ABANDONED RAILWAYS

Taranaki Daily News, 5 July 1929, Page 13

ABANDONED RAILWAYS

MR. COATES ATTACKS POLICY TAUPO AND PALMERSTON NORTH. CLAIMS FOR SOUTH MAIN TRUNK. WARM DEBATE IN PARLIAMENT. By Telegraph. —Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. Failing to carry out its own promises the Government thought the next best thing to do was to try to depreciate the credit of the Government that had preceded it; for that reason the Taupo railway and the Palmerston North deviation had been stopped, said the Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, when criticising the United Government’s railways policy in the House of Representatives to-day. The works mentioned had been most carefully considered before they were started, continued Mr. Coates, and he asked the Government to defend its action on economic grounds. While matters remained as they were there must be delay and considerable loss on all trains passing over the 14 level crossings through Palmerston North. It was also rumoured that further work at Auckland was to be stopped. If that was, correct it would be most detrimental to the northern districts. What the Government claimed it was saving on northern works it was going to spend in the South Island. Sir Joseph Ward denied this and Mr. Coates accepted his denial, but said that wherever the money was expended it should be only where it would give the best return. The Taupo railway, started by the lato Government, had nothing to do with the trunk line policy’, but was purely a land development scheme. Careful investigation had been made and it was found that all the activities in connection with land settlement there could be more economically carried on by rail than by road. It would cost an enc--mous sum of money to build a road suitable for the purpose. “DEVELOPMENTAL LINE.” The Taupo railway was never regarded as a purely commercial line. It was never believed it would pay because of tho passengers or fertilisers it would carry, but it was a developmental railway and it was the benefit the Dominion would ultimately reap that justified it. The promised programme was comprehensive. There no doubt the Dominion would be rewarded for this expenditure. There was great development possible in the Taupo district, and that development was past the experimental stage and beyond all possible doubt. The timber to be carried would alone pay for the line. There was a good detailed case in favour of the Taupo line and it should be answered in detail and not condemned in a vague and general way. _ • So far as railways generally were concerned Mr. Coateg advocated the stopping of the Midland line at once on account of the earth movements. On that account alone a careful investigation should be made into the South Island main trunk line as, indeed, he thought the time had come when all the railways should have an overhaul. He would like to see the north and south railway systems linked up. It was all a question of whether there would be a loss and whether the country could stand that loss. The question of North v. South had never entered into the matter co far as he was concerned. What, ho wanted was a complete investigation into the position of all the railways before they launched out into large sums of expenditure; so they would avoid some of- tho pitfalls into which Australia had fallen. Mr. Coates deprecated anything, like a return to a political scramble for Public Works expenditure which fortunately had been eliminated of recent years. INCONSISTENCY CHARGED. The Hon. W. A. Veitch, Minister of Railways, charged Mr. Coates with inconsistency inasmuch as he denounced further expenditure by the present Government while he himself had brought down proposals for spending over £13,000,000 on the completion of new lines in eight years. While in office Mr. Coates was always spending largely on railways,- so that he was now to be congratulated on having at last adopted a policy of grave caution. It wag rather late in the day for him to be\ come cautious. Under the Coates administration the train mileage had been greatly increased, but all the time the business c; the railways had been decreasing owing to motor competition. That surely was not wise administration. With regard to the Taupo railway, san) Mr. Veitch, Mr. Coates was advised by his officers that the line would pay. . Seeing that the man who was then chairman of the Railway Board had since expressed the opinion that it was practically impossible to build any railway in New Zealand that would pay, had Mr. Coates continued in office as Minister of Railways there was iij doubt things would have gone from bad to worse, but fortunately owing to the good sense of the electors, that catastrophe had been averted. The Palmerston North deviation had been started under the impression that the business of the station would increase greatly. Tliat increase in business had not taken place. Moreover, the cost of construction had been greatly under-esti-mated, with the result that the Government had no option but to stop the work, however unpleasant that step might be. Mr. Veitch defended the proposed continuance of the South Island trunk line. It would, he said, open up large areas of country’, particularly if good roads were made to feed the line. A great deal of tourist and other business could be attracted to the line, particularly if the line was built on a high standard of efficiency so that passengers and tourists could be carried through quickly. Ail this, ol course, would be in addition to its developmental value. Short-distance railways were no longer desired in New Zealand because of motor competition, but motor. competition could not hurt long-distance lines. It was the policy of the Government to develop that idea, and in doing so he believed they could turn the deficit on the railways into a profit.