CITY AND RAILWAY

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 138, 7 December 1912, Page 7

CITY AND RAILWAY

TE ARO LINE CLAIM FOR IMPROVEMENTS DEPUTATION TO MINISTER. Another deputation from the To Aro Railway League waited on the Minister for Railways (Hon. W. H. Herries) to-day and urged the claims of that part of the Wellington railway system for grpatea consideration. Dr. Newman, M.P., introduced the deputation. Mr. Leigh Hunt expressed the satisfaction of the league at the fact that certain trains were being run to Te Aro» although the trains were very poorly patronised. Thfe reason for that wa* very obvious. There had been no advertising in any way by the Department.' The Minister t That is not so. Mr Hunt seid he went to the Te Aro station that morning and asked for a. time'tabte. The stfttionma&ter told him there were no posters showing the change, and he had Been no time-tabk.. They asked that the trains should W properly advertised, and if the Department would have circulars printed the league would Bee that they were pcoperly distributed. They were anxious that the trains should be given a fair chance., Also they hoped that the delay at Lamb* ton would be cut down. As to the land to be acquired from the Harbour Board, the Department's estimate of nine acres ihdicates that the league's estimate of. the traffic likely to go to that Btation was very much too low. It indicated that the Department recognised that pro* bably half the gcxxU that came to Wellington went to Te Aro. The land to be acquired from the board *had not been earmarked for any Harbour Board, purpose whatever. ,It was a portion of the land required for the dock, and the only object the board had ih retaining, it was to lease it for business sites. The deputation hoped that tin Minister would continue in his effort* to get the* exchange of land. Ab to tlte goods shed, there was an immense amount of interest being taken In the proposal, and' there was a great unsettling in the minds of business people because of the doubt as to whether tb.6 shed would b» provided. If they believed that a goods shed would not be provided motor' wagons would bo provided, and a trail* of such wagons would soon be running along Jervois«quay, causing far more congestion than a train. lion. J. E. Jettkinson Baid what should surprise most people was thai while the Railway Department contracted to bring people into Wellington they dropped them at what were practically suburban stations. He did not believe that one out of fifty people who travel* led on the railway knew that the traihs went on to Te Aro. TREND OF THE CITY. Mr. J. Brodie said the growth of th& city had been towards the south. The petition in favour of the extension to Te j Aro had been signed by people who took a great interest in the development of Te Aro. Every householder south of the Queen's Wharf, he believed, was in favour of a goods'shed being provided at Te Aro. THE BOARD AND THE LAND. Mr. Bolton. said the Harbour Board had, apparently, only recently discovered the potentialities of the land which it was desired to exchange, and he> regard* ed it as p£rt of the organised opposition to what the league was asking for, and the deputation Asked that if the board would not 'exchange the Department should take the land compulnorily. It cost very little to reclaim, and they understood that it could be token at the bare cost of reclamation. As far as they could gather, the opposition to the scheme came from fourteen or fifteen people, who made a great deal of noise, but did not represent any big section of the people. Mr. L. M'^eiiKie pointed out that the Union Company was already contemplating using" the Te Ai'o Wharf for thodeparture of the Sydney boat— going to show that Te Aro wan regarded as the developing portion of Wellington. "BLIND AS A BAT.* The Hon. F. M. B. Ffsher said he thdught that the Railways Department had been as blind as a bat in connection, with the development of Te Aro. The district he represented was the most congested electoral district" in Wellington., and yet the Department had conceit I traiea its energies on the other end of the city and had deliberately done its best to throttle the Te Aro railway, and* to have the line abandoned. • 'Where the Department had made a mistake was that it had nerver recognised vrhere was the railway centre of the city. Front the railway point of view Thorndon was a suburb of Wellington. The heart o£ Wellington was atsthe Te Aro end. He hoped that by persistent agitation and by a perception of facts, the Minister would see that the whole policy of theDepartment in the past had been misguided, and that there would be a. revolution in the policy of the Depart* ment so far as Wellington was concerned. He did not think there was any Government that conld stop it. The centre of Wellington was at Te Aro, and the body of public opinion was behind the movemeht which the deputation represented. Mr. T. Ballinger urged that people coming to Wellington on the early morning trains should be carried on to To Aro. where many of them worked. Mr. F. Townsend declared that the opposition to the league's proposal emanated only from three people. A SYMPATHETIC REPLY The Minister, in replying, said that m • far as goods were concerned the depu. tation had the beet of the argument. The question div Wed itself into two parts. As to the passenger service, he stated that the change of timetable had b«n advertised in the Wellington, Manawatu, Watrarapa, and Hawkes Hay papers, bub the alterations had not yet been shown in the Railway Guide. The December timetable was printed early in November, and the alteration would not be printed in the January time-table, which, owing to Printing Oftice holidays, went to prcw about Hie same time as the December issue. That was a question that he was going to look into. Mr. D. Robertson, interjecting, urged that passengers should not be charged for carriage from Lambton to Te Aro. The Minister: "I tell you straight I can't do that." As to the goods traffic, he said he was cc-hvihced that the goods station would have to be at Te Aro. (Hear, hear.) He was more Convinced about the goods than about the passengers. He hud not had time to thoroughly study the passenger question, but as to goods he was sure that as long as the auction marts were in Allen'strpot they nni,»t provide for goods traffic at To Aw*. The question was ; when wcr* th&y going to provide it? Dr. Newman s Now. Tttt Minister, 1 1 can't do it now. T told the deputation when I first met them that it involved the expenditure of a very large Bum of money. I could «ot think of it during the present financial year. MONEY ALREADY ALLOCATED. All the money for additions to tmoH lmea has fceen gkcafo allocated. O.W

• was practically done during my predeces- . sor's term of office, and the question of .* fcuilding a railway station for Welling- *■ ton was put on one side. The question '. of a goods shed for Te Aro was i» part ' of the whole question of a railway station for Wellington, and must, be considered • in connection with it. As soon as the • holidays -Were over he would go into , the matter of the new station and the goods shed for Te Aro; they could not ; be separated. It was no use building ' a big goods shed at Te Aro and anothel 1 -»t the new / Wellington station. He t would get pjdtis prepared, and as soon as I possible he would bring the matter be- • fore Cabinet. It was a large question, • and to a large extent would be govl erned by the success of the Minister of • Finance in England. If they had not -' the money they could not provide the ' accommodation. On the other hand, they would also possibly have the people in the country objecting to so much , money being spent in the towns. "We t will have to face that," he said, and ' he added that he could see that large ' sums of money would have to be spent « providing for the handling of the traffic " at the termini— Wellington, Auckland, ; Christchttrch, and Invercargili. It wa3 a » Very large question, and they could not '. expect an immediate reply. As to the ' land, there was an area of 4 acres 3 roods • of land belonging >to the Railway . De- • partment at the Thorndon end, and he - had to find out what thstt land was l'e* '. quired for before going into the details of the proposed exchange with the Har* "bour Board. . «» , Dr. Newman asked the Minister if he would issue a caveat over tho Harbour - Board land that might be required, so : as to prevent it being leased practically ; for ever ; and only to be acquired by • the payment of heavy compensation. J The 'Minister said he would consult the ; Law Oificera on the subject.