MATIERE MATTERS

Taranaki Daily News, 19 January 1935, Page 5

MATIERE MATTERS

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. RAILWAY FACILITIES; ELECTRICITY Railway station facilities, electric light, noxious weeds and derating were among important matters affecting the Ohura district discussed, in addition to roading requirements, on Thursday evening by the Matiere Chamber of Commerce. Members were apprehensive that the district might lose the services of the porter iri charge of the station, as it had been rumoured that he was to be removed at the end of the financial year. Members of the chamber who had waited on Mr. H. H. Sterling, chairman of the Railways Board, at Ohura in connection with the appointment of a porter said that Mr. Sterling had made it clear that the appointment would only be in the nature of an experiment, and that the district would not be able to retain his services permanently unless the business warranted it. Members generally considered that the business at the station warranted the retention of the porter’s services, 'which were of distinct benefit to the settlers and business people of the district. Official figures submitted by Mr. Jamieson, the porter in charge, showed that for the two months ending January 14 the inwards waggon traffic had comprised 120 loaded waggons of various goods and 69 empty waggons, while the outwards traffic comprised 153 loaded waggons and 39 empty waggons. The loaded outwards waggons comprised 49 stock, 36 timber. 27 wool, e 2O butter and 21 miscellaneous. ( For the period from December 8 to January 5, passenger traffic had comprised 129 return tickets and 64 single tickets, the revenue being £3B 5s 7d. Mr. A. K. Margan stressed the necessity for using every endeavour to retain the services of the porter and to that end he urged all residents travelling by train to purchase their tickets at the station, so that Matiere would be credited with the revenue. At present many secured their tickets from the guard on the train. The returns showed that during the period under review five return tickets and five single tickets to Auckland had. been purchased, whereas he was sure that over 50 had travelled to Auckland. Had the station been credited with that revenue, their prospects of retaining the porter would be materially enhanced.

Other members supported Mr. Margan. Representations will be made with a view to having the services of the porter retained.

necessity for having the platform lighted at night for the arrival of all trains was stressed by Mr. H. L. Stoddart, who said that it was very inconvenient for passengers arriving by the night expresses to have to alight in the dark. It was decided to make representations on the subject to the district traffic manager at Wanganui. Representations will also be made with a view to having the station platform tar-sealed in order to obviate the dust nuisance, and also to facilitate the handling of heavy goods. Mr. M. J. McAvady, president of the Chamber, considered that the expresses should be scheduled to stop at Matiere regularly. Others generally considered that the needs of the district were served by the present arrangement, whereby the ex-, press stopped to pick up or set down passengers. Mr. L. S. Fauchelle briefly touched on the noxious w£ed menace. In some districts, he said, the ragwort had been allowed to get to such a state that it was impossible to handle ij. The Government should certainly take action in the matter, and not wait for others to press them to do so. He considered that the blackberry would be a greater menace. The necessity for derating was stressed by Mr. G. A. Rhynd, who said that it was an injustice that farmers should be bled to pay rates for road construction and maintenance. If the construction and maintenance of rgQways was a national matter, the construction and maintenance of roads was .equally entitled to be a national matter. Consideration was deferred until next meeting. . The prospects of a supply of electric power being available for the. district were touched on by Mr. J. Caird. He made it clear that though the high tension lines from Arapuni ran through the district, a supply of Government power was out of the question, as it would be too expensive to pay for the installation of a breaking down station. .The Ohura County Council had gone thoroughly into the question, and had found that if every settler in the Ohura county used all the power that he could reasonably be expected to use, there would still be a lOd availability rate to meet. Such a scheme, therefore, was out of the question. There was, however, another possibility that should be worth investigating. He understood that the Egmont Coal Company was contemplating installing an electric plant in its mine at Tatu in order to operate an overhead tram line, and possibly if there were sufficient inducement, it might be prepared to supply power to Matiere and Ohura. He understood that the use of slack coal at the pit head was the cheapest method of generating electricity, and the scheme should be quite feasible.