HISTORY OF RAILWAY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXV, Issue 228, 25 August 1945, Page 3

HISTORY OF RAILWAY

LUNCH CLUB ADDRESS. I "The Old Manawatu Railway Com|pauy" was the subject of an informatf ivo address delivered at the weekly - meeting of the Citizens' Lunch Club s yesterday by Mr CJ. A. Mills, who > stressed the fact that liad it not been 3 for the company the Manawatu dis- - triet would not have been settled as f early as it was. 1 In 1881 Wellington businessmen, l ' acting through their Chamber of Com- ' merce, founded a company with a capi- > tal of £850,000, a remarkable achieve- - incut when it was realised that the -1 city had a population of only 30,000 -1 when the company was floated. Mr t. Mills recalled that in 1878 the railways 'extended only from Wellington to ; Masteiton and from Foxton to a point ■ near Wanganui. The route of the trunk I line to Auckland had not been decided. • The open country of the Wairarapa i had been settled, but the bush-cotfercd Manawatu had been relatively un- > known. Only around Palmerston North, Foxton and Otaki had there been much settlement. A demand arose for a rail connection with Porirua, Paekakariki and the untapped West Coast. At first Public Works Department engineers could find no better routes than over the Akatarawa, Moonshine or Haywards Saddles, but a Wellington grocer (Mr J. Wallace) demonstrated the possibilities of the Khandallah-Ngaio-Jolmsonvillc route. The Hall Government in 1879 had introduced a Commission to deal with public works. It had recommended a main line from Palmerston North via the Wairarapa and could see no benefit from a West Coast line. At first this was taken mildly in Wellington, and until letters began to appear in the Press the possibilities of private enterprise tackling, the job were not realised. Mr J. Plimmcr, a personal friend of the Premier, led the agitation at meetings called by a sub-committee of the Chamber of Commerce, and as a result a provisional directorate was formed and promises of subscriptions to a total of £50,000 were received. Wellington members of Parliament were too few in numbers to carry the Manawatu project through and so a Bill to onable jOtago Central, Christchurch, West Coast. Belgrove-jSfelspn Creek, Welling-ton-iManawatu and Rotonia branch lines to bo constructed was introduced. This meant wider support. The Bill was passed in 1881 and a contract for the Manawatu line, to be completed in six years, was signed with the Government. The line was completed on December 1, 1886—10 months ahead of schedule. Mr Mills also told of a number of the company's achievements during its period of operation. By attaining a speed of 60.3 miles an hour over a measured mile between Tokomaru and Linton the railway held the world's speed record for a 3ft 6in. gauge. Just over 50 years ago, by introducing electric lighting in its railway carriages, the company pioneered the installation of this amenity in the Southern Hemisphere. The company's line Irorn Longburn to Wellington had the highest revenue of any of the lines in New Zealand used for general traffic and when the company was wound up in 1909 it paid out £3 for every £1 share held. The introduction of dining cars in New Zealand had also been made by the company. Mr W. Lawrie, who presided, thanked the speaker.