PUTARURU TO TAUPO

Matamata Record, Volume III, Issue 200, 11 November 1920, Page 1

PUTARURU TO TAUPO

Messrs. 1-1. J. 11. Blow, F. W. Fur- : kotl, 11. Buxton, find G. 11. M. Me- |; Chirp,’ as the Commission appointed to inquire into the question of I ; whether the railway and timber rights of the Taupo Totara Timber Company should be acquired by the Crown, or what action, If any, should be taken relative thereto, are at present, making their investigations. It hold a . sitting at Itotorua on Tuesday of last week, at which Mr. Hampson appeared on behalf ol the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce, County Council, and other public bodies. He asked that, a representative, other than a barrister and solicitor, be allowed to go round with the Commission to watch the interests of Rotorua. His request was granted, and Mr. E. E. Vailc was the representative chosen. Mr H. A. Goudic (Forestry Department) stated that from the GovcrniiiHt plantations between Rotorua ana Taupo bv 1030 they would be cutting 12,000,6()0ft. of timber per annum, and this would increase to , 31,000,000 ft. in 1040. This yield \ would go on for ever. , ! Mr. Hampson asked if the Commission had authority to hear evidence in respect to the relative merits of the Taupo Totara Timber Company’s line or a railway. The chairman replied that under the order of reference it would only be. a waste of time tp take evidence in regard to rival routes. Mr. Vailc. asked that a map or plan, showing the windings of the company’s tramway, be produced, and a statement of the elevation of and titles! (to the present track. The Putaruru end of the line'lie understood, was on Crown land, and the other end on leasehold, which expired in two 'years. The purchase of the company’s line would prevent the adoption of the better route. i , Mr. Vailc said that _ what they wanted was the best line for the country as a whole. The first line to be built would kill the other. Mr. R. D. Dansey said an extension of the company’s tramway would serve the timber supplies of the Taupo ..district. The line should not be stand'ardised, but should be maintained as a tram wav for timber alone. Mr. R. H. Hill, of Atiamuri, farmer,' advocated the Government taking over the company’s line. He consid--1 cred the price asked was fair. It would serve great timber supplies and an estimated area of 384,000 acres of dairying land in five years. THE PUTARURU SITTINGS. The Commission held its Putaruru •sittings on Thursday in the Putaruru Hall. A large number of people were present, including Messrs. F. C. Barnett and W. Carr Rollctt (the local county councillors), F. Shannon (the County Engineer), Dalziell (chairman of the company), Mr. 11. M. Skcet (Commissioner of Crown Lands for Auckland Land District), Mr. H. W. Bullock (president of the Putaruru branch of the Farmers’ Union), and Mr. C. G. Alcorn (acting-chairman of the Putaruru District Development Board). The first evidence was a written statement presented by the secretary of the Board (Mr. G. P. Portas), giving instances of what .was being done <»ii farms adjacent to the line, and inviting the Commission to make a tour of the Putaruru district to verify these instances. Special reference was made to Mr. R. J. Wilson’s farm, adjoining the company’s line at Puta- ( ruru, it being pointed out that_ here Mr. Wilson was carrying and wintering the equivalent of 100 head of cattle on 100 acres of country which, in its original state, was typical o{ the many thousands of acres of undeveloped open country along the line. -..The Commission agreed..tojnakc the ..'■‘our that attcvnmPn In answer to questions by Mr. Blow (as president of the Commission), Mr. Portas said the settlers along the line used this railway to a great extent, it being practically the only means of transporting their goods, especially manure, and other produce. _ The freight charges, however, were high, it costing-as much to rail a ton of stud from Putaruru to Tokoroa, 14 miles, along the company’s line, as to rail it from Auckland to Putaruru, 138 miles. The passenger fares were not unreasonably high. He thought the railway would be permanent, even iL the company’s supply of timber were cut out in T 5 years’ time or so, as pressure would be brought to bear on the Government to make it permanent for the sake of the settlers concerned. > However, in the meantime the settlers would still have to pay the high freight rates, unless the Government acquired the line, whereas cheap freight rates would be a great help in, further settling and developing the land. The president asked, could not the settlers take over the line and thus cheapen the freight themselves, and Mr. Portas replied that that was a question for the settlers themselves to answer. , , , Mr. Barnes said he had been a settler in the Putaruru district for the past thirty seven years. The district was making splendid progress, and the local results from dairying, cattle-raising, etc., were disproving its poor reputation as a farming district. As to farming pumice country, his experience ol this land, sometimes called pumice land, was that on it being worked any pumice in it became a chocolate-col-oured substance, which, in his opinion, would ultimately make good earth. Except for rough, unploughablc ground, which could be. used for treeplanting, the country along the line for its full length, the 48 miles from Putaruru to Mokai, was suitable for farming. Only about 15 per cent would be unploughablc, it being wonderful what steep country settlers could plough with light horses and a single-furrow plough after they became used to the land here. In answer to questions, Mr. Barnett . said the land along the line grew good clover and cocksfoot

