THE NORTHERN RAILWAY

Northland Age, Volume 25, Issue 26, 15 October 1925, Page 7

THE NORTHERN RAILWAY

A PRESSING NEED.

: The greatest handicap to the development and closer settlement »f the North is the lack of railway communication with Auckland and the rest of the North Island railway system. The farmers of the North are denied the benefits of these southern markets. In other countries the governments recognise the need for railways 1 to serve natural markets and have ' built them. It has been suggested that the North should push for a concrete highway instead of a railway but when the cost has been considered and the fact that concrete roads would be little use for shifting stock, the idea has not been found practical A line fremOkaihauto Awanui would link up a rich producing district with natural markets. Here are some savings already evident with rail oniv to Okaihau. Rail from Auckland to Okaihau : Produce including potatoes, bran, oats, pollard, etc., at 1611 per ton. Manures, lime, ete., at lower rates. At present it costs £5-5-6 to bring a ton of chaff by rail and boat I fromOnehunga to Victoria Valley j whereas by direct rail connection j front Onehunga chaff could be ; landed in the Valley at 24/- per ton. Part of the saving is accou- 1 nted for by the fact that the ship- ! ping companies count 20 bags to ton whereas by rail the chaff is i weighed which means in most j cases that 26 bags go the ton. j The distance front Okaihau to : Kaitaia is 46 milts and the rail- » way freight front Auckland to Okaihau is 16/11 per ton, the | extra cost to bring goods on to j Kaitaia being approximately 4/- : a ton. Cartage on concrete roads j could not be done for this. With 1 the railway wool could be landed j at the Auckland stores from Viet- j oria Valleyforll-perbale. This too, would save the cartage to Awanui and all the handling. The same thing applies to other I produce and live stock, The: district is at a great disadvantage owing to distance from the railway, It takes a week to drive lambs to Moerewa freezing works; with the railway at Kaitaia they could be trucked here in the morning and be at the works in the afternoon. Are these benefits worth fighting for. LINE WILL PAY Those who think the line will not pay from Okaihau to Awanui are asked to consider these figures: Area of land in Mangonui and part Hokianga counties affected | bv railway. Approx. 1,200 square miles, j „ 170,000 acres in grass j and cultivation, j „ 1,000 holdings, „ 70,000 sheep, v 50,000 cattle, 6,000 pigs, „ ‘ 4,000 horses. „Tl. 130,000 headoflivestock. • „ Value £1,750,000 for land.; „ £350,000 for stock, j ;, £2,100,000 Total. Exports: — Butter £250,000 % Meat and cattle £IOOOOO Wool and muttpn £150,000 Timber, hides, etc., £IOO,OOO Approx, total . £600,000 • Population directly affected about „ ’ 6,000 . Rates: Road and hospital, and licenses, £2l,ooo—pet head j 1 £3-10-0. Amount of export values, per head, £IOO. • Amount Of road existing, per head * 10 chains. Do these figures convince. If they do not see the figures publ-1 ished by the member for the dis- ; trict last January which also provide a striking argument for the extension of the line irom Okai- ; hau northwards. Here is shown * 0 large area of country capable 1 of intense production which must benefit by the construction of a railway. According to the data given the natural resources alone i xvotfld make the railway a profitable undertaking. It now rem- - ains to be seen what will be done * in future; whether these great resources will be given greater chance of development or continue as at present. While the returns published are an unanswerable proof of the need for railway construction, it is also a » tremendous indiement of past * governments fer their neglect of the North. It isalmost incredible that any government could neglect such a rich part of its territory # for so long. A phase of railway building that is often ignored is the return secured by the community from the running of a railway which does net show as railway revenue. Whenmentionismade of railways not paying this factor is overlooked. Yet with State owned railways it is all important. If a

railway line belonging to the community loses say £5,000 a year in direct working, but is the means of saving the community £IO,OOO a year, it cannot be considered a losing proposition. The fact that the community has to guarantee the money to build the railway supports the contenton that the loss on nen-paying . ailways should he borne by the consolidated revenue. But judging by the returns referred to the extension of the line to Kaitliamust prove a paying proposiion. Summsd up, briefly, a railway rom Okaihau to Awanui would 1 mefit the country in between >y making markets more accessible, bringing about greater deveopm«nt and population, enabling armers to get necessary manures nd fertilisers and last, but not east, saving tens of thousands f pounds in road making and naintenance. One would say that the man vho would do anything to delay he construction of this line would eserve scant consideration from he people of the North. And et we have to face the tact that vlr. Allen Bell shortly after his lection to Parliament, and des>ite the fact that he was pledged 0 urge the construction ot the ailway, sent a wire to the Miniser of Public Works asking that urther arrangements in connecton with the construction of the ue northwards from Okaihau ease pending his, Mr. Bell’s conret« road development scheme, he work stopped. Mr. Bell has aid cessation of work was ineviable, but if this was so why did .e consider it necessary to wire lie Minister urging its cessation, le would have served his electoite better by fighting for the ontinuation of the line as well as ighting for roads. ROADS BEFORE RAILS Under the above heading the Auckland “Star” of April, 1923, sports Mr. Allen Bell, M.P., for day of Islands, as being opposed o any further expenditure on the ailwaynorthwardsfrom Okaihau T« is said to have met large gatlerings of settlers te support him m jettisoning an obsolete railway oolicy' His alternative is to .pend the money thus saved in uilding good roads in the northrn Counties. He has wired the Minister of Public works to defer iiaking further arrangements regarding railway construction >Jorth of Okaihau until his (Mi. Jell’s) campaign in this movement s completed.

