ABANDONED LINE

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 81, 2 October 1929, Page 12

ABANDONED LINE

ROTORUA-TAUPO

REPARTMENTAL VIEY^S

TO-DAY'S EVIDENCE

Further evidence from the departmental viewpoint bearing on the plea of-Edward E. Yaile and others for the resumption of work on the abandoned Rotorua-Taupo railway was heard today'by; the M to Z Committee- of the House;of Representatives. -Norman James Dolamore, forest assistant of the State Forest Service at Rotorua, said that the only Stato forest land in the area served by the line was situated on the eastern side, and consisted of 217,347 acres, 153,000 acres of .which had been planted. There were about 80 million feet of timber on Native lands on the eastern side, and though there were considerable areas to the west the greater part would not be readily accessible from the proposed route; The Department estimated: that there were about 113 million feet within reasonable access. If the. line were constructed, it was very unlikely that, it would tap the timber in;the Urewe'ra Country,- which would probably go out by another route. Very little.of the available timber, with the exception of thinning, would be ready for milling within ten years, and he did not think the construction of the line was justified for the carriage of timber alone. The private afforestation, areas would not yield matured tini-. bcr: in sufficient quantities for milling for 30 or 40 years. BUSH LINE TO SERVE FORESTS. To Mr. H. S. S. Kyte: "With the manuring of the timber in the State forests, he considered a railway would probably be necessary to get it out; a road, to carry the whole of the timber would, be. impracticable. A bush tramway or railway would be preferable to abroad, but he would not advocate the construction of a standard Tailway." Questioned by. Mr. Vaile, witness said there was a very limited market indeed at present for thinnings from the State forest at Kaingaroa. ' To Mr. Lye: He did not think the Eotorua-Taupo line was justified at present from the point of view of getting timber'out; there was an ample source of timber, supply from tho area nearer Eotorua, which was already served by rail. : PIONEEE TYPE REQUIRED. James B. Campbell, sheep-farmer, of Haveloek North, said he had had twelve years' experience in breaking in pumice country near Putaruru. Speaking as manager of the Matarawa Land Company, witness said that twenty-five settlers had been established on 3500 acres, the settlers working under the supervision of the company's management, the farms being of an area of up to 150 acres each. The men were only put on the land; after development. The cost of the land, developed for settlement,, was estimated at from £.15 to £20 per acre, and its productive capacity was sufficient to enable tho settler to live comfortably and keep his farm up : to proper pitch by top-dressing. The big job was to get the land into a condition to carry permanent pastures, and the initial work meant a heavy outlay. Settlement on pumice lands could only he carried out successfully by settlers of .experience with the pioneering instinct well developed, working under competent supervision. The total cost to fully develop farms in tho company's area was approximately £23 an acre. ••.'■■..■

: .Questioned by Mr. Kyle, witness expressed the view that private enterprise could succeed test on the pumice lands. He. was of opinion that, from an economic point of view, there was no more suitable undeveloped country available for settlement, but hard work -was required; He did not think the bulk of the Botorua-Taupo land would be suitable for settlement under State super- ' vision. With the exception of a fewpicked areas around Tokaroa, the land ■was not of the same quality as the , company's land. He did not think a Government land settlement scheme involving £5,000,000 would be of much use unless a railway was first of all constructed to open up tho area. In reply to Mr. B. Semple, witness said that if men were put on undevel-oped-land in the Botorua-Taupo area and paid wages, say for five years, in developing it, the Government finding all finance, they could eventually be givon long leaseholds and be left to carry on under the supervision of thoroughly practical farmers, the productive return from the land being used to offset the cost of development. To attempt to develop the land without a railway r. would be impossible. To Mr, J. W. Massey, witness said he thought the best proposition for the Government was to settle men on'country that was already developed and producing. New Zealand could carry _ twice its present population by subdivision of existing /farm lands before there was real need to try to settle the Botorua-Taupo area. NOT FOR THE 'UNEMPLOYED. .Mr. /F. liye: "Do you consider as a practical farmer that the Botorua-Taupo line, could be broken in and developed by, the average unemployed man?" Witness: "I am afraid it would be a pretty hopeless job. You would require to' i-.ave them under very close super- . vision." • ," Are you of the opinion that in any scheme of settlement it would pay the Government handsomely to consider the subdivision of land in the rich dairying districts before it undertook the settlement of the poor pumice areas?''— ../'Yes." - . Witness said that any settlement scheme in the Kotorua-Taupo district ivould have to be carried out on a very large scale, and only after full investigation by experts. To, the- Chairman. (Colonel T. W. M'Donald): He did not consider it was necessary to experiment on a limited area ; of the land before settling it; he had had sufficient experience to know that no. experiment was accessary. It would not be economically sound to cut up the land and put men on it. Examined by Mr. Vaile, Mr. Campbell said the original price paid by the company for its land was from £3 to £5 per acre. The object of the company was to develop the land, and then to sell it. Mr. Vaile's land was some of theibest in the pumice country. AOKrcULTURAIi OFFICER'S VIEW. Alfred H. Cockayne, Assistant Direc-tor-General of Agriculture, said the country was moderately well-watered for large holdings, but extremely badly , watered for csnall holdings. He had inspected an area of about 2500 acres, two-thirds of which appeared to be comparatively easily ploughable, but a great deal of it could not be made use of became it did -not seem possible, to ttivide it into small settlements of' ISO acres which would be well watered. For many years the pumice lands had been more or less boomed as being admirably suited to close settlement, but it was a most significant fact that pioneer efforts had led to very small results, except so far as afforestation wa,s concerned. In that respect the Botorua-Taupo country had attracted much more private capital than it_ had for farm development. Tl*e whole . trouble in developing pumice country had been well pointed out by Mr. Campbell, who had saia it was no good half-doing the job. A full interest return on any capital invested in' developing the pumice lands could aot

possibly be expected for many many years. Sooner or later no doubt tho pumice lands would have to be settled but the expense of their settlement would be greater than the return, particularly in the earlier years, and he was inclined to think the nation would have to pay the cost. At present there waa no real indication that large areas could be settled on a strictly economic basis, but from a national standpoint it might be well worth while. Pumice country was uneconomic if there was only to be low production from it. It varied considerably in quality, and the total area that could be developed, even at % considerable los-i, would be nothing like as mych as a good many people imagined; certainly it would not amount to the millions of acres that had been loosely spoken of. "I would not mind," he said, "having a go at breaking in the pumice land if I were not a Government officer. The Government has to pay full wages for all work done, and I doubt if any waste lands in New Zealand which have been brought into , production have paid wages to the pioneers who have worked them for many years." If in a Government settlement scheme one could secure pioneering determination, it could be made a success.