TAUPO RAILWAY

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 14, 17 July 1922, Page 7

TAUPO RAILWAY

COMMISSION IN WEELINGTON -

GOVERNMENT TIMBER PURCHASES

The Royal Commission appointed to, inquire into the desirableness of constructing a Government* railway between Rotorua and Taupo sat in Wellington, today to hear further evidence, the Commission having already conducted inquiry in the Taupo and Rotorua districts. The members of the Commission are:— Messrs. H. Buxton (chairman), G. T. Murray, J. D. Ritchie, H. Munro, and Captain L. M. Ellis. Sir John Findlay, ICC, appeared ff.r the Taupo Totara Timber Company, Ltd. H. P. Knutzen, mill-manager and bush manager, Government Railway Department, said that in the year 1517 he first began his work in the Taupo district bushes. For the past five years it had been his duty to find timber bushos R3 reserves for the future need of the Railway Department. He made himself familiar with the-timber bushes ;u the^ Waikato and Taupo districts. He knew1 in fact all the bushes between the Waikato River and Taup6. One of the important .bushes was Tauri-Tutukau forest. He first saw that bush ou 10th March, 1919. On 9th July, 1918. he first saw Dansey's bush. The average of timber per acre was' almost the same in the case of Taiuru-Tutakau and 300 .acres of Dansey's. -:"."- He arrived at an estimate of the bush' on Dansey's land in August, 1918. The estimates he then made were similar to those which he had furnished to the Commission. His first estimate of the timber on Dansey's land was 55 million feet; rimu 30 millions and Matai five millions. The totara was mixed with the other bush. That was log measurement. The estimate was made on 2nd August, 1918. The report was made to the Controller of Stores, Railway Department. There were two reports. One was dated 30th July, 1918, and the other was dated August. He reported as to the TauriTutukau block on 2nd May, 1919. He estimated that the quantity of timber on Tauri-Tutukau land was 340,493,000 feet. That was on 5472 acres. The estimate was of the standing timber. On the whole area he estimated that the timber amounted to, roughly, 351 jjilliou feet. He allowed for all visible defects in estimating the amount of loss on-the log measurement. He then allowed 12£ per cent, for invisible defects—that was about 27£ per cent, between the log and timber measurement. The 351 million feet was the net log measurement.before the logs were converted into timber, '.ffse usual wastage was about 25 per cent, in arriving at the sawn measurement. The 351 million feet would be the estimated amount of sawn timber in the forest. He gave the Commission as his estimate 400 million feet. The estimate of 400 million feet included timber on 1600 acres of Native land. The estimates were made in July, 1918, and early in 1919. The Piha bush near Onehunga was bought by the Government some years ago. That bush was bought from Dr. Rayner. Witness was then in the employ of Dr. Rayner. The Railway Department wanted chiefly totara and", matai. He regarded Dansey's bush as. suitable for the Railway Department on 2nd August, 1918. A TIMBER DEAL. ' ,