A STATE RAILWAY DESIRE OF SETTLERS EVIDENCE BEFORE COMMISSION

grasses for pasture, it becoming more and more fertile with working. Manure was essential, about 3 cwt. per acre every third year. This quantity, in his experience, paid best, though less was used. The pasture obtained was good, and a lot of it was used for dairying', from which good results were got. The land would also carry ■sheep, though, as elsewhere, the sheep had to he changed every now and again. The land being very cheap in the first place, it was poor people who had taken it up, but most were now prosperous farmers. The president stated that lie would not call the land in this district pumice country. Land he luul seen here the previous day was good, rich ground. In reply to further questions, Mr. Barnett said the cost of establishing the country in good pasture was £6 or £7 per acre, against which £4 10s per acre could bo set as the value of the crop of turnips grown the first year in the process. At present the price of the unimproved land was £3 10s to : £0 per acre, and it took two years to bring it into pasture, when it sold for about £ls to £2O per acre. In reply to Mr. Dalziell, Mr. Barnett said he had had some experience of the bush land at. Mokai, and had found it very good land indeed. In reply to Mr. Valle, Mr. Barnett said he could not say whether the settlers concerned would eagerly accept a chance of buying the line, or price ■if the Government took it over.

Evidence was given by Mr. Bullock that he had-a farm of 2800 acres at Lichfield, six miles from Putaruru, and on the company’s line. The grass : there the Commission u'ould see on its tour. On 102 acres of turnips on his farm last year he had wintered head of cattle for 41 to-five months, and then had had to purchase 102 head more to finish the crop. It was then three weeks with a total of 247 head of cattle on it before the crop was all consumed.' The president asked him whether his being only six miles from the Government line ati Putaruru did not make the company’s line useless to him, it being reckoned that a Government railway served the area within 14 miles of it. Mr. Bullock: Not necessarily; if the freight rates on the company’s line were cheaper 1 would use that line a great deal more, but at present 1 have had to pay as much as £1 per ton to rail goods’ from Putaruru to my place. This was for benzine. The transferring of the goods from the Government trucks to the companys’ trucks at Putaruru makes the rates high. If the Government trucks, including trucks for livestock, were run on the line, this cost of transferring would be obviated. Moreover, lie added, the company could not take all the freight offering. He gave an instance. i . The president said it was estimated that £900,000 would be required to bring the line up to the, Government standard Was Mr. Bullock of tlio opinion that this amount should bo spent there, whether the line would pay afterwards or not? Mr. Bullock (emphatically): Acs, regarding the lino as a national asset and a development line. Th<* president said that to Kopokarahi, about 19 miles from Putai'uru, very little alteration, according to the advice of experts, would be noccssaiy. to permit Government rolling stock to use this 19 miles of Imp, but beyond that the railway was very tortuous. Would it suit if the. Government took it over for that distance? Mr. Bullock: Not for the district as a whole, including Taupo. In reply to further questions, Mr. Bullock admitted that that would suit the Lichfield and Tokoroa settlors and to some degree benefit those bc-

