THE TAUPO RAILWAY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20875, 15 November 1929, Page 6

THE TAUPO RAILWAY.

TO TUB EBITOB. SlB, —It is not difficult to understand the finding of the Parliamentary Committee with reference to the Taupo railway, seeing that, long before the committee had ■ sat, the Prime Minister, without consulting Parliament or even his own party, had adopted a bitterly hostile attitude towards the railway. The Government having, on a committee of ten, five members, including the chairman, who bad a casting as well as a deliberative vote, from the very start, it was quite plain that the verdict was a foregone conclusion. The Government left no stone unturned to defeat the petition. The head of the Government had announced that he had stopped, the railway “for ever,” and that must be supported at all costs. As 1 listened to the evidence of departmental officers, so absolutely at variance with that given at previous inquiries, I could not help thinking their “voice is the voice of Jacob,” or was it that of 'Joseph? The people of the district must be made to despair or must be cajoled, as witness the Prime Minister’s speech at Rotorua. There is a subtle peculiarity about the finding of the committee. The petition was tor the resumption of work on <the railway. The finding does ' not ' say whether or not the resumption is justified, but eays that the stoppage was justified. It displays a .guilty mind. Government supporters should bear in mind the French proverb “ Qui s’excnse 8 a reuse.” The misrepresentative for Rotorua has stated that the great majority, of the of that electorate are quite satisfied with the stoppage of the railway "if the promise is carried out to give a firstclass road, between Rotorua and Taupo." So the member is not at all s>:re that the ?romises of his chief will be honoured! suppose he has seen so many broken! True it that many people, despairing of a railway, would accept a first-class road rather than get nothing. But if a vote were taken between a railway and * road, I will undertake that the road would virtually have no support. I happen to know on the highest authority that the estimate of the Public Works Department for a first-class road showed that its cost would be equal to that of a railway; But the Government declined to. produce the estimate before the committee. There is absolutely no comparison between the uses of-a road and of * Tail way for the purpose* of developing » large agricultural area. r veV*' *? the Government doing in rwf nt J_ tB PE 0 . 1 ?!*®? has placed £IO,OOO on the Estimates for a work that will cost £750,000. With the paltry sum voted no substantial improvement to the road can be effected. The money will simply be frittered away in trivial, ineffective works that will benefit no one j c s® tra «to«. It would appear justified d ° ul>to the members are well 40 recommendation to w ry ° ut ,n exhaustive experimental test on an area _of 10,000 acres of the better class pumice land,” may I ask to Pn uu, oee th,fl gr€at expenditure and delay? There are many farms on pumice land which have been made for many for instance, - “ Broadlands ” upon which I have spent large sums during the past 22 years, carrying out many experiments which should have been made by. the Government. Here I can show the officers of the Department of Agriculture, members of Parliament, or others interested. paddocks created out of virgin land within three years and equal to any other faddocks that can be seen anywhere, hese are bold words, but I can justify them and prove also that the cost has not exceeded £7 per acre. I invited—l challenged—rthe memberß of the committee to come and see the district for themselves, but they declined. Had fhey come, they would have been forced to a favourable finding, and the Government members would prefer anything to that. Would it not be vastly cheaper and better that these men should come and see what has actually been accomplished rather than advise the squandering of great sums of public moneys in proving again what has .already been proved? I can show what has been done on my paddocks from the creation down to the present day, and the cost of each operation. * What more is wanted? And I have no faith in these Government experiments. The Department of Agriculture and the Department of Lands have condemned the pumice lands. I do not wish to go so far as to suggest that the officers of these departments would aim at unfavourable results so as to confirm their declared opinions; but I do say that these pessimists are unlikely to put into the experiments the enthusiasm that is necessary to make them the unqualified success that is , certainly possible. And one thing is quite certain—this experiment cannot he made a financial success without the railway.— I am, etc., E. Earle Vaile.