WEST COAST RAILWAY.

Manawatu Herald, Volume I, Issue 48, 11 February 1879, Page 2

WEST COAST RAILWAY.

MEETING AT FOXIOX.

On Thin-slay evening last, a. lartre and influential meetiug was hoM ill the Fo*ioii j Public Iliill, regarding the proposed Wellington Railway. A-.nongst th.»se present w:-iv a lnro;e number of ko! tiers from Tol-on, Oaruarvon, Bu'K H-id-m, an I Osiiri, bfl--tid^'s a considerable attendants of Foxton resi.leui.?. ilr Sausou occupied the cl: iir; The phaiftrtfinj \r\ djcriinj? fHe ttieetirig; referred to the importance, of th^ q'mstion to be discussed, ar it atf ioted the present and future inten-s Bof a large district. Ihe dutyofurgiugtupircliiiiniwaßapreseiitor.fi, and if the present opportunity \wre noglected, the district would he thrown back many ypal'fl. He wan mOro eai'uest in this matter, bf.Ciiuse he felt in adrotiauug their i*laiuiß he Was depriviug no one else of their just risfhfcfl. 'l l he Upp'or District would have a line to Wellington, whether it w'anc to Foxton or not, but if it went to Palm-'r-Mfein, a large purciou of the County would be Hiiut out. The prospocla of the Bulls and itfandon Kailwuy.d would be improved by the lioe gpiiig to Foxtonjatid lie th'ough't t)»e two discnets mentionud were entitled to consideration, as they had been shut out f i'om the advantages of the public works schema. He had no .objection to the Falmerston line being called the main Hue ; all they wanted was a line. If they made the Sand on lino,(Jovernmentp'romtsed toWo^k it, and ho wa9 quite content to leave the travelling public to choosa between the two routes. People naturally would go by the shorter. The Upper District townahip3 were like tie strdng birds in a nest, and wished to rob the weaker ones of their food. First they asked for a tramway and got it ; then a railway followed ; now that other districts were to receive similar favors, they came forward to seize what belonged to others. Those who mado most noisa attracted greatest attention, and were the first to obtaisi what they needed. Palmerston had done that. He hoped the present agitation to bring the line to Foxten would be successful. The thorough union amongst the settlers was most gratifying. For five years they had been struggling for their Saudon line,and they meant to have it. They started by themselves, then Foxton united with them, and now Lower and Middle Rangitikei were also with them. They must continue to fight shoulder to shoulder, as they meant to get, not only the line from Wellington to Foxton,but also to joiu Greatford and. Foxt.on by rail. (Applause.)

Colonel Gorton of Bulls, rose to move the first resolution : — " Tho settlers of the districts of Foxton and Otaki do at this meeting eame3ily urge upon the Govornment that the proposed line of railway from Wellington to tho West Coast should connect with the present railway at Foxton, as being of enormous advantage to the Ofcaki settlers, as affording an easy access to an excellent port, and placing tho agricultural districts of Carnarvon and Sandon within a few miles of all tho country south of the Manawatu, and would, on the completion of the district railway between Carnarvon Junction and (3-reatf ord, make this line the real direct route to Wanganui arid tb.3 districts north (if it." He said it gave him very great pleasure to take pavt in the present movement, in which he considered, every inhabitant was vitally interested. He held that the Government had no intention, wlien the ifailways Construction Bill was before Parliament, of tli9 line going unywhere but to Foxton. To ask peoplo to travol 22 miles further thau absolutely necessary, was unreasonable. Yet that disranca would bo saved by the line via Foxton and Bulls instead of via Fitzhorbert. Companies were formed already to make the Sandon and Bulls lines, so that ths Government only needed to make 8 iu order to save persons travelling 22. Directly the sub-line.* Were made the Government would join thr>m, and me the shortest route for the through traffic. Seven Ministers possessed of common sonsa could not pjssibly j select the longer route. Looking at the country, tho advantage was largely i-.i favour of the south route. Going along that you saw farms and ho no.^toa-is the" whole way ; along tho other, heavy bush. (A voics — And swi?mp3. — Laughter.) Passing along agricultural couatry would ba tha bjst possible advertiseme-it to travellers. No doubt some of the land on the Pulmerston route was good, bul; in tho JTorowhenui country they could place against it 10J,0J3 acres of splendidly timbered land. This would requira an outlet, and its natural port was •j'ox^on. The Canterbury Province was quite destitute of timber, and if tha South Manawatu had a port a few miles away, at Foxton, that Province would gladly take all the timber that could be cut, as they were at presaut deriving thsir supplies from Hokitika, The foxton line would promote an interchange of goods, such as could not be by the other route. They had the grain at one end, and timber at the other. Looking at the question entirely from a colonial point of view he was convinced the Government would not be influenced iu their- decision by one township or district, but would do what was best for the whole country. Tho water carriage from Foxton presented advantages of which the Government were sura to avail themselves. Timaru and Oamaru were examples of the rapid progress that resulted from . improved shipping accommodation. Water powor was far cheaper than rail for a distance of GO r 100 miles, and i fc would ba absurd to send goods by rail to Wellington for shipment, whilst Foxton was convenient. It was only a few weeks before that he became aware of any attempt being made to take the line to lalmerstou, and he considered they were every one bound to support the line to Foxton, and through Sandon to Greatford.

