A GOODS STATION FOR TE ARO.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1049, 8 April 1892, Page 35

A GOODS STATION FOR TE ARO.

qi THE COMMISSIONERS OBJECT AND THE MINISTER INSISTS. It is of coarse generally known that the Railway Commissioners very determinedly object to provision being made for a goods station at Te Arc, and that the Minister of Public Works is equally as resolute in his opinion that such provision is absolutely needed in the public interests. As the Commissioners do not recede from the position they have taken up, the Minister has decided to acton his own responsibility. lor the information of the public we give a very full abstract of the correspondence that has iust taken place on this important subject. J The first letter is dated the 14th Marah

last, when the Chief Commissioner (Mr James McKerrow) wrote to the Minister of Public Works as follows :— ,l Referring to the interview which took place to day between the Railway Commissioners and yourself on the subject of the Tc Ato Railway Station and to the decided expres. eion of their views then given, the Commissioners do not see that they could advise in any way regarding provision for a goods station. As regards their proposals for a passenger station, they consider that tho plan submitted to you on 24th ult. (and herewith returned) provides for no more than is necessary for passenger traffic, and that whatever other additions may be needed in the future this proposed accommodation should not be altered or curtailed.”

Two days later another of the Commissioners (Mr Maxwell) wrote to the Minister, prefacing his letter with the statement that the Commis-ioners " think it due to the Minister that their reasons should be more fully explained, and they now have the honour to submit them.” He then proceeded to say that the chief objection to a second goods station, located between Taranaki street and Clyde quay, was that it would, by dividing both the outward and inward Wellington traffio, cause great additional expense In working throughout every department of the Wellington- Woodville line without bringing any new business. The proportioaof paying load to non-paying load hauled would be decreased ; and the locomotive and rolling stock maiutenanoe and traffic expenses of the whole line would be increased, resulting in a diminution of the nett earnings of the line. It was unjustifiable to incur a capital outlay (which would diminish the nett earnings of the railway, . and embarrass the management) to provide a 3econd goods station for a town the size of of Wellington, which has already been provided at the expense of the Colony with very complete and efficient arrangements. The present station had cost not under £50,009, and its location was decided upon after miture consideration. As at present designed, it was capable of dealing with tho whole Government goods traffio and that of the Manawatu Company as well if necessary. There was notproper roomtoapproach,extend or work an efficient goods station at the site of the passenger station at Te Aro, and if a goods station was established there its eventual abandonment could only be a matter of time. The 31st section of the Government Railways Act, 1887, made the Commissioners the authority to decide on and approve the position, character 'and suitableness of all station works, so as to prevent extravagance in working as well aB excessive outlay in construction. “The Commissioners think that both these objections apply to the proposed goods station, and that both on technical and colonial grounds they should not approve of such a work.”

To these objections the Minister has just replied at length, under date the 28th March. He explains that as the. earlier of the Commissioners’ two communications gave no indication that the Commissioners intended to offer any further explanation of their views on the subject, but stated that they did not see their way to advise in any way regarding provision for a goods station. He took that memorandum to be a final reply, and acted upon it accordingly. Aa the memorandum referred to gave no reasons whatever for the Commissioners’ objection to a goods station at Te Aro, but simply . stated that they declined to advise in any way regarding provision for such a station, he, as the authority entrusted by Parliament to give effeet to its wishes with respect to the construction of the railway, took the only course then left open to him, and directed the Acting Engineer-in. Chief to prepare a plan providing the requisite accommodation for a suitable goods station at Te Aro. The Commissioners, then, on further reflection, presumably, had determined to state their objections to the proposal fully, which they have done in the latter of the two memoranda above referred to. The objections of the Commissioners to a goods station at Te Aro seemed to be based, however, mainly on consideration of economy and railway convenience, but the Government considered that the public convenience is the first and principal matter for considertion, and there could be no question that a goods station at Te Aro would be a very great convenience indeed to a very large proportion~of the public in Wellington. As for the Commissioners’ assertion that the chief objection to the proposal Is the increase in the expenses consequent upon the Wellington traffic between Thorndon and To Aro, and that suoh a division would cause great additional expense in working throughout every department of the Wel-lington-Woodville line, they had not stated what this great additional expense throughout the whole line might be, neither had they submitted any detail whatever in support of their statement. The Minister proceeds to point out that the marking of a truck for Thorndon or Te Aro, as the case may be, and the necessrry entries therefore will not entail any extra expense. For the passenger traffic there must be a stationmaster and porters, pointsmen, shunters, &c., who could attend to both tho goods and passenger traffic. Even admitting that there might be some slight additional expense, it wohld doubtless be caused by the additional railage charges from Thorndon to Te Aro, for he did not presume that the Commissioners will charge the same rates for delivering goods at Te Aro as now charged for delivery at Thorndon. He also thought the Commissioners were clearly in error in stating that no new business will be brought by having a goods station at Te Aro, as the Government was informed that there would be a considerable increase in the business by reason of the location of a goods station in the industrial quarter cf the City* With an increased goods traffio, however, it was imperative that additional station accommodation for goods should be provided, and with additional traffio there would be additional revenue, which wou.a cover the cost of construction, working expenses, &c., and which would more than compensate for any loss sustained by t o division of the Wellington traffio between

