TAUPO RAILWAY

Hokitika Guardian, 2 October 1929, Page 5

TAUPO RAILWAY

ENQUIRY CONTINUED. / FURTHER EVIDENCE, j (By Telegraph—Per press Association.) WELLINGTON, October 2. At the Taupe railway inquiry to-day*. Dolamore (First Assistant of the State Service at Rotorua) said the only State i Forest land in the area served by the line was situated on the eastern side and consisted of 217,347 acres, 153,000 of which had been planted to date. There were about eighty million teet 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 there . were about 113 million feet within reasonable access. If the lino were, constructed it was very unlikely it would tap timber in U rawer a country which would probably go out by another route. Very little of the available timber, except thinnings, 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. Private afforestation would not yield matured timber in sufficient quantities for milling in thirty or. J forty, years.

To Mr Kyle—With the maturing of 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 im- 5 practicable. A bush tramway or railway would be preferable to a road, but he would not advocate the construction of a standard railway. ToMrVaile—There was a very limited market indeed at present for thinnings from the State Forest at Kaingafoa.

To Mr Lye: He did r.ot think that the Rotorua-Taupo line was justifiedat present from the point of view of getting timber out. There was an ample source of timber supply from' the area near Rotorua, which was al-; ready served by rail. ' • .. i Mr J. R. .Campbell, sheep-farmer, of Havelock North, said he i; had' twelve - years’ experience breaking in pumice country. -Speaking as the manager of; the Matarawa Land Company, he said: 25 settlers had been established on 3,-* 500 acres. The settlers were working' under the supervision of the Com- - pany’s management. The farmers’ area was 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 £2O per acre, and the productive capacity was sufficient to enable the settler to live comfortably and keep his farm in proper pitch by top-dressing. The ■ big job was to get the land into a. proper condition to carry permanent pastures, and the initial work meant a heavy outlay.. The settlement of pu- ! mice lands could only be carried out by settlers of experience, with the pioneering instinct well developed, and working under competent supervision. The total cost to fully farm in the Company's area was approximately £25 an acre.

To Mr Kyle: He expressed the view that private enterprise could succeed best on pumice land. He was of the opinion that from an economic point of view there was no more suitable country available for settlement, but hard work was required. He did not think the bulk of the Rotorua-Taupo land would be suitable for settlement under State supervision. With the exception of a few picked areas around to Karoa, the land was not of the same quality ns the Company’s land. He did not think a Government land settlement scheme, involving five millions sterling, would be much use unless the railway was first of all constructed to open up the area. In the course of his replies to questions, he said to attempt to develop the land without a railway would be impossible. New Zealand could carry twice the present population by subdivision of existing farm lands before there was a real need to try to settle the Roto-rua-Taupo area.