The Commission then adjouiTierH-m--thc afternoon, during which it made the promised tour, being shown Mi. R. J. Wilson’s farm, Mr. Bullocks, Mr. Alexander’s, flic Salvation Army training farm lor boys, etc. In the evening the sitting was eonVAST AREAS TO BE DEVELOPED. Mr. Dalziell said he wished to deny that the purpose of the Commission was to help the company, which was very strong financially, and which, wjtii the timber industry as thriving a 4 it was, had very good prospects ol getting from its timber business the equivalent of the money put into it, plus the interest on its capital, etc. since its inception. Of course, that bad not always been the case, and in the first case, if Hie company had thought that in getting an Onior-in-Council for a railway license instead of a tramway license, it could not ultimately relinquish the railway license, it would ccitainly had taken the tramway license. In fairness to the settlers it did not now —or at any future date—wish to be put in the position of having to relinquish the Order-in-Counc.il. After studying the subject in every way, the company had conic, to the conclusion that it would not pay to standardise the line in accordance with the Government railway standards. The company’s idea was lor. a local board to control the line, the board to be comprised mostly of Government officials, as most of the land, and timber concerned was, owned by the Crown and natives. Some of the members should _ be elected by the settlers. That idea had met with the approval of Sir Francis Bell, Minister for Forestry, and the Hon. A. T. Ngata, M.P. for the Eastern Maori electorate. Parliament had agreed that the settlers between Putaruru and the Waikato River should be left out of the board’s rating area, as the settlers had enough financial obligation in bringing in their land, which work was a great experiment in proving the value of the. land along the line from the point of view of cultivation. The Board should get all its revenue from

