Manawatu Daily Times South Island Trunk Railway

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6992, 19 August 1929, Page 6

Manawatu Daily Times South Island Trunk Railway

A recognised land authority, whose business has taken him over all parts of the Marlborough province at fairly frequent intervals during the last fifteen or sixteen years, and who professes to have no party prejudices, is a strong advocate for the speedy completion of the South Island trunk railway in order that the country lying between North Canterbury and Blenheim may be brought into full fruition. There seems to be a grave peril, he states, of the fate of this work being determined by the squabbling between the contending parties in the House of Representatives instead of by the deliberate judgment of practical men acquainted with the districts immediately concerned. ‘‘Take for instance,” he says, ‘‘the sheep transport. It is estimated that 60,000 sheep travel annually from the MarlboroughKaikoura districts to Christchurch. That number crossed the Conway in eight month last year. These sheep are mostly ewes, and based on Addington market rates would be worth fully 30s a head. By the time they have travelled to the Christchurch market, in addition to losses on the road, their .value is little more than 20s a head. Further than this such low-conditioned ewes are likely to produce no more than two-thirds percentage of lambs which would make thirty-three per cent, of them a dead loss.” This authority estimates that the completion of the trunk railway would save the farmers of Marlborough in this respect on an average at least £30,000 to £40,000 a year. And this, it seems, by no means exhausts the long-neglected resources of the barley province. “It is practically unknown outside its own borders as a producer of cattle,” we are told, * and yet it contains some of the finest herds of Herefords in the Dominion. The completion of the railway would immediately establish a brisk beef trade between Marlborough and Addington similar to the one already existing between the .West Coast of the South Island and Canterburys great stock market. The difference between the .value of “store" cattle and “fat” cattle offered at Addington is more than one-half, and if only 2000 or 8000 "fats” were railed annually from Marlborough, whence none are sent at present, it would mean more than £lO a head to the grazier. The Marlborough farmers have no market for winter fattened stock and they will have no suitable one until the means of communication are vastly improved. .With its early limestone country, its mild winter and its wonderful capacity for growing lucerne the province is exceptionally adapted for the winter and spring production of lamb and mutton. In the absence of adequate means of transport, however, no advantage can be taken of these unique conditions. Then again, in Canterbury in winter and early spring there frequently is a great scarcity of stock feed with a resultant loss of ewes and lambs. Thousands of tons of lucerne hay could be produced in Marlborough at a cost of little more than £3 a ton, and in seasons of scarcity Canterbury farmers would pay up to £6 a ton for this fodder. These statements all are backed up by farmers in the province. Turning to other matters bearing upon the railway this authority—who, by the way, is not personally interested in the affairs of the province—touches briefly on their significance. “There are small farms in the Ward district,” he reclares, “where, with the assistance of lucerne, up to eighteen cows are being ‘dairied’ on a little over twenty acres. This class of farming could be largely increased with the southern outlet opened to the dairymen. Some of the finest limestone deposits in the Dominion are located in the .Ward district and with the railway completed lime could be taken down the coast to the salvation of a lot of country that is now deteriorating.” Between the Ure and Clarence rivers, a span of some thirty-five miles, there are properties held by ten or twelve occupants which could be cut up into a hundred holdings for closer settlement. This is the estimate of a practical farmer who has known the country intimately for over forty years. It refers, of course, to one section of the province and not to the whole area. As for the cost of the railway, that is a matter for the engineer and the politician. An experienced contractor, however, has stated that the estimate of £32,000 a mile is ludicrous. He would like to have the job between Wharanui and Oaro, a section of nearly fifty miles, at £20,000 a mile. The last twenty miles,' he says, would cost a little more, but nothing like the figure stated by the opponents of the line. This is a view of the proposed completion of the South Island Trunk Railway .which so far seems to have recei\ed scaxcely its full