THE RAILWAY QUESTION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume V, Issue 735, 29 February 1884, Page 2

THE RAILWAY QUESTION.

A meeting convened by the County Chairman and the Mayor of Hawera was held at the Town Hall last evening, "for the purpose of appointing a Vigilance Committee for the Northern part of Egmont Electorate, to work in conjunction with similar bodies in Auckland, Taranaki, and the southern part of the district, in watching the interests of the Auckland-Taranaki railway." The attendance was not large, but the meeting was fairly representative. Mr. Moore Hunter (Chairman of the County) presided, and opened the proceedings with a few remarks on the object of the meeting. It would not be needful for him to say much iv introducing the business of the meeting, for all he thought were pretty well agreed that it was most important for the district that the main northern line should connect with the present line at Stratford, or somewhere about there, and through the Mokau country, joining the Auckland line at Te Awamutu. The ineetiug had therefore been called to form a committee to watch the interests of this line, and see that there was not allowed to slip any chance of bringing influence to bear in favor of the adoption of this line. So far as he was concerned he had very little doubt that the line would be taken by the West Coast route. He believed the central line was handicapped to the extent of somewhere about 70 miles, and so far as the first 40 or 50 miles from the southern end was concerned, he could not conceive of any line being rougher. He said this from personal knowledge, haviug been over the country. Possibly a line might be ruu up the valleys, but it would be difficult to get produce to it unless the produce were carried from ridge to ridge upon wires. If the line were taken by that route it would come within 40 or 50 miles of Stratford, and there would be an extra length of 50 or 60 miles to construct as compared with what there would be if the line was made from Stratford. The extra cost of making the central line would be upwards of £400,000. Mr. G. V. Bate said he had to propose the first resolution, but before doing so he referred to the ineeHng held some time ago in the Borough Chambers, when resolutions were passed asking the Auckland Chamber of Commerce to interest itself in getting the surveys pushed on, and said the agitation which had recently been successful was no doubt the outcome of the Hawera meeting. He regretted that there was not a larger attendance that evening, and he was especially disappointed that more people from the country districts were not in attendance, for if the line did not come this way, it would be the country who would mainly feel the loss. The resolution he had to propose was, " That it is desirable in the interest of this district to appoint a vigilance committee to watch the interests of the TaranakiAuckland railway, and act in concert with other communities appointed for the same object." All present would be aware that there were three lines projected : the East Coast, the Central, and the West Coast line, each of which was supported by particular interests. The East Coast line was supported by the Auckland land ring, who wanted the line taken that way to benefit their own properties. That .ring was very strong in political and monetary influence, and it would take a good deal of hard work to frustrate them. For the Central line, Wellington influence was exerfciDg itself. They had the Wellington-Mana-watu Hue, and they wanted to make that Hue pay by procuring to pass over it the traffic of the Central line, and also the West Coast trade. It seemed to him that it would be a great mistake to construct the Central line. The chairman had told them that it must be GO or -70 miles longer than the West Coast line ; but, even when it was constructed, what was the prospect of traffic to Auckland ? People living in the Manawatu certainly would uotsend anything toAuckland, which would be 150 or 200 miles away, when they had Wellington within 100 miles. In the centre of the island there could be little produce for export purposes; he believed that the only freight to be secured would be pummice. If the question were to be settled on its tnerit&, there need be no doubt as to the result, but it would be a political line if possible. The settlement would rest with the southern members, and if the Auckland land ring or the Wellington influence could scratch the southern backs sufficently, the line would not come by way of the West Coast. We inu3t see what we could do in that way if that was how the question was to be settled. He then went on to say that from what he had heard from Mr. Hursthouse and other surveyors, that the whole of the country was good average country for railway making, except about 15 miles. As he had said before there would be a political jobbery if possible, and it behoved the people of Auckland, and the West Coast to look after their