NO IMMEDIATE HOPE.

Evening Post, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 11, 13 July 1909, Page 8

NO IMMEDIATE HOPE.

HUTT PARK RAILWAY. GOVERNMENT WILL NOT ACQUIRE IT. NO MOKE WORKERS' HOMES AT PRESENT. The proposal that the Government should acquire tho Hutt Park railway w.is effectively negatived by the Minister for Railways, (rion. J. A. Millar) m replying to a deputation this afternoon. The deputation, introduced by Mr. T. M. Wilford, M.P., represented the Hutt and Petone Borough Councils, the Uutt River Board, the Hutt City Council, and the local landholders, and urged the acquirement of the line by the Government on grounds which have already been fully set forth. "This has been going on for some considerable timo," said the Minister, in replying, "and up to the present the department has not seen its way clear to recommend its acquisition.'' He did not know what was in the mind of the Hon. W. Hall-Jones, when he was Minister oi Railways, when he objected to the Petone Borough Council being given the right to acquire the line; because he (Mr. Millar) r.egarded it not as a railway, but as a tramway, which ought to be conducted by the municipalities concerned. The Railway Department had no power to purchase the line out of the railway vote; it would have to come out of the Public Works Fund. It was quite true that the Government had a considerable amount of land in that district, but, as Minister o£ Labour, the experience with retard to workers' homes was not sufficient to justify him in going ahead with any mure at present. He did not intend "to Imild any more until things were somewhat, different. It was possible that the land in posscsion of the Government would be leased in small areas, go as to make them reproductive. As to the railway, he could see quite clearly that once the Government acquired it there would be a demand for a bridge acroSs the Hutt River, and perhaps an extension of the line to Lowry Bay and Day's Bay. From the railway point of view, he continued, there was nothing at present to justify the Government in going in for :vn expenditure of £7000 or £8000 for the acquisition of the line. It might be that industries were going to sbart there, and that at a later date the Government might bo justified in considering its', acquisition, but at present it took the Government all its time to build authorised railways to give people access to the markets. The district in question had a fairly good service now, and he hoped to be able to improve it, because he was goini* very fully into tho question of establishing a motor-car service on the railway lines. That service was very effective in the Old Country, and he was gettini; estimates prepared. He suggested that if the locnl bodies took over the line they could use such carriages as means of transit. They cost about £2000 each, and could be run economically; by their means tho local bodies could run, if they liked, a five minutes service, slopping at every street. Even if he was inclined to consider the .proposal of the deputation favourably, the Minister added, the Government would not look at it until the rigths of the Gear Company against the Hutt Park Railway Company had been extinguished. Later developments might justify the department in taking over the line, but he could not hold out t>ny immediate hopes of its purchase. The district was undoubtedly going ahead, but the Government must first afford facilities in places where there are none at present, before giving increased facilities where such already existed. As to the cost of putting the line into working order, his officers reported that the line would have to be practically relaid before it was brought, up to the standard. COLLEAGUES UNANIMOUS. "I have consulted my colleagues about thi.= matter," added the Minister, "and they are unanimous that the time is not opportune to discuss the question of the purchase of this line. If the Gear Company's rights were extinguished we would not entertain the proposition at the present time. The purchase would mean the expenditure of an additional £5000 before the state of the track was brought up to our satisfaction, and that amount would have to come off the amount devoted to the construction of railways for the opening up of the Dominion." SHOULD BE RUN AS A TRAMWAY. If the local authorities, he concluded, desired to acquire the line, he, for one, would consider the proposal favourably, and support it, because he thought it ought to be run by the local authorities «k a tramway. The Mayor of Petone (Mr. J. W. M'Ewan) asked if the Government would grant to the ' Hutt Valley Tramway Board facilities for acquiring the line. Tho Minister said he could not pledge the Cabinet. He had no doubt that if the local authorities took over the line and ran a motor service they would be able to make it a very payable affair. These motor cars were built to carry from 40 to 70 passengers, at a speed up to 35 miles an hour; they could be started and stopped nearly as quickly as an ordinary tramcar; they were propelled by steam; and they cost from £1600 to £2500 each. That was the solution of the problem. Personally he was prepared to support such a proposal.