton to Pongaroa, Weber, and Dannevirke, was estimated to cost £552,750, or £6107 per mile. A lino via Pahiatua and Dannevirke was estimated to cost £450,363. He did not think, however, that any line trr-iigh the district could be constructed at a lesser cost than £7600 per mile. With the amount that would be required for •the Main Trunk line this year, it would *nofc be possible to do a great deal for new lines. He undertook _to place the matifcer before Cabinet, and promised, if possible, to get one of his engineers to make a more detailed report on the probable cost of construction. If the line was going to increase the value of large ■estates, and those estates were suitable for settlement, that aspect of the case would have to be taken into consideration.