He did not know -whether Dansey had been seeking to sell the block for some years. He did not know that, a purchaser bought the land and forfeited ,hi» deposit. When he estimated the extent of the timber he did not know that that property was sold by Dr. Rayiier to the Crown. 'After he jot his instructions he knew that Mrs. Hoyes was the owner and that Mrs. Hoyes %vas in Dr. Rayner's employ. He knew that Dansey sold the bush in 1918 for £4350. As to bush on Dansey's knd he knew the character: of the timber at the time he valued the bush in 1918; he was of opinion that the sum of £4350 was not its adequate value. Th« Government bought the bush for :G27,50D. That1 was, he thought,: below its real value, notwithstanding the fact that he understood that about a year before it was sold for £4350. He estimated that there were about 11 million feet on the area of 300 acres. With regard to his estimates, he might say that he thought the timber in Rayner Brothers' bush amounted to about 350 million feet. He did not know when Rayner acquired the area. It would not surprise him to know that Rayner paid only £5611 for that bush. .■■■-■ Sir John Findlay: "Dr. Rayner wm asking £170,500 for bust areas for which' he had paid, within 18 months, £5611?" Witness : "On my estimates of the quantity of timber, I think the price Rayner is asking from the Government is a reasonable price." Continuing, witness said that; Mr. Seeley estimated the quantity of timber of the blocks, but, according to his evidence at Rotorua, Seeley spent only a day or so in the bush, owing to the wet weather "at the time. Sir John Findlay : "You are grossly misrepresenting Mr. Seeley, and you are practically charging him with Retting money from the Tanpo Totara Timber Company on false pretences." Witness said he only referred to Seeley's evidence at Rotorua. y Sir John Findlay : "Well, you havo misunderstood his evidence. We will leave it at that in the meantime." Witness eaid he estimated the timber at Tihoi at between 300,000 and 400,000 feet. It had been represented to the Department that tho limber on the land amounted to 1000 million feet. The cost to the Government of hi* estimates was about £260. His estimates were only approximations. In' selling timber, the Crown formerly relied on estimates; now every tree was measured. He could not say whether tho 'Crown regarded the methods adopted by witness and Seeley as sufficient for selling Crown bush land. The distance from Rotorua to the blocks in question, was about 35 miles. He admitted that tha company's line would be much shorter to Putaniru on the railway line. | MR. DALZIELL'S STATEMENT. | Frederick George Dalzicll, barrister, said he had been chairman of the Taupo Timber Company since its formation in 1900, except for two short periods when ho was in England. In order to market the Umber, the company constructed a railway from Te Pataruru on the Rotorua line to Makai. The length of the railway was 15£ miles. The amount of money expended on the railway had been £119,000. The railway had been regularly used for transportation since 1908. The company was granted an Order-in-Council under the Tramways' Act. Tho line had been running for about seventeen years, carrying timber and i meeting the settlers' requirements. The saving; in road expenditure to one county had been £1500 a year. The company had done much toward the development of the Taupo district. The company had made exhaustive investigations into the possibilities o£ the Taupo district. hTeir purpose was to investigate the same question which the Commission had been set up to investigate— that was to say, the revenue which would be available for a railway con-

1 - regarded the line as a light line. He ■. agreed with the opinion of the ex- ,; Engineer-in-Chief that, the maiii line to - serve the district -would be a line from Tauranga to Taupo, through Eotorua and Waiotapu. His company was not opposed to Vaile's proposals. Any railway to Taupo would help the company's interest. The area the company was interested in was about 50,000 acres. - 1 Ho was prepared to advise his company " to join in contributions to Vaile's line. ", Either, of the lines suggested would ■■• benefit the company's line, i COMPANY'S MAIN PURPOSE. * The main purpose of coming before the Commission was to set forth the pur- ; pose of the company's railway in so far ■ as it would serve the needs of certain timber areas which it had been suggested . would be available for traffic on the ; Taupo railway. A Parliamentary com- " mittee had recommended the extension ,of the'-coihpanys line^ to Taupo. At a V meeting of settlers in the district, the - Prime Minister said, in answer to a question, that the settlers might regard the „* line as a permanent one. A considerable amount of settlement had gone on along the company's line. That settle- . ment had proceeded on the understand- ' ing that the line would be permanent. COMPANY'S EXPENDITURE. The ' company had expended over, a - million and a-quarter in cash since it came intb'esistence. The company"had. paid the.Railway Department £150,000; the Government'received £8000, and from the settlers about £2000. THE COMPANY'S POSITION. "Witness said the company had never " made losses, but in its earlier years it k had not been able to set aside a sinking fund. "We are satisfied," continued Mr. , Dalziell, "that. we. will get..back the* iv hole of the .cash invested—together with - 6 pei cent, interest.- That is my board's desire. We wish to limit ourselves to that That is our main purpose. Our * effort has been to get the Government to determine its policy in the future, so that we may know where we are in! respect to i the railway. Our purpose is to conserve our present interests. ( We * are a'Business' company, and we want to know what policy to adopt—whether to treat this line as a temporary or as a permanent 'one. We are not asking the Government for any concessions or any help " ' •-.*■■■■■■■ NO OFFER TO GOVERNMENT. , Sir John Findlay:} "There h no,suggestion that the Government should buy the vline?" ■'"'• : ' Witness.: "No; we have never made any offer to the Government to buy the line Although we have given ■ information when asked, we have never ap- » proacliedj the Government or urged it to buy. the line. • -We have conducted our business on the principle that we must work out our own salvation." a Proceeding, witness said that if the " line was to bo a temporary line they must j I'imt the , carriage . for settlers to those thing; they could convenient? carry by I the company's* present rolling-stock; other (rise, they would have to increase * their rolling-stock.-; By the .time the timber was cut out-^-in some fifteen * years—they would not be able to get * from the present Order-in-Qouncil Tates » sum sufficient to provide for rollingstock and sinking, fund.

% (proceeding.)