MEETING AT TEMUKA

Timaru Herald, Volume XV, Issue 661, 27 September 1871, Page 4

MEETING AT TEMUKA

A publio meeting was held m the Royal Assembly Rooms, Temuka, ou the 7th September, the object of which was to take measures iv anticipation of the Government deciding to alter the line of railway, m consequence of a suggestion contained m the Engineer's report, that a considerable saving m its cost, could be effected by placing the railway bridge at the junction of the Temuka and Opihi rivers at a point some two miles lielow the township, iv which case it was feared that the line would be taken along the sea beach, instead of along the reserved line passing through the township. There was a large attendance, over a hundred beiug present, and m consequence of the room being too small for a public meeting, several were unable to obtain admittance. Maps were provided showing the route ac at present laid down, and also that of the suggested diversion of the line. Mr A. Ormsby, M.P.C for the district, occupied the chair. The Chairman, m opening the business of the meetiug, thanked them for the honoi they had done bim iv vutiug bim to the chair. When he came to the meeting, he . had no idea that he shouid be called on to act as chairman, but when he was so called on, he obeyed as a matter of duty. He thought Dr Rayner would more fitly have occupied the position ; as having called the meeting, there waa no doubt but that he was provided with information of au official character, and would have been m a bettei position than himself to explain the objects for which they had met. Without going into particulars he would say that the subject on which they had met was one of vital iuterest to their town* and the district as a whole. It ap|>eared that, m consequence of some little engineering difficulty, they were threatened with having the railway placed m such a position that it would be of very little use to the town and district. It appeared that the Engineers had made a suggestion to the Government that it would be better to carry the line along the beach iv order to avoid these difficulties. In the construction of railways there were other poiuts of more importance, to be considered, than the mere avoidance of engineering difficulties. The object iv construe tiun railways, was to open up the country. lt was. obvious that this object would not be effected by carrying the line along the sea beach. [Hear, hear.] It was an admitted fact that a bridge could be constructed with more advantage at the point indicated by the Engineers. He admitted tbat the saviug m the length of bridge would, at £5 per foot, amount to a considerable sum ; but he considered that that saving would be lost by the extra two miles of railway necessary to bring the line up to Temuka. The result would be that the couutry ac large would be no gainer. And, if the line was not brought up to Temuka, but carried along the beach, it weuld be a loser ; because the railway would fail to develop the resources of the country. The line, as originally proposed, ran close to the town, and he considered it would be a gross breach of public faith if the line were not made there — providing no good and substantial reason were shown as to why it waa better to carry it along the beach. It would be a slur on the engineering profession if they allowed any difficulties to interfere with oarrying out the line iv the manner most likely to benefit the country. He hoped that every one m the district, whether resident on the beach, at Geraldine, or at Temuka, would protest against such a diversion of the Una The people at Temuka had bought their property on the faith of the railway coming there. As for himself, the suggested diversion would bring the line two miles nearer his property, still, he would be no party to it : he advised' his friends on the beach to adopt the same course. He would now call upon Dr Rayner, wbo no doubt would explain the matter more fully ; and would also be prepared to move a resolution on the subject. Dr Raynbb said that the chairman, m opening the business of the meeting, had said all he had intended to sity ih the matter. In consequence of it appearing from the tenor of a letter from Mr Gisborne, that a diversion of the railway line might possibly be determined upon, a few gentlemen had met and, resolving to take time by the forelock, had called the present meeting. In order to be correct, he wrote to the Superintendent on the matter, and reoeived the following reply by telegram : — " No other line is surveyed than the original one. I am unaware of intentions of Goneral Government beyond those indicated m letter 87, bf which copy by post. — W. Rolleston." By that evening's mail be had received from tho Superintendent- a copy of the following letter, which had already appeared m the Timaru Herald:— " Sir, — At your request sections have been takon by Mr Selby Tancred of the Opihi and Tc inn ka rivers, with a view to estimate the probable -cost of bridging those rivers ; and I am informed that tho former river requires 19 chains of bridging, which at £6 per foot would cost £6,270, and that the latter