interests pretty keenly. He hoped the lesolution would be carried unanimously. Mr. A. A. Fanthain seconded. He quite endorsed what the proposer had said, and felt confident that unless they were careful they would lose the line ; though, were the matter settled on its merits, there could be no doubt about the line coming this way. But the Auckland land ring were looking after their interests, and would endeavor to get the Hue through their own property. Anyoue who had lived in the Waikato for any length of time must see that the land ring could get railways through their own property when they chose. It was generally believed that the line should not have gone to Te Awamutu, but it went there. And then what was done ? A line was started from Hamilton at right angles for Morrinsville, and nearly every inch of it went through land belonging to the land ring. Then, when this line was some four miles from Hamilton another line branched off from it at right angles, and, as a matter of form, was taken to Cambridge ; but it Was merely to open up the land ring's property through which it ran. The next proceeding was to form a company to ruu a line to the Hot Springs, which also passed through the laud ring's property. He was under the impression that unless we were very careful our line — or, rather, the line that was to be made — would not be continued from Te Awamutu, but it would be endeavored to be proved that the Government could save a good deal by utilising the company's lines — making the Thames the port, and starting near the southern end of the Thames-Kotorua railway line and connecting with the line about Wanganui or Marton, This would be as short a route as Stratford-Te Awamutu, and would benefit the land ring immensely. In fact, when in Auckland recently he had heard it hinted that this would be done, and that things would be worked so that the Government would be glad to buy the company out. If those interested would look into the matter they would find that the laud ring owned about 700,000 acres of land in that part of the colony, and he had no doubt that they would use all their influence to get the line made so as to benefit themselves at the expense of the colony if possible. A line taken that way could not possibly pay the colony, but a line connecting Auckland and Taranaki must pay. Down here were required coals, which the railway would bring us from Taupiri; Auckland would also be our beat Market for general merchandise ; and there was no doubt that this district could load

almost every train for Auckland with produce of various kinds. No other route presented so many advantages as j this. The motion was carried unanimously. Mr. Yorke moved, That the following gentlemen be appointed members of the Vigilance Committee for the northern part of the Egmont electorate, with power to add to their number ; and that Mr. Hunter be chairman of such committee, and seven to form a quorum :—: — Messrsßrett, Finlayson, Morrison, King, Caplen, Davidson, Fan tham,Hunter,Bate, Livingston, Lysaght, G. McLean, Nolan, Sutton, Thomson, Godkin, Curtis, Malone, Marchant, Parsons, Young, Sutherland, Yorke, Hastie, Mitchell, Winks, Glenn, Muir, Galvin, and Breach ; Chairman of Stratford Town Board, Chairman of Normanby Town Board, Chairman of Manaia Town Board, Chairman of Opunake Town Board, Chairman of Hawera Chamber of Commerce. He excused the country settlers on the ground that that day there had been a sale, that harvesting was going on, and that few of them cared about attending evening meetings in town. They were very busy, and as there did not appear to be much to be done at the meeting they had not considered it necessary to come in. Regarding the resolution, he took it that the duties of the committee were plain and simple: to exhaust every source of information in reference to the merits of the various lines, especially our own, and set them forth clearly before the public. In Taranaki already there had been fished out from obscurity one oi' two persons who had been able to give valuable information. For instance, Mr. Donkin, an engineer, was satisfied that there were no extraordinary engineering difficulties in the way of the West Coast line — nothing to prevent its construction, unless it were influences, political or monetary, which ought to be counteracted. Having found out and set forth the merits of this line, the next duty would be to secure joint action, and he felt certain that the influence of this coast, say from Waverley to New Plymouth, coupled with the commercial influence of Auckland, would be sufficient to have the matter considered and dealt with on its merits, in spite of land rings and monetary corporations. Mr. Thomson seconded, but suggested that the committee should be instructed to report to a public meeting within two months. This would keep the committee itself up to the work. Mr. Bate mentioned that all the gentlemen who had been asked to act on the committee, except one or two, had consented. Mr. Caverhill