Mr. Allen bell is an apostle of The Good Roads Movement” ind is admittedly a good advoate of the cause but in this parteular case we think his enthusi sm is running away with his judgement. The onlv way we ire likely to get main roads suffiiently good to carry very heavy notor traffic is by the Main Higlways Scheme. The northern ounties are as yet thinly settled, nd contain too many areas of ion-rate producing lands, to bear he cost necessary to build such oads as would be required. Motr traffic tears ordinary roads to >ieces, only concrete, bitumen, or ome such roads will bear the train, £54,000 was borrowed in langonui County to build many niles of roads? which were to be ar sealed. Probably even the ength of metal contemplated will iot be put down, without the tar sealing. And we question very inch whether this length would .tand heavy motor traffic. It has to be remembered that he line has been surveyed from Dkaihau onward, and that a certtin amount of construction has been done down hill towards the Valley. Personally, we ee but little prospect ot the ailway, at New Zealand rate of :onstruction, reaching Kaitaia nside twenty years. But if the railway once reached Mangamuka it would tap a very trge district. At the Tio the areater part of the Hokianga vould be touched. At Manganuka the Fern Flat road would ead a large extent of country | to the rail head, whilst the Mangnuka Road would tap most of -he best of Mangonui County. Mroadwood and all the stretch of fine country adjacent would ind Mangamuka railhead the natural outlet. By all means let is have ths railway to Mangavnj lka, and that as speedly as possible. And even if motor carriage oe what is claimed tor it the railway would save the big pull irom the Waihou Valley up to Okaihau. We believe Mr. Bell has made i a big tactical error in starting this tampaipn. The Public Works 1 will possibly seize on it as a pre-

text to cease railway construction beyond Okaihau, and we shall probably be left in the lurch — our last state worse than our first. And is Mr. Bell unsophisticated enough to believe forons moment that the Department will give him or roads the amount which has been; or would be, allocated for j the completion of the railway to I Mangamuka. If so, verily, he | idth faith beyond all things. Well we have been left in the arch, and settlers may thank Mr. dell chiefly. BELL’S BLUNDER Here is what the Northern News of May, 1923 says: “The Member for the Bay of Islands may congratulate himself oil the almost instantaneous success of the first half of his ‘Stop ihe Railway and Build Good Roads’ policy. The railway from Dkaihau has been duly stopped, and the men are to be removed ) Omana, there to expediate the bashing of the Main Trunk line a Dargaville—the Minister of Public Works having a truer idea of the value and importance of lilways than Mr. Bell, who, in iris zeal for good roads, has been guilty in his latest movement of •vhat Napoleon charactered as, worse than a crime, a blander.” Mr. Bell has always been an irdent —though up to the present iot particularly successful—ebambion of a better roading system or the North, and in any effort ■a that direction lie ought to have lie active sympathy and help of ill who have the interests of the North at heart. Were there a fair probability of getting the 1 nounr likely to be spent on railway construction diverted to oad making there would be a pod deal t® say for the “Back to re Roads” policy. But to even tope to get railway grants diver'd to this purpose will be beyond yen Mr. Bell’s abounding optimsm when hi has a little more xperience of Parliamentary life .nd the marvellous working ot the official mind. Under ths ipell ot Mr. Bell’s oratory, settlers, tick of the slow progress of the tilways Northwards, and eager :o grasp at any chance of securng better roads, may lend a ready ear to a superficially attractive proposal of this nature. But Mr. Bell is sadly mistaken if he thinks he has his constituency behind him in his new policy. The North has clamoured teo long and waited too long for the line now crawling northwards at the rate of less than a mile a year, to chick even that slow progress. We want more roads and better roads; but this is not the way to get them. The railway has been topped, but not a pound extra will in consequence be added to .canty road grants now being grudgingly doled out by the Pub--lic Works Department. The -canty measure of justice done to lie North of late years as the result long and weary agitation will be largely undone. For two generations the natural wealth of the North —its timber, ts gum —was drained largely to swell Southern prosperity; the North was regarded as a country 0 be exploited and then largely ihandoned, like a deserted goldfield, and meanwhile to have as nttle spent on it as possible. To* ong the North sat supinely under ■ hat treatment, and now when the ;reat potential value ot the North is beginning to be realised, and -something like fair treatment is being accorded in the matter of railway communication there comes this check. Mr. Bell is doubtless actuated by the best of motives —it is a deplorable fact that halt the mischief in the world s done by people with the best oossible intentions. The pushing n with the railway to the Far North was one of the prominent flanks in Mr. Bell’s lengthy election platform. The sooner he reinstates it and turns his energy, in the direction of fighting for Peth good roads and good railways the less he will have to answer for when he next woos the electors.

