STOCK LOADING FACILITIES ON LINE TO ARAHURA

Greymouth Evening Star, 1 February 1950, Page 2

STOCK LOADING FACILITIES ON LINE TO ARAHURA

The inadequate stock loading facilities on the railway line between Greymouth and Arahura was again the subject of criticism at a meeting last night of the Greymouth Chamber of Commerce. There was unanimous agreement that the chamber should write to the West Coast branch of Federated Farmers to gain an idea of the potential traffic in the district and thus ascertain from that body whether improved stock loading facilities were warranted. Mr H. D. Beckett stated that an application had been made some time ago for a loading bank at Kumara, but the reply received from the Railways Department was that there was not enough traffic to warrant a loading bank. “Yet there is no means of loading cattle. The farmers have had to drive their stock down to Inchbonnie,” he said. Question Of Traffic

“If you could show the potential traffic you might make some headway,” said Mr J. H. Williams, district traffic manager of railways. Mr Beckett: There should be sufficient traffic to warrant a loading bank on the line.

Was the area lacking development because there was no stock loading bank? asked the chairman, Mr R. J. Truman. “It knocks at least £1 a head off the value of a beast as the position stands at present.” Mr Williams: It would be a pretty costly business to erect a stock loading bank. “A Raw Deal”

It was a case of either the chamber getting behind Federated Farmers, or Federated Farmers, supporting the chamber in pressing for improved facilities, said Mr Truman. The farmers had had a pretty raw deal and they had been forced to send their stock over to Christchurch, said Mr Beckett. “It is a case of stock travelling each way,” said Mr Truman. Mr Beckett: It -is more grist for the railways.