The Chairman referring to Colonel Gorton's remark, as to the action of Parliament, reminded the meeting that in the Upper House the Hon. Mr Buckley attempted to have Palnurston substituted for Foxton, but wa3 unsuccessful.

Mr Gowor soconded the resolution. He had used every effort to promote the present movement, and obtain the junction for Foxtbn, because they had a good cause. They were doing no wrong to the Northern end of the district, and only bare justice to themselves. Ho was surprised, after the sneers thrown out at the Palmerston meeting over the absence of Foxton men, that not a single representative of the Upper District was present. Palmerston was entirely in the minority so far as interest was concerned. If the opinion of the wholo country, from Nev Plymouth to Otaki, were taken, the vote would be largely in favour of Foxton on general and colonial grounds ; whilst very little waa required to show that the Foxton junction would best promote the welfare and development of this county. The Lower District had been charged with button-holing and wire-pul-ling ; but Mr Knowlos' letter stating Parliament had decided the route was written on January 2, and eight days after that a second letter was written, saving the Government would havo another survey made. That was the result of Mr Halcombe's but-ton-holing in Wellington, and he was the only gentleman to whom the charge of wire-pulling could be laid. He gave Mr Halcombe credit foi his earnestness. No private efforts whatever had been mido on their side to obtain the line. They had acted

justly aiid eqaitabiy'jand were oolite oo'nten t'Or the <tov rninont find the surveyors to nettle the qmestion, but when it had beou decided aa-niust PalrnerHtoitjthe wire-pulling dirertly bfisran. The efforts of the Upp<*r District rendered combined defensive action jteceHSiiry— -to d-fortd the justice df the surtot, to defend F*iirliaTriont's decision; to defend th«ir oWn rights, aril to proiest against thp selfishness of tue Upper District. They needed the railway to Foxton to give the n aarnificent Uorowhenu* country a po't near at hand. w ! inu".e its timber could be- chipped; Sandon C >uld thcu flat a iiiarktit for its pr'odiide airtongst fche popular tion that would antMe south iif the 1 vlaiiawaMi Riv^r. aud the H'orowhonua timber would have a market amongst the settlers fit s?andon. A. few miles of Government Hue won id take the San lon flour to Horovftionui niilierri, and it was not reasonable to require two distinct industries* each dependent on the otuer, to go all rouud the I'alinerston line, for who could produce Cheap timber if they had to buy dear flour ? Canterbury wdiiM also lie liainlic »pped in the cJoulli District, if unable to litilise tho Port of Foxtail, as it could not pay to send ilia produce from Wellington per rail, or if it were daue; the cost of living would be donsidoraliiy increased. The Upper District selfishly wanted the iine becaiisd lit present they had an outlet for their timber at \Vanganui, but in the South District were mag* nificenfc forest 3 of rimu, totara, and the best New Zealand timbers, which would be heavily, handicapped .if they had to ship front Wellington, whilst producers in the South Island would bo handicapped in the Bamo way. To show the need of railways, he might s : iy a local miller had a few days ago boen compelled to refuse an order for 000,000 feet of white pine,and a gentleman had told him order's fdr 2,000,000 feet could be at once obtained in Canterbury. What use were the orders atSandon, if there were no msand of shipment ? It had been said Otaki was indifferent upon the junction question, but he knew to the contrary, for if Foxton were chosen, Otaki would have two outlets— one by wat3r, the other by rail. As to the tfiteherbert land, that had been largely overdrawn. Ho had that day computed, from the County map.the extent of land that would be openod up, and he found that from '"he common point of diver* gence to the south boundary of Fitzherberfc, there were only 30,000 aoros, which the map showed was all swamp. 11 0 did not know as to the correctness of the map, but that was what he found. Mr Linton had honored him by saying he was an authority on Bwamps,and from his experience he thought ho could give an opinion upon them. Mr Liatoii had endeavored to make out that by constructing a railway through that 30,000-acre swamp, a profit of £1-50,000 could be obtained If such was the case, ho would at once put a line through the Larkworthy swamp. Air Linton's assertion was one of a series of misstutements that hud beon made in the Upper District. It was something like the statements in leadIn" articles, of hundreds of thousands of acres being opened up at Fitzherbert by the railway. To show how far Mi 1 Linton was out in his calculations, ho might say that to drain the 7,ooQ»acre swamp owned by Messrs Larkworthy, 200 miles of drains would require to ba made ; Mr Dawson bad told him that Douglas & Co's block of 14,00a acres would require altogether about 500 miles of drains, and he concluded that the swamp Mr Liu ton talked of would require nearly 1000 miles of drains, and not a railway. Swamps would pay well if only two diai.l3 running 1 parallel a few apart would carry oft' tho water, but he reckoned £5 was wanted to drain the land .before he could store tha grass. Mr Linton said the Upper District was handicapped! Yet it had a railway running through the centre of it ! He would like any amount of that kind of handicapping. If they travelled to Sandou, where the settlers Wore about to rate thein-:elves to get the railway, they would see what handicapping meant. What position would the Upper District hold, he asked, without its railway? A very poor one. Yet they were trying to prevent Sandon having one, for tho \Vellinsjboa line to Foxton -woutd givo a great impulse to the Sandon railway. Even w ; th the lino, tho Mayor of Palmewton had to drag in some Very questionable houses to get the requisito number to be proclaimed a Borough. Ifc had been said Foxton would be hurt by having threo lines of ra Iway, instead of one. Out upon such stufl ! No instance was on record of that having been done, and he was willing to be ruimed at once if 3 liues of railway would do it. (Prolonged applause.)

