TRUCKS ON THE MAIN TRUNK LINE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5331, 21 March 1879, Page 3

TRUCKS ON THE MAIN TRUNK LINE.

(Per Press Association Special Wire.)

Christchurch, March 20th,

At the meeting of the Harbour :Board today the Hon. Mr Richardson, chairman, read iJie following letter, re scarcity of trucks, from liims.-lf to the Hon. J. Macandrew :-•

"Lyttelton Harbour Board Office, " Chiistchurch, March 7th, 1879.

"Sir, —Rofeniug ta your telegram of ye^ter. •day replying to mine of March sth, re supply of truckf, I am at a loss to underbtaud why you should havo referred to action taken by me when holding the political office of Minister for Public Wcrks, vacated by me more than two years ogo. I have always been of the opinion, -and have expref Sid it both publicly and to your self and your officers privately, lhat the delays -complain:.d of are largely attributable to the -.system l£ working tha traffic ; and till thit system is altered I Bee no hope for a change, except by auch an increase of slock fis •would comi/el you to largely increase _ the • siding accommodation at all the main stations. 'The waggons you have are not utilised as they might be, nor will they ba while so much time is allowed to discharge them in tidings and to the ships. 1 atn not given to use the tv quogue -argument, bat referring to a paragraph of your telegram in which >ou say : '1 always feared ■'that your arraugemtsnts for meeting the traffic whicu has arissnwere not far-seeing enough, 11 -am not prepared"to say that I ever dreamt of so large an increase of the traffic as has taken place, but I,did anticipate a very great increase, and was prepared to meet it by ordering very much .larger buppltes of truck 1 from England, end at the same time employing all the local firms as far as practicable. But on yourself and other members wlio, for party purposes, made use of the cry of patronising local industry, rests the responsibility of having stopped thei action of the Minist'-r who suc--ceeded me in the direction of ordering from England. If I am answerable for, previously to the commencement of the year 1877, having ■under-estimated the increase of traffic on railways, what apmnt of censure are you deserving of, when, in reply to various repref eatatibn3 made by mo, as Chairman of the Harbour Board, on this subject, you have over and over again rei.orted that you had made sufficient provision ? 1 will only quote two of your letters ■ addressed to the Harbour Board in reply to the moat urgent representations contained in resolutions of the Board forwarded by me. The first of these was written at the commencement of last jeir's grain season; the second when you had had experience of tin whole of ■thelist grain season,and certainly shou'dhave taken pioper steps to correct the error in judgment you now say you always feared 1 had made. In the letter dated January 2'lih, 1878, you Buy aa follows: 'That every effort has beeu made to obtain additional truck?, and it is confidently hoped thit before very long a suffici-.nt number of trucks will be avail--able to mtet the anticipated traffic.' On July 23rd, 1878, yu say 'mat an additional order &a3 recently been sent to England for a very ■considerable quantity of waggon ironwork and moie locomotive power, which the G"Vcrn.ment couliden'ly expect wiil meet tbe require men s of the district during the ■ ensuing grain season,' I leave this part of your telegram without further comment. "With regard to the next paragraph, stating that 'everythiug is being dona to meet tha difficulty, 50 trucks being now in ■trannitu from North Island lines,' I would desire tj point; oat that the c trucks were fitted up in Ghiistchurch workshi/pa, and, in epite of my earnest solicitations, which I know were appro1, ed by the Commissionsr •of Railways, were sent to the North Is land, and "now are being, by your orders, returned here at no trifling cost. With reference to the last paragraph of your telegram, to the effect that' there have been crdtred lately ano'.herlOOO sets of ironwork for waggons in addition to those now on tbeir way from England,' I am glad to hear that you have sent for the extra waggons; but I would jpoint out if thia order take a proportional length •of time to execute aa that Bent last year, the .next season, with its further large incraase of traffic, will be upon you before they are aivailabla for use. —I have, &c,

"Edward Richardson, ! " Chairman Lyttelton Harbour Board. " The Hon. James Macandraw, " Minister for Public Works, "Wellington." The Chairman said that while on the question of trucks he might mention that information had reached him to the effect that during the la&t few weeks, while trucks had been so 'very scarce up here, the Dunedin station jard iiact been fairly jammed up with empties, lor which they bad no uae, and the authorities at J)unedin nad been compelled to telegraph to *he Chiistchurch seotien for engine power to remove what had become a great obstruction.

At the various stations along the Christ«hurch tCiition there had accumulated last evening 32 917 bags grahu Yesterday 64C0 baga were brought into Ohii-tchurcb, and over 3000 bags carried into Timaru. Tue heaviest reoeipti \eaterday had been as follows :— Athburton 1000 bags. Cave 1000, Cheit--sey 1747 H- radon Juoction 1000, K'CJ«ourse HUI 1400, Makimihi Nurtn 1195,

Pleasant Point 100 i; Prebbleton 1173, Sakaia 1522, Sefton 760, Selwyn 740, Sheffield 536, Ternuka 900, Templeton' 650. Tinwald 2900, Waimate 962, Winchester 1590, Waitaki North 1640, and Winslow 1450. With the present demand for waggons, caused by the rush of the grain season, there has sprung up another demand for trucks for the carriage of live stock to various places along the line. Between this Provincial District and Dunedin a trade for small orders for fat stock has suddenly arisen, and is daily'increasinK in proportions, the result being that the Railway Department aie taxed to their utmost in the present emergency to divide their limited supply of rolling stock bo as to try and meet all the requirements.