the Crown 1 and. native interests, the money to form a sinßing fund to pay the company for the line. What the company wished the Commission to do was to decide whether this line would be necessary to the settlement of-the country through which it ran, as, if they decided that, it should then : be the duty of the Government to make some permanent provision for the serving of the country by this. line/ The president said his own opinion was that the line should be made a permanent one; but could not the company 61 some other body maintain traffic on it permanently ? Mr,\Dalziell: That is a matter for the company to consider ver£ carefully. The question of the disposal of the'Crown and native timber is inextricably involved. Another point is that the company has no interest in the lands along the line, and would get no benefit from the devlonment thereof resulting from the line. However, the Government was in a different position in, this regard. At the rate at which the company was cutting at present, its timber would not be all cut out for 30 or 40 years. This-would mean that timber traffic would be maintained on the line tor that period, but under these circumstances it would be impossible to -reduce the freights, to the settlers. It would not pay the company-to nsk putting all its timber on to the market in a short time, as that would have an unstcadying effect on the • market. , *'•_, „,.,,, In replv to Mr. Alcorn, Mr. DalzielM stated that the company held a yearly lease of the first five miles of the line, from Putaruru to Lichfield, the Government being the owners of this length. , , , r „ . In reply to Mr. Bullock, Mr. Dal : ziell said his company did not con'sider it had any right to a royalty on v ' anyone-else's timber adjoining us line. However, it thought it only fair that for timber traffic on its line for such persons the freight rates should j be increased in proportion to the increases since the beginning of the war in the Government railway rates. Mr. W. Carr Rollett, the pioneer of Tokoroa, said the essence of success in bringing into cultivation land such as that in this district, which in its natural state was unproductive, was cheapness of transport. One shilling per mile per ton, the average freight charged by the Taupo Timber Company, was not cheap. » " Have you formed any opinion as to the settlers acquiring the line?" asked the president. " I have, sir," replied Mr. Rollett, " and I think it out of the question. The settlers are not wealthy, and all their money is requjred to develop their land. I have advocated the Government taking over the line only as far as Kopokarahi, as beyond that the line is very serpentine. To Kopokarahi tfie line serves a district five times the size of the Matamata district." Mr. Rollett added that he had worked out the cost per acre of putting land at Tokoroa into turnips. It worked out as follows::—Ploughing, £1; three discings, 12s; twice harrowing, 6s; ■. "drilling, 4s; seed, 6s; manure, 2cwt., £1 4s; total, £3 12. The cost per awe of putting the land into grass after the ..turnips were fed off - was as follows:—Discing, twice, 8s; harrowing, ZS; broadcasting seed, 3s; s,ced, ' £1 15s; total, £2 Bs. Thus the total cost of putting the land into grass was £6 per acre, and the crop of turnips was.easily worth this amount. He had sold his land at -Tokoroa for £lB per acre after improving it> and there were thousands of acres there " of unimproved land similar to that of his in its original state. The railway was essential to the development of I'tjus country. Mr;" Skeet,' as ..Commissioner- of Crown Lands for Auckland Land District, said the land at the further end • of the line was lighter than that near Putaruru., r ' He would not call the land here pumice land; it was light land with a little pumice. Towards Mokai it was lighter with more pumice. He produced a large plan showing the Puta-ruru-Taupo district in detail, with the 'tenure of each block marked for the first 16 miles from Putaruru. He #aid the land was being farmed. Beyond that settlement was very sparse. Oncron there had been subdivided, and a road from Atiamuri.into it was to be formed.. Under cross-examination, Mr. Skeet said there..was; not. a great deal, of Crown land on the railway, but there was a fairly large area of Crown lan'l nearer Taupo which wuuld be benefited by an extension of the line to Taupo, There was a great deai of native land shown on the map, and this, Mr.''Skeet said, iff reply to the president, would also be benefited by the extension of the line, but it was , hard to induce a native to pay for ' any such advantages. He promised to supply the Commission witn a return of the. areas of the timber affected by the line, and its proposed cxten.- , sion to Taupo. He would not deny that on the Tongariro Timber Company's property adjoining Lake Taupo there was 3,000,000,000 feet of timber, which, however, would travel by this company's proposed railway much rather than being rafted across Lake Taupo to an extension of the T.T.T. tramway. If there was a railway from Taupo to Rotorua, as well as t one from Taupo to Putaruru, any • timber rafted across the lake would by ••the railway on which the freight was cheaper. In the 'event of the_T.T.T. line extension reaching the lake many years before a line from Rotorua, the former would catch any timber trade there offering in the meantime.' . NECESSARY TO CROWN LANDS. Asked the lands along the route of the. proposed extension of the line; be setteled if the extension was •not made, Mr. Skeet said the development;'of this light country needed . finance and cheap transit (for fertilisers). In regard to finance, the Government proposed to enact legislation, .giving it power to finance settlers to deyeldp this land, the Government making them a gift of it after they had resided on it for seven years, and fulfilled certain conditions. In regard to the. second factor, transit, a railway r was certainly an advantage. The Crowhi should acquire as'much of the land suitable for settlement as it could obtain at a reasonable price, and also, it' should hold for itself as a national asset as ihuch timber land as possible. - He preferred that the Forestry Department should answer as to whether the State should undertake j sawmilling on the timber lands affected by the lincV Much of the land along the line was national endowment, and settlement of it had been deferred pending the recent legislation permitting national endowment;land to be made freehold land. About 30 per cent of the country served by the line would be unfit for settlement, being too broken. On the timber land and on the land which. .grew higji manuka, surface, sowing .'V - . ir.i:•>■•. ;. ■' ■ • ■ ■"-.■'■ 'i' ■...■■ ■'■• ■'.- . . i.

