A Reasonable Position

Southland Times, Issue 12007, 30 March 1892, Page 3

A Reasonable Position

Following ia the statement of the Commissioners given to a reporter of the Evening Press who interviewed them on the subject of the plans for the Te Aro railway station, Wellington. The Commissioners expect a considerable passenger traffic, and have asked for starting and arrival platforms such as are necessary to enable convenient timetable arrangements to be made for suburban traffic in which all the travelling public are interested. They have asked also for properly protected platforms on account of the nor'- west winds which carry sea spray across tbe reclamation. They consider that a platform open to the nor'-wast gales would often be unusable by passengers. The reserve made by the Te Aro Reclamation Act was for a passenger station only. The question of a goods station was discussed when the Act was passed by the Engineer-in-Chief and the Government, and proposals for a goods station were then negatived. A second goods station is objected to because it would divide the Wellington traffic, thereby increasing the expenses throughout the entire line from Wellington to Eketahuna by diminishing the proportion of payiug to non-paying loads carried, and as no new business could be expected from the extension the net profits would tend to be diminished. There has been at least LoO.OOO expended on the existing goods station, which is laid out with a view to extension Dorthward on a large scale when required. The proposed site at Te Aro is not capable of extension, being shut in by Mount Victoria at one end, and by the approaches to the wharf and street at the other, and as the position would be very unworkable and inconvenient, boih from a railway and public point of view, it is considered that if tried it would have eventually to be abandoned. The Commissioners suppose that the funds voted by Parliament are voted to be used subject to the provisions of existing statutes. The Railway Act provides that the Commissioners shall be the authority to decide on and approve the position, character, and suitableness of all station works, and they suppose that Parliament voted the money for the Te Aro railway subject to that provision. They think that as the division of the Wellington goods traffic will cause a permanent increase in the expenses of the railways and prove inconvenient, it should not be carried out.