KOPAKI RAILWAY FACILITIES

King Country Chronicle, Volume XI, Issue 1013, 3 October 1917, Page 5

KOPAKI RAILWAY FACILITIES

The Editor Sir, —The following statement will i show you how the Minister of Railways and "Our Bill," fail to give a "square deal" to the settlers of Kopaki, a small township on the Main Trunk line fourteen miles south of Te Kuiti. There are about one hundred settlers and their families on the lands served by the Kopaki flag station, and although the various settlements have been occupied within the last five or six years the Railway Department hav<i done nothing whatever ' towards providing trucking yards for stock or a goods shed for the requirements of the district. Thousands of pounds worth of Btores', groceri9S, sseds, and manures have to be dumped on the ground insufficiently covered by sheets —which are not always available —and thereby exposed to the particularly moist climate of the King Country, with the result that there is a heavy loss incurred by the settlers every year. While the settlers hsve alpo been forced to erect a temporary cattle loading yard at their own expense, the sheep ;yard provided by the Railway Department holding 60 sheep «nly—■ enough to fill one truck —and it frequently happens that when sheep or cattle are being loaded on trucks, mobs of them break away and gallop up and down the railway lino, risking the lives of passengers in passing trains. Recently several cattle were killed or injured by a passing train. If a fast travelling mail train ran into a mob of stock the result of the smaßh ' would probably derail the train and cause the loss of human lives, which does not look like capable railway management. I may state although Te Kuiti and Kopaki are only fourteen miles apart there is no road between the twn places, and "at the present time stock have to be driven about 35 miles .over awful roads. The opening of this main arterial road is a pressing necessity to enable the settlers, to drive or ride to the nearest business centre—Te Kuiti. To show you that the settlers are'progressive and hav* helped themselves to the best of their ability, within the , last two years, they have built a co-operative sale yards holding regular tsuck ; sales, and have also rated themselves heavily to borrow £IO,OOO to metal the main road from the station into the . settlement, and the Government have not provided one penny towards the cost of this work. ! There are also thousands of pounds worth of stock, wool and dairy produce railed from Kopaki annually, I and about £IO,OOO worth of goods arrive there every year, which will be largely increased in a year or two, there being thousands of acres of land as yet unimproved in the district. The requirments of the district were pointed out to the Minister of Railways by a deputation last year, the result being, "Taihoa; no money." The settlers consider they are justly entitled to some assistance from the Government. Five hundred pounds properly spent would provide resonable trucking yards and goods shed. Hoping "Our Bill" will justify his motto of "Square Deal."—l am, etc., BACKBLOCK SETTLER