I was successful. In reply to Mr. i Vnilu. Mr. Skcct said lie thought £3 ; 15s nor ton freight on manure from | Auckland to this country would be too much. In" reply to the Commission, he said the bush lands at Mokai grew i good grass. A-. permanent railway to Taupo should not run via Mokai, but along the Waikato River, where an easy grade could be got for practically the full length. However, as a temporary measure, the extension to Taupo of the company's tramway should be valuable. The question whether the Government should make a permanent line to Taupo to benefit the Taupo settlers was purely a question of the cost of the railway. A SETTLER'S PLEA. As a settler of Lichfield, a great part of whose land was served by the ' T.T.T. line, Mr. D. D. Sneddon gave evidence that all the manure, etc., for the south end of his property had been, brought over the line, and nc~complaincd of the »high freight, #tesx, The country here, he said, warnvntedthe Government: taking over the line as a national asset, giving the settlers here only what other setttlers lfad had in other parts of the country .when breaking in their land. In reply to the president, he said that the taking over of any portion of the line should be an advantage. On his own farm he had patches of pumice shingle, which grew good tur-. nips and good clover. He would be quite prepared to farm the lightest land in this district, and was quite confident he could farm it successfully. From a national standpoint, 'the'Government should acquire the line. . , This concluded the Putaruru sitting. PROGRESS AT TOKOROA. On Fridav morning, the Commission left Putaruru at 8.15 o'clock by 1 special train for Tokoroa. Here they were met by a large gathering of the settlers, on behalf of whom Mr. J. West extended a welcome to the Commission, and expressed the settlers' desire for the Government acquisition of the line. The members of the Commission were then taken on a motor tour of inspection of part of the district, after which they were entertained at a sumptuous luncheon in the Tokoroa Hall, provided by the good wives of Tokoroa. After luncheon, Mr. H. Geddes presented a written statement as follows, as the written evidence from the settlers: — "This country was first settled some six years ago, the settlement comprising 23 residents*- The number has now increased to 100. That the district is already a'farming centre, well'worthy of' cultivation, and warrants the services of a Government railway line may be clearly seen from, the that the area here underi grass and cultivation is 0000 acres, carrying 1300 head of dry cattle, 2300 head of*sheep, 424 dairy cows in milk, and supplying the local cheese factory, and 250 cows yet to come 'into milk; daily" weight of milk received at the factory, 10,000 pounds; daily amount of cheese manufactured, HOOlbs.; average test, 3.8. Last season the factory won the grading competition in cheese . for the whole of the Auckland province, with cheese of an average grade of 91.74. The settlers would especially draw attention to the stock from other districts "wintered here, namely, 1250 head of cattle, including 1000 fullgrown cattle. These were wintered from May to September on a total of 300 acres of swedes. Also 2000 sheep were wintered here- from. May to. October on soft turnips, the seed for which was locally grown. At the sale of local township sections, held recently, the average price per acre obtained was £152, and the majority of these sections wei'c purchased by business men of neighbouring towns. " Further, the pig industry here has given highly satisfactory results; pigs fed on entirely locally produced feed having realised the highest prices at | public auction. Also, owing to the j perfection which white clover reaches there, the district is unsurpassed for bee-farming." FREIGHTS GREATLY INCREASED ""When settlement here commenced in earnest, about 1914, the railway service and rates were, acceptable to the settlers, largely 'because most of the people presumed that the service would improve and the rates be reduced as the business developed. This expectation has not been fulfilled, arid it appears that as the company's timber business has prospered the demands made on the service by the timber traffic has / necessitated a restricted service to the settlers, with increased rates to them. In 1917,the freight on manure from Putaruru to Tokoroa was Is Gd per ton. By October Ist, 1920, it had been increased to 8s 8d; to-day it is 13s fid. In 1917 the freight on cream was Is per can; to-day as much as 8s per can is charged. Also the company will: not carry coal unless it is bagged. Over 2000 fat sheep and 150 fat cattle were sent away from here last year, for which, as well as incoming stock, th-u'e were no stock trucks, and this, too, in a country very useful for wintering stock from elsewhere." \ < In the afternoon the remaining portion of the district was inspected by fie Commission. They were taken to [v. Geddes's farm, from which a fine panorama of the district can be got. They- went thence to the Matarawa Lanil Company's property, over the cultivated portion of which they were conducted by the manager, Mr. J. Campbell, who pointed out to them the paddocks, the dairy herds, the sheep and the pigs, all in good condition. The Commission then boarded the train again, on route to Wairakei, where they spent the night. STOCK INSPECTOR'S OPINION. On' Saturday the Commission vis- ■ ited Mokai, the end of the company's railway, and thecentre for its timbercutting work, and held a sitting in the locsd schoolroom. ■ Mr. R. Al eXfl Ader, s,tock- Inspector for the Waikato,-said the PutaruruTaupo district had been part of his district until lately. <Also, prior to his becoming stock inspector, he had been engaged breaking in Lichfield land, etc., for the Thames Valley Land Company. Thus he had known the country for 35 years very intimately from a farming point of view. Excepting the bush country, the land along the line became poorer the further it was from Putaruru. In reply to the president he said the country from Putaruru to Kopokarahi grew good turnips and clover, such as the Commission had seen at Putaruru. The average width of this strip of 20 miles of land to Kopokarahi was ten miles or so. Past Kopokarahi the land was much more broken, and his opinion of it was not .too good. In fact, he did not think it would respond to manure as well as the land at Tokoroa, though there was no doubt that with manure it would grow grass. The land at Tokoroa was flatter, and thus held the. manure better. The pumice in the land from Kopokarahi to Mokai varied in quantity,

