TAUPO INQUIRY CLOSES

Taranaki Daily News, 11 October 1929, Page 11

TAUPO INQUIRY CLOSES

ADDRESS FOR PETITIONERS MR. E. E. VAILE REVIEWS HIS CASE MASS OF VALUABLE EVIDENCE. ' By Telegraph.—-Press Association. Wellington, Oct. 10". ' Tho public portion of the Taupo railway inquiry was concluded to-day, when Mr. E. E. Vaile, the leading petitioner for the reconsideration of the decision to abandon construction of the line, summed up'. Mr. Vaile first thanked the committee for the patience displayed and went on to refer to the results obtained from the land in the' district, and pointed out that the witnesses called on behalf of the petitioners, who were practical men, were all in agreement as to the great potentialities of the area and that the progress of the district with the rail would be faster than progress with the road. All expressed a fear of the spread of noxious weeds and none suggested a remedy but closer settlement. They considered the cost of breaking in the land at £6 to £7 per acre, independent of post fencing and building. All agreed that the return would be immediate arid that there was no occasion for waiting, and that 200 acres would be ample l to maintain a family in comfort and- that there would be room in the distrk’ for 5000 families. They agreed that the country would be suitable for dairying and that it had a good rainfall. V : Not being men of practical experience, neither Mr. Cockayne nor Mr. Galvin had the understanding of the possibilities of the country. ' The petitioners did ri'bt care whether the railway was light, heavy or medium, so long as it harried manures and stock under conditions similar to those in other parts 'of the country. If the country was to be developed they must have "the ' benefit of long distance freights. ' Referring to his own private dealings Mr. Vaile asked was there anything discreditable if a person gave him a piece of land rind he sold it for £5OOO afterwards. The only implication Mr. Galvin could make against him was that he had not had confidence to spend the proceeds of the sale on the land. Mr. Vaile said that out of the first sale of 13,000 acres at £CSOO he bought property in Auckland as an endowment for. the library of the Auckland Grammar School. It now yielded £lOO per annum and had furnished a very fine library for the school. The whole of the rest he spent in improving the land.

As to the sales made in 1925, it was impossible for him to foresee them, and he could not spend from 1907 to 1924 the moneys he did not know he should get. As to the accusation that he had been guilty of window dressing, his best paddocks were the most remote from the road. All the improvements on the place had been made in the most substantial and permanent manner, and not for the purpose of sale. Mr. McDonald thanked the petitioners for the evidence brought before the committee, and expressed appreciation of Mr. Vaile’s remarks with regard to the committee, and said that whatever might be the outcome of the inquiry a very valuable mass of evidence' had been placed before the committee on the development of the district.