Mr. Bell is wooing the electors today, and though .the public memory is notoriously short, he can hardly expect that this betrayal is forgotten. THE HUMOUR OF ALLEN. Mr. A. P. Blundell, Horeke, expressed his opinion on the “Stop the Railway” policy thusly: I have been reading the criticisms that have appeared in the local Northern papers over what ■ ley style Allen Bell’s blunder. It did not come to me as a surprise in any shape or form. He is always against the Government, it matters not which Government, as he states in his addresses he has no use for any party except 0 he up against it. Why it is only a year or two back when he had some scheme on at Kaitaia ts bring over an Australian railway contractor to link up the line ■etween Okaihau and Kaitaia. I forget the name of the contractor,

but it was certainly in print. During his late tour round the district he had to find something to talk about, and his new scheme to Stop the Railway and get the money tor roads took on in some cases. But he knows, or should know, with every person who is | not quite devoid of intellect, that such a proposition is impossible. Tile money loaned fur railways must be spent on railways,'and he or the Minister in charge could not divert that money; and if he stops it being spent on the Northern line it will give some other line the benefit. Then he proposes motor traffic in preference to railway traffic. Surely he is only joking. While the war was on and the big railway strike occurred at home, motor services were put on everywhere to meet the people's wants, and it was proved conclusively then that where the distance was over 40 miles the motor service was unproductive, and run at a loss on a 60-mile radius, and then it was only merchandise carried. Stock were never in it;

If by any chance the Government did stop the railway it does not follow that we should get an annual grant for roading purposes equal to the railway grant. Where I do blame Mr. Bell is in this: when goisg round the district he was the guest of the Hokianga County Council for the express purpose of giving him a knowledge of our road requirements, and a knowledge of the county by personal observation, and at most of the meetings of the settlers he addressed them on his new scheme. It was not an electioneering tour, and in no case was his scheme put to the vote to give him the assurance that he took on himself when he wired the Minister of Railways to stop all further expenditure as a new feeling had come over the north as a whole. That was misleading. A new feeling had come over him; and he will have a lot more new feelings before the session closes. Motor services is a very nice proposition but it must be put before us as an economic proposition. When we can inaugurate a motor service to compete with the rail we will support him; but these are facts. I have travelled by both in these distances and I will see if the average man can afford the luxury of motor travel: £ s. d. Rail Okaihau to W hangaiei... 0 15 0 Motor Okaihau to Whangarei...4 10 0 Rail Okaikau to Auckland .1 50 Motor Okaihau to Auckland ... 6 10 0 The rail charges are not quite correct as the present price by the Public Works train from Okaihau to Kaikohe is only a minimum charge, but they are quite near enough for comparison. The motor time to Whangarei was ahead of the train, but for the through journey the train and motor were about the same. Now to show how inconsistent his arguments are: The only thing I see he has done since he has been in the House is to ask the Minister of Railways to put a fish truck on the Northern train. W liy did he not get a motor lorry? It would go from Opua to Whangarei and back for about £ls, where a railway truck would cost £l/10/-. Again farmers shifting stock from Okaihau to the Freezing Works get them railed for 5/- a head —I believe lifting 200 and 300 at a lift. Motor service to the Freezing Works would be about £2 a head and lift, say four at a time. The huge prices we are getting for beef would warrant tiie motor service in preference to the rails, wouldn’t it Allen ? I am only surprised yeti never thought about an aeroplane service. You could get to Auckland for about £lB by aeroplane and get stock to the Freezing Works at a loss of about £5 a head. Try it; it would take on. .All farmers are like that, they would sooner give £7/10/- to motor to Auckland than £l/5/- by train. As far as their stock is concerned they wouldn’t hesitate a moment in paying £3 to the Freezing Works instead of 5/-. We’re all like that —I don’t think !

I should not be a bit surprised to see in next week’s Auckland papers a telegram to the Minister of Public Works to this effect; “Stop all railway construction in the North, also all raotsr traffic; changed feeling entirely in the North; adopting aeroplane services and damn economic issues. —Signed and stamped at Kaitaia.” (Nortneiii News) At his Kaitaia meeting on Monday night last Mr. Bell made a further attempt to wriggle away from the fact that he advocated cessation of work on the railway and clouded the subject with a lot of verbiage. But the fact remains that he did send a wire to the Minister asking him to def>r further work an. ilia : also remains that work was dete-

rred. Electors should remember this on polling day and ask themselves whether he is to be trusted in the future. We have no doubt that Mr. Bell, with his customary disregard for tiie truth, will characterise the } above remarks of the Auckland Star, the Northern News and j Northland Age as “false in their ; entirety” and “utterly irresponsible and untrue,” but although Mr. Bell wifi say this (lie will say i almost anything when cornered; t he cannot prove that charges : contained in the above articles are unirue. In his heart he knows them to be only too true.