i requires at least 10 chains of bridging, while ; possibly. .l 9 chains may be needed, so that , £3,300 is the smallest estimate. As it is pro- , bable that a good site can be found just below ) the junotion of the Opihi and Temuka rivers, . not more than fifteen chains long, care will be i taken to fix the best site when the railway f line is laid off. — I have, &c, W. Gisborne." i The latter portion of the letter was what had • alarmed them, and they then decided to call i a meeting to adopt some plan m case the , Government .thought fit to oarry the line i away from the township. " Just below" i might be four miles away ; or, it might avoid . the town altogether. In additions to the > telegrams he bad sent to the Superintendent, . he had also telegraphed to Mr Stafford for ' any iuformatiou it was m his power to af- ; ford. He had received from him the foli towing reply : — " I have seen Commissioner [ of Public Works, who informs me as follows: j — That Mr Tancred has suggested that the - Temuka and Opihi rivers should be crossed . below their junction instead of at the railway i reserve at Temuka to save bridging, 8 chains , only being required at the former and 38 i chains of bridging at the latter place. The , narrow crossing is about two miles below Temuka, which the Commissioner thinks [ might still be passed close to by the railway, . even if the lower crossing is adopted. Be- - yond the suggestions nothing has been done . to fix the line as described. Acknowledge • receipt. — E. W. Stafford." The narrow i orossing alluded to was about two miles be- . low Temuka. No doubt it was only a sug- . gestion from Mr Tanored to the Government; i still, it was thought advisable to take imme- ; diate action m the matter. As they were all , aware, m their district there was a very large - area under agricultural improvements. By > looking at the map it would be seen that, i instead of the line passing below the town, it > should pass on the other side, through the :. Waitohi and Eakahu districts. The grain . produced m the country through which the i line would pass, if diverted, was infinitesimal i m comparison with what was produced m , tboss districts. After the lucid remarks made • by their chairman, he should say little more 1 than to nropose that the followng requisition i to the Government should be adopted by , the meeting : — " Your requisitionists at a meeting held this 1 day, September 7th, beg very respectfully to • represent to you the great injury that would ' result, m a publio, and general sense, from the i contemplated alteration of the course of the , main line of the Railway. " We have heard with dismay and disappoint- ( ment that it may be diverted, and that the , centre of this highly important agricultural dis- , t'rict may be denied the benefit of a central . ti iiiik line, and the only Government townßhipß ' — Arowhenua and Geraldine — m the district 1 left totally unprovided for. "We beg to inform you that the great area • of land under cultivation is westward of the i township of Temuka. That it would be a great , inconvenience and injustice to the most exten- . sive and populous part of the Geraldine district [ —it being the third largest m the province of Canterbury. 1 " That on the faith of the railway line laid ' down by the Government thousands of acres i have been purchased, the investments m which would be most materially injured and affected. " That the proposed alterations of the course of the line cannot be serviceable to the great bulk of the population, or to the district at [ large. Also, that the railway revenue must very materially suffer therefrom, and that the Government cannot be aware of the undoubted injury it would inflict on the district between ' the Rangitata and Timaru. " That the Hon. Mr Stafford be respectfully requested to hand the above to the Hon. Mr ; Gisborne, and to support the same." , Mr Mendelson seconded the proposition i pro forma. At the request of Mr K. F. Gray, the r Chairman read the requisition again. The [ Chairman observed that he thought some : alteration would be necessary before the [ meeting conld adopt it. . Mr Mendelson said, to simplify matters, it would be much better to appoint a committee - to draw up a memorial : it would be more i satisfactory if dove iv that way. He was . pleased with the amount of information the promoters of the meeting had brought forward, and regretted he had uot been iv possession of it a day earlier, so that he could i have obtained from the Board of Works an • expression of opinion, that no such diversion i ought to take place. He should like to , know what the Government expected to gain i by placing the line near the sea, unless they ; expected the sea to recede and give