size and colour. In his opinion the country round Putaruru and up to Kopokarahi was more suitable for dairying than any other class of farming. At Putaruru the average. carrying capacity of the pasture land was about one cow to three acres. Tokoroa and Kopokarahi were wonderful clover-growing districts for a start, but it would be a long time before they were sufficiently cultivated to carry-one cow to two acres. About half of the land along the lines between Kopokarahi and the Waikato river was ploughable, and thus able to be cultivated. The remainder of this land could be used for tree-plant-ing as it would grow good trees, judging from plantations he had planted at Lichfield 35 years ago. He agreed that it would cost about £(i per acre to bring land like that_ at Lichfield and Tolorxi into pasti'ic. The land along -the T.T.T. line was healthv country for cattle. While there they were not affected particularly ' bv aW sickness, but the portion of the ? rtiiinfc jaat Lichfield was not suit- - sheep, which did not thrive hefe. At Lichfield, 34 years ago, he got better crops of turnips than any he saw to-day. It seemed that the older the country the less capable of growing heavy' crops it became. More successful crops of turnips could be ji'ot from the Tokoroa country, which was new country, than in other parts • of the Waikato. Tn reply to Mr. Dalziell, Mr. Alexander admitted that much steeper land was being- ploughed to-day than in years ago, but, he added, level country was the best country for development. It was wonderful what could be done even in cultivating pumice flats with the use of manure. The bush land was good land for growing grass. The country on both sides of Mokai, including the blocks at the back of Taiipo, was covered mostly by heavy fern, except where there was bush. Tn reply to Mr. Vaile, Mr. Alexander said that the pasture on the lands in these parts improved from year to year provided it was given proper attention and stocked properly. The land between Rotorua and Taupo was better than that between Tokoroa and Taupo. In reply to Mr. Furkett, Mr. Alexander intimated that he certainly thought the T.T.T. line was an advantage and assistance in the working of the land at Lichfield and Tokoroa. William Moon, settler, of Mokai, said that in many years' experience in farming, including experience at' Waitara, Matamata, etc., he had found no better land for growing root crops. Potatoes grew there without manure. He- had 1600 acres, which he was Breaking in. He was carrying about 100 head of cattle there at present. There were very large areas of timber-bearing land adjoining, in blocks of 10,000 acres, and 20,000 acres, etc. The company owned some of this, the natives some, the Crown some, and he some. This timber would be tapped by the extension to Taupo of the T.T.T. line. He was offering his bush land with some open land to the Government, and had

advised the natives to accept 30s per acre from the Government for theirs. C. E. Clark, manager of the T.T.T. mills at Mokai for the past nine years, said the average output of the mills was about 20,000 feet per day. One train could take about 30,000 ft. The train journey from Mokai to Putaruru took from 7.30 a.in. to 12.30 p.m. In the afternoon the Commission visited the bush, where they witnessed the work of tree-felling and hauling the logs to the tramway. Members expressed a high opinion of the size of the logs, the quality of the timber, and the up-to-date methods used in hauling the logs to the tramline, and loading them on to the trucks. '