Thorndon and Te Aro. Moreover, it is pobable that ero long the Wellingfcon-Manawatu Company's railway would become tbe property of the Government, and to the acquisition of this line by the Government the Commiesioners wove, ho believed, favourably disposed. When this wm accomplished the increased traffic resulting therefrom would necessarily demand increased goods station accommodation. In constructing a work of the nature of the Te Aro Extension it was necessary to look ahead, and it was advisable that provision should be made ' for eventualities which are inevitable. This the Commissioners practically admitted, as in their memorandum of 23rd June last, in reply to a question asked in the House during the last session of Parliament, they say that the “ railway line would, of course, be available for goods and passenger traffic at any future time, it need be,” but that “at present it would bo objectionable to make any special provision for goods at Te Aro.” It was not, however, contemplated to have any “ special provision ” made, but to simply arrange for an ordinary goods station being erected at Te Aro. Even in respect to passenger traffic only at Te Aro the Commissioners had seen fit to alter their views very considerably. Tn their memorandum of 11th January last the future traffic to Te Aro was termed suburban traffic, and it was further pointed out that the service between Thorndon and Ta Aro could only be of the nature of a tram service, but at the interview on the 14th instant they then admitted that two thirds of the paasenger traffio would probably be from Te A. to, and provision was also made in the plans submitted by them for a passenger platform of considerable size on each side of the line. As for the statemenfc that to provido a second goods station for a town the size of Wellington was unjustifiable, the remark waa no doubt intended to apply to both a goods and passenger station, although the Commissioners did not say so in so many words. Parliament, however, which was the supreme authority in such matters, did not concur in this view, and having duly authorised the construction of the railway, and voted the funds required for the purpose, the Government, as the executive body, considered it necessary that the work should be constructed, and the money expended as might best suit the requirements of the trade and residents of Te Aro, and so insure the best results being obtained therefrom. The Commissioners had declined- to submit the plans suggested by the Minister to show what would have to be done in order to meet the requirements of the goods traffic at Te Aro, cud they had also declined to advic-e him in any way as regarded a goods station. Under these circumstances, and in order to give effect to the wishes of Parliament, he felt compelled to seek the assistance of other experts, and he was now advised by such experts that there was sufficient room for a goods station at Te Aro, and that one could be provided at a moderate cost. With regard to the Commissioners’ contention as to the power conferred upon the by section 31 of the Government Railways Act, 1887, he could only cay that the Commissioners had been consulted in the matter, bub had refused to approve of the erection of a goods station. By the Railways Authorisation Aca of last suasion Parliament had declared that there should be an extension of the railway, and as the extension of the railway was intended to meet the public convenience, provision must ho made for both goods and paasenger traffic, oa the principal that the greater include the less. Ho did not consider it would be wise to take legal action in order to compel the Commissioners to locate and approve of a goods as well as a passenger station at Te Aro, as that would seem to be frittering away money which might be better spent on the execution of the work itself, and he therefore intended to do tho best he could in the direction of expending the whole of of the funds voted for the railway in useful construction works.