THE CATLINS RAILWAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19066, 11 January 1924, Page 13

THE CATLINS RAILWAY

Larpe and Fertile District Served. Great Boon to the Settlers.

Probably the greatest handicap under which the early settlers in the Gatlins district laboured was the difficulty resulting from the lack of reasonable means of transport either by road or railway. For quite a long time those who ventured into this heavily timbered country with the object of making’homes for themselves had nothing better than tracks to serve their needs, and in wot seasons their difficulties in getting to and from other centres must have been enormous. At one time there was a fair shipping trade to Gatlins River, but this died away eventually.

In order to make their holdings productive the settlers had first to get rid of the bush, and it was in connection with this operation that the lack of a railway was most severely felt, millions of feet of good timber having to bo destroyed owing to the absence of facilities for getting it to market. The commercial waste involved in the destruction of this timber was emphasised very strongly later on, especially as it was realised that the time was coming when there would be a shortage of such a necessary commodity in this dominion, and was probably one of the most effective arguments used in later years by the Gatlins Railway League in favour of the speedy construction of the railway. The agitation for a railway was commenced about 1874, but 11 years elapsed before the first section that from Balclutha to Romahapa—was opened, and it was not till early in 1915 that the line got to its present terminus at Tahakopa. The various sections of the railway wore opened on the following dates; — Balclutha to Romahapa, 7 miles 02 chains, December 15, 1885; Romahapa to Glcnomaru, 6 miles 18 chains, 1891: Gatlins tunnel section, 46 chains, March 4, 1895; Hunt’s road section, 3 miles 48 chains, December 16, 1895; to Owaka, 1 mile 6 chains, Juno 2, 1896; Owaka to Gatlins, 3 miles 38 chains, August 1, 1904; Gatlins to Houipapa, 3 miles 30 chains, December 17, 1909; Houipapa to Tahakopa, 17 miles 52 chains, February 4, 1915. The total length of the railway is 43i miles. The ceremony of opening the first section was performed by Mr James Macandrew in the presence of about 700 people. The cost of constructing _ that section was about £22,000, exclusive of the rails and sleepers, which were supplied by the Government. Mr Macandrew stated that the first hoard about the line was about 11 years previously, when a flying survey of it was made by the Public Works Department in consequence of a resolution passed by the Provincial Council, but nothing came of the matter. Soon after that the Provincial Governments and their works were knocked on the head. There was no doubt that the abolition of the provinces had prevented Otago from making her own railways, and he had no hesitation in saying that but for the abolition the ceremony they were then performing would have been performed five years earlier. The next time they heard about the lino was in 1877, when he had brought forward proposals for the construction of certain linos in Otago, including the Gatlins line, of 18 miles. These proposals would have been carried but for the action of certain Otago members, but they were negatived by a majority of three, six Otago members voting against them. The next occasion on which the matter turned up was in 1878, when the line was placed iu the,, schedule of the Railways Act and approved by both branches of the Legislature and confirmed by the Grown. _ It was proposed to spend £SOOO on it in 1878, £3OOO in 1879, £30,000 in 1880, and £30.000 in 1881-82. The total estimated cost of the line to Gatlins River was £05.000, but bis own belief was that it would have been considerably less. Twothirds of the amount was intended to be taken out of the £5.000,000 loon in 1879, and the remainder was to come from the proceeds of Grown lands which would have boon rendered available by the railway. It was not intended that the line should stop at Gatlins River, but that it should be carried on towards Wnikawa. In that district there wore 80,000 acres of magnificent land, splendidly timbered, which only required the efforts of men of the stamp of the early settlers and the big inducement of a market to turn it into a perfect Garden of Eden. One of his lust acts as Minister of Public Works was to direct the engineer in charge of the Middle Island to spend £IOOO in opening up a horse track from Gatlins River to Waikawa. At a banquet in Balclutha in the evening the Hon. R. Stout (now Sir Robert Stout) said ho looked upon the portion of the line opened as of real value to the district and of real value to the colony. The line should connect with the lino that branched off at Mataura, and should bo carried through the Tautnku bush. He felt certain that thousands of people could bo comfortably settled if they had the railway extended and the roads opened up for small settlers. The coal deposits in South Otago are probably more extensive than those in