them i some more farmiug laud. He maintained > that it would be better to carry the line , nearer the hills than nearer .the sea ; for from i them they might get coal, stove, timber, and 1 other valuable products ; but what benefit • could they expect to get from the sea ? They i would have to pay the piper aud get nothing r for their money. If a mau had to deliver a '.' load ten miles, and had to go six miles to send it by tbe railway, he would certainly , cart it the whole distance, as the labor of ; loading and unloading was the main portion . of the work ; therefore the railway ought to be placed as centrally as possible, instead of • beimr carried, m places, within a mile of the sea. Under the circumstaiioes, he thought that even if the Government did not enter- , tain th" idea of diverting the line, they had . nothing to lose by tbe appointment of a com- , mittee to draw up a memorial : he begged to propose a committee. Dr Bayner asked Mr Mendelson to state why he objected to the memorial proposed by himself. Mr Mendelson said he did not oppose it, The Chairman' explained that there were some faults iv the document. Had it been £assed as it was he should have considered imself bound to send up that very docu- , ment. He thought it would be better to . adopt Mr Mendelsou's suggestion and appoint a committee. After some further conversation, Mr Mendelson moved — "That the fol- , lowing gentlemen form a Committee : Messrs i Ormsby, C. J. Bayner, and WUcox, and Drs , Rayner and Fish, for the purpose of drawing , up a memorial on the subject of the diversion ot the railway betweeu Timaru K and the Ashburton." , Mr K. F. Gbat seconded the motion. Mr John Hayhubst questioned the accuracy of some of the statements made as to disi tances, and denied that the proposed route went within even two miles of the sea. He Baid that from the nature of the country, the line ; must go tbere, and there was no avoiding it. . Mr Gisborne's letter did not say that the present line would be diverted ; and he consi--1 dered that before the meeting had been i called they should have had the best of information on this point. As it was, they all ; seemed to be jumping at conclusions. Some allusion had been made about selfishness ; he considered it would be very selfish for them to expeot the whole of New Zoaland to pay ' £16,000, or even £5,000, for their espeoial benefit. . What he understood by opening up the country, was the making a grand high--1 way from' the Bluff to the JKaikoura— rto open a passage from end to end of the Island. Mr Mendelson had talked about the Board of Works settling the matter: he thought the less there was said about that Board the better ; he should like to have them m a glass-case. [Laughter.] The General Government would, he thought, go , on quietly . and not consult anyone. The people of Temuka could settle their own matters without the interference of the Board of Works. Mr Mendelson reiteratod his former statements. The motion was put and carried with but one or two dissentients. Mr K. F.Gray moved— "That the committee be authorised, should they consider it desirable, to obtain the signatures of the inhabitants of the district to the . memorial alluded to m the foregoing resolutions." Mr Benbow seconded the. motion, which waa carried unanimously. Mr Rutland said that there would be some expense attached to getting the memorial signed, and suggested a subscription to defray the same. , The Chairman said that if the committee decided ou having the memorial signed by the public, the cost would be about £5 : he thought they could rely upon the public subscribing this amount.

Dr JRayner moved a vote of thanks to the chairman for the ability and, he m'ght add, amiability, with which he had discharged his duties. He should like to see him among them oftener. Not only for his services' that evening, but for the services rendered to the district as its representative, Mr Ormsby deserved their thanks. The motion was carried by acclamation. The Chairman said he thanked them for this renewed mark of their confidence. He regretted that they should all have had to come there to fight battles that ought not to have to be fought at all. They had all bought land on the faith of certain roads, bridges, and other pnblio works being constructed. It was a lamentable thing that they should have to fight such battles, but the result must be a victory. If not ; he shonld not know what to say of Government faith or Government policy. As to not coming more fiequently among them, he was, perhaps, to blame. Sometimes he had not considered it necessary for him to attend: whenever it was necessary, he would always be present with or without being asked. [Applause.] The meeting then terminated.