THE New Zealand Herald AND DALLY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 1911 RAILWAY PROBLEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14767, 24 August 1911, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DALLY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, AUGUST 24, 1911 RAILWAY PROBLEMS.

The North Island most . urgently needs a number of railways, any one of which will repay in due course the cost of its construction. But it is quite' impossible for the Government to construct all these lines immediately, and exceedingly difficult to persuade the Government to take any interest in the construction from the Auckland end of a railway vhich will some day be scheduled fiinong the great ,s trunk" lines of the Dominion. We refer to the East Ccast Bail way, which will open up a large area of good land, foster a greater amount; of settlement, serve a greater population and be more handsomely profitable than any line in the Dominion excepting the North Island Main Trunk itself, which will have a very strong-rival in the great eastern line. Upon this most necessary and most promising work not a spadefull of earth has been ted at the Auckland end —a stat« of affairs which demon-

strates how limited are the funds of the Government in comparison with the demands made upon them and how little Auckland can expect reasonable consideration for its legitimate claims. That the East Coast Eailway is only being constructed in distant and favoured electorates is a pitiable confession on the part of the Government of the straits to which it is reduced in its attempt to compromise between its duty of developing the country and its craving to retain office. If national, commercial and industrial interests were dominant over" the crudely and unblushingly partisan, the East Coast Railway would have been completed long ago, or at any rate would now be going through from Waihi as from other advantageous points.. It will be interesting to observe what the Government proposes to do in this matter, but it cannot be hoped that the Government will do all that it should. If we turn to other promising projects, outside the few which have already managed to obtain administrative sanction—such as the Main Trunk North of Auckland and the OngarueStratford; or excepting those on whose behalf peculiar influence can be exerted—such as the NapierGisborne; what possible hope have they of obtaining Departmental consideration and Administrative approval? They are simply hopeless for a longer or shorter period. It would be imbecility, for example, to anticipate that under existing conditions a railway can reach Taupo for years; and these conditions make the . Taupo-Totara Company's proposal extremely advantageous to the public and particularly desirable for both the province and the Dominion.

In giving his reasons for approving the "Taupo proposal, the Mayor of Auckland says that while he " recognises quite well the force of the objection to privately-owned railways he would rather have a pri-vately-owned line with proper safeguards to the public, and enjoy it in his lifetime than have tho pleasure of merely contemplating' his grandchildren riding on the Government line." We may add that there is nothing whatever to prevent the present generation or any future generation from converting' the proposed Taupo line into a Government line, an option being contained in the suggested Order-in-Council. A private line already exists from Putaruru to Mokai, and the Company asks nothing more nor less than permission to extend this to Taupo, and to' be permitted to acquire from J___ii_;e> owners 200,000 acr.es-^pfi-lsaidA.

conditionally upon its "being■ sub- - divided and opened for settlement upon the terms set forth in the Native Land Act. A " profit" will be made on the land, of course, out it will be a " profit" created by trieaccess ensured by the railway, and will not be a charge summarily imposed without equally valuable consideration. As long as the public is safeguarded against future imposition in the matter of rates and freights—a matter which has been carefully considered by the people of Taupo, whose hearty approval of the scheme has not caused them to overlook the necessity for obtaining satisfactory provision as to freight chargesthe country can only gain by the adoption of the scheme. If the project is carried to a successful' completion, as we sincerely trust it will be, an immense area of country will be opened up and a most salubrious and attractive pleasure ground will be made accessible—at no cost to the State and with full advantage to the public. It will be remembered that when the Waihi Company asked permission to develop Hora Hora Falls as a source of electrical power it was denied them, although there was not the slightest prospect of immediate national development, and the Waihi Company offered an option of purchase upon most reasonable terms. Are we to have another exhibition of the dog-in-the-manger policy in connection with Taupo 1 Is the district to remain undeveloped, and inaccessible, practically locked-up and tabooed, for no other reason than that if we cannot have Government lines we can have none at all?