MOTOR-CYCLIST KILLED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18223, 17 October 1922, Page 6

MOTOR-CYCLIST KILLED.

COLLISION WITH A CAR. fay TELEGRAPH. —PRESS ASSOCIATION,.] OAMARTJ, Monday. Allan Carmichael, aged 18 years, was killed at Hampden yesterday as the result of a collision between & motor-cycle ridden by deceased and a motor-car,.

BAILWAY TO TOKAANU.

TIMBER COMPANY LINE.

CONSTRUCTION PROBABLE,

GOVERNMENT STANDARDS.

TB¥ TELEGBAFK. —OWN - OOBBESPONDENT»] WELLINGTON, Monday. The probable immediate commencement of the Kakahi-Tokaanu railway by the Tongariro Timber Company on Government standard lines was foreshadowed during the consideration of . a legal point by the Chief Justice, Sir Robert Stout, m thfl Supreme Court. The olock of timber lands under the control of the Tongariro Timber Company, Ltd., lies between Kakahi, a station on th© Mam Trunk line near Raurimu, and Lase Taupo. The concession to cut timber in this block was granted to the company on condition that it built a railway from Ivakahi to Tokaanu. The company s rights would have expired on September 13 last had not the sum of approximately 530,000. royalties overdue to the native owners, been paid. As this money was duly found in London it is believed that the company intends to go ahead with the construction of the line.

! This means that within ten or 16 years the Main Trunk line may bo connected with Tokaanu. The company has to build the railway to Government gauge, though not to other' Government standards, but an Order-in-Coimcil provided that within ten ysars the company, if it built the hter line in the first place, must convert it to tho Government standard. In order to ensure that the conversion should take place it was provided that Is 6d per 100 superficial feet of timber sawn, with a minimum of £5000 per annum, be paid to a nominee of the Commissioner of £.tat© Forests as a form of security. The London financiers are now apparently prepared to build the railway to Government standards at once, as one of the questions the Court was asked to decide was: Assuming that the company was prepared to build the heavy railway forthwith, was it bound to pay the Is 6d per 100 superficial feet of timber sawn ? Another question put for His Honor's decision was : Had the company the right to assign and mortgage its timbercutting rights? The urgency of the matter was stressed, and it was mentioned that hundreds of thousands of pounds were involved as the block was a very large one, and the construction of the railway cculd not fail to open up a great deal of new and valuable country. Mr. W. C. McGregor. K.C., counsel for Sir Francis Bell, Commissioner of State Forests, stated that the only man who knew all about the facts Was Sir Francis Bell, who wa3 to arrive in the Dominion in November. His Honor: Why cannot you cable him?

" How could I explain it to him?" asked counsel. His Honor: He could find out all about it in En eland. Mr. McGregor : He may have left, Your Honor. He is< coming back, across America, but I ao not know his exact movements. He is probably on the Atlantic now.

In view of the urgencv of the matter His Honor gave an affirmative answer to the question regarding the company's rights to assign its interests, but obliged to defer the answer to the other and more important question.