had written to say that he objected to the agitation, becausfe engineers were now out. and the whole matter would go before Parliament. But Mr. Caverhill had misunderstood the object of the meeting. There was no desire to complain of the Government, who were doing all that was possible. The Chairman said there was also a letter from Captain Good, stating that while sympathising with the object he could not attend meetings. Mr. Max. D. King said he did not want to see this question made a political shuttle-cock. The first question was, is our own member Major Atkinson"sound on the goose ?" If he was, where is the necessity for appointing a Vigilance Committee to look after him? Were Messrs. Kelly and Trimble in favor of the line, were the Auckland members in favor of it ? If so, this action was sLnply a waste of energy. He complained of the inertness of the couutry settlers. Mr. Yorke said they were busy. They always were busy if anything had to be done, and left everything to the townspeople. As to the quality of the land on the Central route, opinion differed very much. The chairman said it was very poor, but he had heard others speak in just the reverse strain. He thought it would have been sufficient had a resolution been carried supporting the line from Taranaki to Auckland. If this committee were appointed it might be turned into a mere electioneering committee for some future occasion. The chairman was sure there was no idea of watching Major Atkinson iv the sense in which Mr. King had put it. He did not think Major Atkinson required watching, but he was sure the Major would be happy to receive any assistance that his constituents could give him. Major Atkinson was in that position that he could not very well express his particular views, and it was as well that the district should speak out. Mr. I. Bayly agreed with Mr. Yorke's idea of the duty of the committee. If the Government and the southern members could be shown that the West Coast was the best line, he had no doubt they would support it, and if that could not be shown they could not be expected to support it. He had no doubt that the Stratford line was the best. He had been over part of the proposed central line, aud knew it pretty well as far as Murimotu, and could say that the whole of the country was rough and, except a few acres, comparatively worthless. He was not aware what direction the proposed line would take after leaving Murimofcu, but he thought there was very little else but pumice. Mr. Caplen thought Mr. King had shown the necessity of a vigilance committee when he expressed doubts as the how the Taranaki members felt on the subject. Mr. King said he kuew they were in favor of it, but he simply asked to see if others knew. Mr. Caplen felt that in any case it was desirable to have this committee, for Major Atkinson, owing to his position, was compelled to look after the colony's interests rather that local interests. It was the duty of the district to collect all information for the benefit of the Government and the Southern members. Mr. Osterling doubted the utility of the committee. The matter would be settled on the engineers' reports. Mr. Yorke said the simplicity of the last speaker was refreshing, for most people knew that political or monetary " engineering" was often brought to bear as against civil engineering. The circumstances mentioned by Mr. Fantham showed that. As to Mr. King's remarks about country people, he had paid them a compliment when he said they were always busy, the more valuable perhaps because it was given grudgingly. The motion was then carried, Mr. Osterling's suggestion re striking off certain names being acted upon. Mr. Thomson moved, " That the foregoing resolutions be forwarded to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce, Taranaki Vigilance Committee, and the Patea Vigilance Committee." He spoke of the advantage of combination, and said the North Island had hitherto suffered, because it had not "taken a leaf out of the book of the south in this l'espect in time gone by. If the people of this district did not look after their interests, no other district would do it for thenj. Mr. Yorke supported the resolution, and said that if it could be shown to Southern members that this line would cost nearly half a million less than anyother by the saving in distance, it would be a strong point. In fact, if they could establish that, they could then act on the defensive, and ask any other competitor to just get over that fact before proceeding further. The Chairman also observed that the central line must run through an unsettled bush country, from which there could be no produce for 12 or 13 years, whereas the Taranaki line would at once connect Auckland with a rich, settled,

and very productive country. In the one case there could be t no traffic for' years; ,in the other, there would be a heavy traffic immediately.. The resolution was agreed to, and the usual compliment to the chair terminated the proceedings.