The Chairman said he could not agree with Mr Gower, that Mr Haleombe was right in tho action he was taking to gain the junction for the Upper District ; for if it went there, it would do them no good, and tho Lower District great harm. 5*011.6 months ago, when the Hon. Robert Campbell addressed them, regarding tho Sandon railway, Mr Haleombe had said to him (Mr sjimson), "I am glad to see you will now have your line, and it must becomo the the main lino, but that cannot take ours away." Now, ho found Mr Haleombe leading tho opposition, and he cculd not reconcile his statements tohiinsclf with his subsequent action.

Mr Thynno said when down in Otaki recently, ho had brought, the matter under the notice of the leading residents, and had a Icltor from the Horowhonua representative expressing his sympathy with the object of the meeting. Although upon political questions there had recently boon differences of opinion, ho was pleased to notic; the present unanimity of action, and would tJo Ilia best, as u Foxton man, to gain the line for this district. That day ho had gone i>ito the question of acreage, and found that from the point of divergence up to the south boundary of Fitzheibert, there were only 28,000 acres altogether, whilst the Fitzhervert block itself only contained 15,00D acres nearly ali sold. Ho Lad heard there xraa some fine land over the ranges, but that could not bo counted. Palnieraton had only now been seizsd with a f.-antia desire to do Fitzherbert justice. The Highways Board had never spent a penny in that block. Much of the Fitzherbert block was known by him, as ho.had lived a week in the district, and the land in the clearing, or township* was of the poorest cold clay. Mr Engel, who lived there, told him he had to plough three times boforo the seed would grow. The timber trade with Foxton and the Upper District for shipment had fallen away, becauso the demand for home consumption at Wauganui was greater than the supply. Tho millers had raised the price 28 per hundred, and he had a circular dated February 1, informing him of a further rise of Is. Whilst they could com* mand that price for Wanganui, they would not be likely to eend the timber away further to a market. The question of rail versus water carriage could not be considered as between Palmerstou and Wanganui. No one wouli be so foolish as to send to Foxton for shipment to Wanga^ui. Horo* whfinua needed connection with Foxton as an outlet lor its timber. The acreages given by him were correct, unless they included the tops of the hills. An expedition was about to Ptart from Palmerston, but ho was prepared to accept the decision of two of tho Government's ablest f ugmeere, in preference to that of Messrs flalcombo, Snel?on, and Dalrytnple. ,

Mr ttaiiah theu baefly aduretsaed the meeting. _^ '1 he resolution wua put and carrird. wL Mr Gtawer moved the follow'ng resolu! ionT^k "'I hat in the opinion of this meeting it is exceedingly dWi-üble that the woikof forming tho Weiliu/cou luie ahuula be co.u.neneed at the u^rihom end, a»s there Woiil I he, after a few miles of formation had beeu nude, a la/ge »sxfeut of 1 ind opened up, wh oh Would speedily return a revenue to the line, wherc>ui Waiiuum until the line was formed turou^uouc a leugth of lime. woull elupue, auJ a large expenditure would ba incurred, wiiidh the; coumry through which it would p:is», oould not produce a suiHcieiit, truific to make the paine return." He referred t:> the vast timber iesouruod of the country to be tapuod $ uud represented that wucu a coin.iieuoomaut was one made, either tt lA>xiju or at t'almerjtou further agitation would be at An end. itlr Davis seconded tue resolution, waioh was carried.

Upon the motion of Mr Fagttn, of Bulls, seconded by Mr Gray, it was resolved to forward (he resolution!), accompanied by a report of the proceedings, to the Minister for Publio Works.

Tiie customary rotes of thanks concluded the meeting before fciie closa of vrliicii over £10 \tj.3 collected to pay incidental expenses.