Manawatu Daily Times The Railway War

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6943, 24 June 1929, Page 6

Manawatu Daily Times The Railway War

The railway war between Auckland and Christchurch continues with unabated vigour, earthquakes and cyclones notwithstanding, and the South Island Main Trunk project is having a bad time in consequence. But- it has a doughty champion in the Lyttelton Times, whoso latest effort in turning Auckland’s arguments hack on to some of the railways of tiie northern province is quite one of the most entertaining chapters in the controversy. Says the Times:—

In their efforts to prevent the completion of the South Island main trunk railway some people and papers in the north’ are indulging in somewhat dangerous generalisations. One Auckland paper quotes “a high authority,” who has stated that “even with the most intensive traffic, lines costing over £20,000 per mile cannot-' pay their way.” And it goes on to state that the South Island undertaking is estimated to cost over £30,000 per mile. We shall not guess as to the identity of the high authority, but wc have a distinct recollection of a leading economist in the Dominion stating, that if some of the lines under construction in North Auckland carried every ton of freight offering, the capital cost had been so high that there would be an annual loss of some thousands of pounds per mile.

And, try as we will, we cauno.t remember the northern people, or papers, showing even a mild interest in that aspect of the matter. The critics, of this southern project really protest too much. If all that they contend is correct, then, in the best interests of the country, the railways now being constructed in North Auckland should he at once stopped, for they are costing so much that they, too, could not pay their way. The official figures were given in the Public Works Statement last year. Under the heading, “North Auckland main trunk and branches,” there arc three sections, and one, if the amount spent is added to the amount it is estimated will be required to complete the work, will have cost the Dominion about £46,150 per mile.

The second, previously mentioned in these columns, will cost fully £BO,OOO per mile, and the third about £21,000 per mile. The average cost of these lines works out at about £45,000 per mile, so how can they ever he expected to pay their way ? Yet, unless we have slept at our post, this extravagance has not called forth any vehement protests from the north. If there had been any, we surely must have heard them. Of course, there is yet time. Among the many projects that would involve the expenditure of much public money in the north is one for the construction of a railway from Pacroa to Pokeno. This scheme is not to establish communication between points now isolated, because there is already a railway from Pacroa to Pokeno. This is merely a short cut, and it is estimated that it will cost nearly £25,000 per mile to construct. When that proposal is brought up, we may hear from our northern friends of the “high authority” who says that railways costing over £20.000 per mile cannot hope to pay. The possibility, however, is a little remote. The northerners seem to fQi*get.that f if the standards they would like to see applied to proposed works in the south had been applied to railway in their own district, there never would have been from Waihi to Tancatua, for that line cost well over £2o,ooo'per mile. The fact is that this anonymous statement is beiirijgjitised because it suits the views of the northerners when development works in this part of the Dominion are authorised. statement is considered so weighty that it shoul<b;#|jjpiij£nce national policy, then the line that will connect Tarai^aJii,-and Auckland should he stopped. In fact, if there is Undertaking now in progress in (lie North Island /Some .within the limits mentioned it must be a rarity,