RAILWAY TO TAUPO.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15949, 21 June 1915, Page 4

RAILWAY TO TAUPO.

Sir, This project has been mooted fir some considerable time, but the position lias never been clearly and candidly put before the public, and consequently is not understood by them. I therefore ."venture to crave space, briefly, to state why it is that the inhabitants of tho Rotorua-Waio-tapu-Taupo districts will , not have' the Taupo Totava Timber' Company's railway, and why they ask for—and 'think they have' the right to 1 expecta ■ Government railway., • . . /.,> • By some- extraordinary means the company, . in . tho dying; days of ; last session, obtained a right to charge about li, million acres with Is per acre— £62,500 —to construct an extension of their railway, the Cost of which thr.y estimated at £50,000: so that the landowners* would liavo borne the whole cost—indeed, made the company a present of a new '■ railway and £12,500 to boot. ' The only contribution the company made was.'to finance the undertaking, in the meantime collecting their rate five years, after the railway was open. What were the landowners to'get for their present to the company'of this railway, plus £12,500? /'I. The use of the railway _ from Putaruru to Taupo. : 2. Shares in the company, owning the railway from Putaruru to Taupo. "-' ... *.;'■• Now, the "railway." is really a bush tramway, constructed. with one object only— run timber downhill to Putaruru. It is quite unfitted for heavy traffic running the other way,v and is not approved by the Government engineers. Over this tramway, slow and inconvenient, we were to have the pleasure of paying the following freights. For the sake of comparison I have shown -also the rates on a Government railway'via Rotorua "

AUCKLAND TO TAUPO. By the Com- By a Governpans a railway, mont railway, via Putaruru, via Rotorua, 210 miles. ■ . 224 miles; > Per ton.:, Per ton. Manures, flour, is. d. r i" ,£- 8. d. Manures, flour, ' - . - T,V oats, chaff, etc. 3 14 0 14 11 - : Grass seed ...• 112 0 1 2 £ v > Fencing wire ... 3.4 6' ; 2 0-3 Groceries and""' ' .'draperies ... 5 9 4 313 6 _ , Per bale. ■- Per bale Wool 0 16.6 0 7"B* rp- , V .MVK* . Per 100 ft. . limber ... ... 0 811 _ 04 5. * In lots of ono ton or over-

So that, from the point of view of users of the railway, we were more , than : justified in rejecting the 'company's proposals.- - As to the shares in the company. The old tramway was to bo : taken at £130,000 manifestly greatly more than its value; and, moreover, the company' reserved 'a 6 per cent, cumulative preference dividend

I ■■ • "j. ': : -' " ' ' J -" - . " until such time as the rate had been paid, a period they estimated ,at seven years. -' So that from tho point of view of compulsory subscribers to : the company's capital , we : were' also amply justified in rejecting tho company's scheme. ' Now as to our claim, for the construc- s. tion of a Government railway, 1. Wo are prepared to put our hands into our own pockets— into other s people'sfor a considerable■ portion of the cost. 4

2. The railway would pay well from the .very start, and be a great boon to the whole Dominion. 3. It would open up to settlement by far the largest area of cultivable, and habitable land, as yet unoccupied in the Dominion. Briefly, to elaborate these points: 1. Wo propose to offer the Government £100,000 towards the cost of construction, ■ the money to be a first charge on our lands, and to be payable a part one year after the railway is open to Waiotapu; the balance one year after the railway is open to Taupo. We consider this offer a substantial one, and entitling us to some preference over district's not offering any contribution, and further think that this creates a most valuable precedent, enabling the Government in the future to obtain contributions from the landowners of districts asking for railways, instead of milking them an absolute present of the greatly increased land values resulting from railway construction. The principle is a fair and reasonable one, and had it been adopted from the beginning wo. should have obtained from 33 per cent, to 50 per cent, more railways, with the .sine expenditure of loan moneys. 2. At least 25,000 tourist fares could be anticipated from the very first year; all the great I State forest plantations would bo opened up by It, and there is a considerable existing and very expansive goods traffic. By it Rotorua, Waiotapu, Wairakci, Rotokawa, Arateatea Rapids, Huka Falls, and Taupo would be linked up in one con- . tinuous run. A pleasant trip in the steamer takes the tourist across the lake to Tokaanu, and thence an easy motor drive of about 40 miles over the excellent road now being constructed brings him to the Main Trunk Railway. He can then proceed either by rail or down the Wanga-' nui River. Truly, the finest tourist route in the world, and one which should induce a large traffic, even from overseas! 3. I say, without fear of reasonable contradiction, that the best policy, from a public ppint of though, perhaps, not from the politician's viewpoint—is to put railways into unsettled districts capable of supporting population, rather than into already settled districts. ' Had Canada concentrated her railway construction on the already settled provinces _of Quebec and Ontario, instead of opening up the great unoccupied west, where would she be to-day? X , I fear that I have already trespassed too much on the Herald's, space, so that. I must refrain from going"more fully into the matter, • and bringing forward many facts and arguments that I believe would convince the most sceptical. I will, therefore, conclude by quoting the summing up of Mr. W. R. Holmes, the chief Govern- ■ ment engineer, in his report upon the best means of connecting Taupo with' the, existing railway system:— " Whether the question be viewed from the standpoint of cheapness of construction, ' suitability of the line when constructed, future working expenses, probable traffic and therefore revenue, or' from the point of view of satisfaction to the travelling public, and the greatest" good for the greatest number, the route from Rotorua via Waiotapu is unquestion-. ably the one to be' adopted." IJ, E. Easle Vaile.