ANOTHER RAILWAY

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7267, 25 October 1910, Page 1

ANOTHER RAILWAY

WIT AT OPUNAKE WANTS. GUARANTEES AND CONSTRUCTION OF LINES. THE GOVERNMENT'S POSITION. Bequest for a railway connection between' Opunake and the main lino was made again , yesterday afternoon, by a deputation from the district which waited upon the Prime Minister' {Sir Joseph Ward) and the. Minister for Public Works (the Hon. R. McKenzie}. .The deputation, which was introduced by Mr B. Dive, M.P. for Egmont, consisted of representatives of the various local bodies and daily of th© district. , “I am ber© again to ask for-that railway of ours, I am tired ofcoming, and I am sure you are equally tired of seeing ns.” said the first - , speaker,Mr W. C. Dudley (chairman of the Opunake Town Board}. He explained that they were asking «for, a. connection between Opunake and dhe main line, throw gha most densely.' populated and productive district. It would be A cheap line to construct; and-would undoubtedly pay handsomely. The •■settlers felt, that .the Government was doing a groat- injustice to the district in not Vroviding line. f ‘W© have com© down frequently asking for bread,” he said, “and hitherto .'l® hare'got -nothing but a. stone; but; this time we think we are going back with a nice little cake/’ Mr J. W. Rogers pointed to the constantly'growing output':of the dairy factories in the district, and Mr T. Young drew attention to the great cost of carnage by road. Manure, for instance, which' could be bought for £5 a-ton, ooet £2 a ton to put on the land. Other speakers mentioned that the roads were going'to pieces as the result of the heavy traffic over them, necessitating largely Increased rates for upkeep. “We have had nothing ..settled hitherto, ’ said Mr G. Harcourt (Auroa). “and now wo want' something definite/* - "Well, vou won’t. get it,” interrupted the Prime Minister. “If you expect u> get a definite reply before the Public Works Statement comes down you are making a great mistake. I want to make that quite-plain. You won't get it- and >neither wilTany, other part of the try.**

‘The chairman of the Eltham County Council (Mr J. T. Quinn) -';spoko of -the difficulty of keeping the roads in order, and said that, the position was that they simply had to put the traffic on'rails. It was a case either of a railway - or a tramway of some sort. RESTRICTIONS ON EXPENDITURE.

Sir Joseph-,Ward expressed sympathy with the position of the settlers, and said that nothing .would give the Government more pleasure than to be able to respond to such requests as this. They had, however, to deal inth the 'question of railway construction as a whole from a very difficult standpoint—that was the total amount provided each year for construction purposes- The -sum ,was a fairly large due. and could hot be exceeded under normal conditions. If: this were the only inew railway asked Tor, nodoubtifs construction would soon be recommended, but the whole country was seeking for new lines, many of which were admittedly much needed. The Government was just as anxious to give'railway‘facilities as the settlers were to get them, but they had to be controlled by circumstances that were not so flexible as might be imagined. It was, therefore, impossible for him to give a definite until Cabinet, had gone fully into the allocation of sums for the different works to bo gone on with this year. They-could not do' impossibilities, and could not meet alll the demands for’now lines unless they borrowed enormous, sums, perhaps millions a year. It was' not so very long since this particular district had asked, for. a harbour hnd the Government had legislated to that end. Now, before anything practical 'was'done in connection with the harbour, the-settlers came along asking for a large sum of money for a railway."- / 1 '‘The harbour area is too (small. You have cut it down so that it is quite useless.” said a member of the deputation. *

The Prime Minister said that this was one of the things in which the Government had tried to help the settlers to .provide an outlet for their produce. The railway question could s not bo deccde-d until the Govern'ment' had completed the cutting down that was always necessary in’ connection with the public; demands. TUB .SETTLERS' OFFER, A voice: AVo are quite prepared to rate oursblves far the line. Sir Uosenh said that others were prepared to do this also, but there really was not much virtue in offering to guarantee a railway- that was sure to pay. Even if the Government accepted the guarantee* offered it did not get away from the fact that they would have to borrow four cr five millions'a year. A voice ; Why not, if the lines are reproductive ? !

“There's •' much more In it than that,” replied tlie Prime Minister, emphasising that What they had to consider was* the total amount. beyond which they could not go in any one . year. The Government could very easily do the country great injury, if it launched out in response tx> the numerous requests, similar to this one, tliat came from different parts of the country. It had taken thirty-five years to got the railways to the present point, ail dub to the fact that only so much per annum could be spent upon them. Of course, if they could adopt a system of making one railway .and finishing it they could,manage a line like this Opunake one In six months. But they oould not do this, because other people who also wanted lines would not allwv it. A DIFFICULT POINT.

""Well,- we will borrow the Juoney for you, and hand, it over to you/' promised Mr Dudley. The Prime Minister; We can borrow the money -very much, more easily ourselves.

Mr Dudley: But then it wouldn't be the country's borrowing. You ■would .not have the House fb* face.

The-Prime Minister said that this was not the point. If the Government had to ■ pay the interest, the principal would be part of the general liability. The Government, as custodian of the people's interest, had to see that there , was no over-borrowing. The. task was a more difficult one than, most people imagined; for every year several millions of . expenditure had to be eliminated. Replying to further objections by Mr Dudley, the Prime Minister said he knew that, settlers in many different parts of the country would do the same thing as wag here suggested, but the Dominion as a whole would undoubtedly have the liability attached to it. TARANAKI'S CLAIMS.

The JHo-n. R. McKenzie promised to visit tne district as soon as possible, but reminded the deputation that a large railway was already being pushed on in .Taranaki. It would probably be necessary to wait until the line reached Whangamomona before another was started, though ho did not anticipate that many j’earsi would pas* before the Opunake connection was taken in hand.