FUTURE EXPANSION

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 1, 1 July 1922, Page 11

FUTURE EXPANSION

WELLINGTON'S DEVELOPMENT RIMUTAKA DEVIATION

(By Coleman Phillips.)"

Absence in Australia for the past titre« montlis has prevented -my seeing • what has been going on re thk important matter. Two things require comment: (1) Mr. Mitchell's, M.P., view'of the scarcity of population on the Wairarapa Lake side to impress i(» requirements on the Government'; and (2) the electrification of the whole'section, -Wellington to Wairongamai or Lakeside Station. As to the first, Ivam glad it is now generally admitted that .Lakeside Station will be within three-quarters of art hour's distance from the city,' about the urns as the Upper Hutt. It has' taken much. writing from my pen, .for many years past, to impress this great fact upon the city. That being'admitted, what of Mr. Mitchell's view regarding",population? I beg to submit to that gentleman:' (1) That there are two sides to the Orongorouga dividing range, "viz., the Wairarapa side and the.Wellington side'; (2) that there is a great and growing population on the Wellington «Jde clamantly demanding level building ground for workers' homes;, (3) that there"are a. thousand men on the wharf wanting decent homes; (4) that Wellington is already getting so congested that there is no room for a Governor's residence, or even a large factory, without displacing scores of humble tenants; (5) that Miramar and the Hutt Valley level lands are all now occupied; (6) that fair-sized building sections must be found for the increasing number of Wellington' workers and residents; (7) that the- vast stretch of beautiful, level building ground at the Wairarapa> Lakeside is within three-quarters of an hour of the city, and the whole population demands that it be mads available for thenl. ELECTBIO LINES. - An to the second pointr—the electrification of the section—l carefully watched during this past month' the working oC the electric lines and stations in''and aroufld Melbourne, and I aidvisethe Hon. Mr. Coatos" to do nothing whatever regarding this deviation until that aspect of the matter is fully considered; nob to listen to any bluster from Masterton, but to request his engineers to consider fully the working of any Rimutaka deviation from the sole electric standpoint

I stood, again and again, and watched the great river of humanity, between 8.30 and ©.30 a.m., and 4.30 and 5.30 p.m., pour in and out of Melbourne, and said to myself: "This will soon happen in Wellington." I watched the. quickneea and despatch' the.electric trains coped with this great traffic, and said to myself: "If Melbourne can. do this on Crown, coal, • surely we can do it oa hydro-electricity." And these trains run for miles out of Melbourne, supplying admirable building sites everywhere for its population; so much so that I did not see a. slum anywhere in that great city. My contention, therefore, is that to avoid creating any further slums in Wellington, the Rinvutaka line must be deviated by the Orongoronga tunnels, and the v6st stretch of level land, round the lake made available for city workers' dwellings. I call upon the citizens of Wellington, to take up now thig great want, and to insist upon the Government ftvjiag no attention to the mere straightening o£ the line from the Upper Hott to Woodside, by means of the old coach road, thereby cutting out Featherston (tha most important inland traffic station of the Dominion), as that only, means, a continuation of the old- crawling policy over barren hills, not affording a single acre of building site* for the want* of the city. I call upon Mr..Mitchell-himself, if he thinks, as a representative of the city, tli at the citizens will not make the deviation themselves privately (as the Manawatu line was made), then, that all demand an immediate electric, train connection with the Wairarapa Lake by me.ins of the Orongoronga tunnels. Andi I would point out that the hill' ii .already being • tunnel-pierced by Mr. Semple to add to the water supply of the city.

I want no more barren crawling over the hills to' the Wairarapa. Neither is that -policy in Masterton's interests. I say that the wants of the Lower Wairarpaa Valley are higher and more important than any Masterton wants, and I beg the Hon. Mr. Coates to consider them in tho beat interests of the Dominion. Featherston must not be sidetracked. .Wellington's" growing population, and its educational facilities, require level,land somewhere, and I say that theae^iwo great factors must govern the alteration of this railway, not Masterton's erroneous views at all. THE THINKERS. Which reminds me of a lato incident I should like to mention to the thousand or two wharf workers, in order to indue* them to take a different .view, of other men, and the, good we all can do. I was standing at the fore-hatoh combing of the Paloona last week looking down.- at the men unloading passengers' luggage, but saying nothing, when one of them (»' perfect stranger to me) gave me as much "talk" (to put it mildly) as one man could possibly give another. He took me to be" a follower of the present Government (which I am), and crowed,over the late Labour success at the poll in North Dunedin, his mates not correcting him in the' slightest. And thore I stood, just a thinker; not a capitalist, not" a Eabdufitft . I put this therefore to the •■wharfmen:- Where do th« thinkers" coni<T in? For there are many such now in New Zealand, a<> the Government taxation is mopping up most of the wealth! of tho Dominion, which cannot be avoided. All I ask wharfmen is just to let in the thinkers as one great section of the community, and not scowl at us as hostile to them or belonging to the vanishing class of capitalists. I expect,- too, as a thinker, I do as much work as. any Labourite. This article is to show that steam railways in Melbourne or Wellington would! only moan new congestion and alums in either city; but electric lines mean wide building sp\ces and comfort and happiness for all the workers—it" has taken me just two hours to write. Will th* Wellington wharfmen put their own value upon it, and place that value to the credit of the thinkers of the Dominion. who wish all classes of New Zealand people to prosper and bo contented, seeing that we> are but the one people? Therefore, I will conclude with these linos: • ■ -- -- "Though mm a thinking being was defined, Few use that grand - prerogative of mind. How few think justly' of the iiinking few ; How many never think, uho, think they do.

Roses woro formerly the "symbol" of iilonoo, hence the L»tin phraso "subrosa, ' meaning "under the rcse" and bo "in oonfidenoo. , Breeding rabbits for their fur is becoming a profitable English cottage industry.