TE ARO RAILWAY GOODS SHED WANTED

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 28, 3 February 1914, Page 3

TE ARO RAILWAY GOODS SHED WANTED

MINISTER TO BE INTERVIEWED FUTURE EXPANSION. OF THE CITY. The long-standing question of the Te Aro Railway Station cropped up for discussion at last night's meeting of the Wellington Central Chamber of Commerce. The City and Suburban Railway Improvement Committee submitted its report through Mr J. W. Brodie on the question of securing the erection of a goods shed at the Te Aro Railway Station. As the new General Manager of Railways, Mr. E. H Hiley, was making a thorough survey of the whole system of our railways, the committee suggested that the time was opportune 10 again approach the Minister of Railways. Tt was more than likely that the question of a goods shed at Te Aro Railway Station would come under the notice of the General Manager. The committee recommended that a deputation should wait upon the Alinister of Railways and bring before his notice the urgency of the question. Mr. Leigh Hunt, in seconding the recommendation of the committee, dealt at length with the whole question. The speaker recalled that when they last interviewed che Hon. Mr. Herries, the Minister told the deputation that it was practically superfluous for them to enlarge upon their case Their case was so good that it would be difficult for him as Minister for Raihvays to cope with the | traffic that would go to Te AlO if a goods shed was built there. A small shed as asked by the deputation would be no good. Nothing short of a large shed would suffice. Mr. Leigh Hunt considered that the deputation was right in drawing the conclusion from the Minister's remarks that the only difficulty in tho way of the goods shed was that of finance. The Harbour Board had been approached by the Government in connection with a certain resumption of land, but ihe board had seen fit to make an effort to retain it. The Government wished to resume some nine and a-half acres of reclaimed land at Te Aro for railway purposes, and it had power to take it at the actual cost of reclamation. This was the sore point with the board. The speaker went on to point out that a huge petition bearing 7500 signature's had been presented to the authorities, in favour of the proposal which the Chamber was urging. The position at Te Aro was getting more acute each year. Every year the traffic was increasing, and the congestion on the water-front was also becoming more and more pronounced. In his belief the Chamber had the majority of the Ministers with it. AN OPPORTUNE TIME. The Chairman (the Hon. C. M. Luke) said that the matter of properly utilising the Te Aro Railway Station had been taken up very thoroughly by the present Minister of Railways, and he had given every indication that he was impressed with the necessity for the erection of a goods shed. Mr Herries had stated that finance was the only bar. Now, however, in view of what had transpired last week on the London money market, when the New Zealand loan was rushed and over-subscribed, circumstances were changed. ,With the lain available it was tan opportune time for the Government to put this work in hand, and push forward othe* works of this character. If Wellington residents would only stand on some eminence and view where its population was located, and where the future expansion of the city must take place, they would see that a railway station on the very fringe of Thorndon would certainly not meet the needs of the city. In the speaker's opinion, in twenty years' time there would be over isU.OOO people living in Kilbirnie and on the Miramar Peninsula alone. Besides this there would be a very large population in the district of Island Bay and its surroundings. The needs of the city as regards passengers and goods would never be satisfied by a railway on the fnngo of the city. ON THE EVE. Mr. Luke thought that we were on the eve of vei-y considerable improvements in the trade and commerce of the country, and we wanted men with an optimism that would reach out in order to meet the needs of the Dominion. A deputation should await on the Minister, so that this matter of a goods shed at Te Aro would not. only be kept alive, but put in hand immediately. AN EXPLODED BOGEY. Mr. Leigh Hunt furthei; suggested that a. delegate from the Farmers' Union should make one of the deputation. At the Jast meeting of the union, at which he was present, the question of a goods shed at Te Aro was very considerably stressed. Traversing the objections entertained in some quarters to a railwa.y line passing through the centre of the city, the Chairman said that in the cities and towns both in Canada and America one found the whole , of the railway traffip passing through the main streets, with the railway station in the heart of the town. It was time that this bogey about the danger associated with trains going through the streets was exploded. It was the common practice everywhere^ and he did hope that the "bogey" would not be raised here. The motion regarding the deputation was then carried.