NEW RAILWAY STATION

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160711, 26 July 1920, Page 11

NEW RAILWAY STATION

RACECOURSE PROPOSAL NOT FAVOURED BY BOROUGH COUNCIL. EXPERT COMMISSION SUGGESTED. Members of the Wanganui Borough Council who were present at the meeting on Saturday night spent some time in discussing in an informal manner, the proposal to establish the new railway station on the Racecourse, and most of the speakers expressed views not favourable to the project. Two or three Councillors wanted to get the Council’s decision upon the matter straight away, but the Mayor advised waiting until after the conference with local bodies interested, and then when further information had been received, come back to the Council table and make their decision. In opening the discussion the Mayor said that the conference next Tuesday would be adjourned. Mr Bignell had asked for further information from the Railway Department, and this had not arrived. Whether any good purpose could bo served by discussing the matter now was for the Council to say. NO MOTION DESIRED. Cr. Lnxford began to propose a motion disapproving of the Racecourse site, when the Mayor interrupted by asking: “Don’t you think that would be discourteous to the conference?” Cr. Lnxford; The Council is here to discuss the proposal. The Mayor replied that he considered it would not be wise to prejudge till the Council had all the facts before it. Cr. Burnett: What further facts do we want? The Mayor: We have agreed to a conference when further facts will be placed before us. He advised waiting for the conference bbfore doing anything definite. Cr. Luxford: A good deal depends upon what we do to-night. The people outside are waiting for the Council. He thought the Council should go to the conference with its mind made up. He did not know of any new arguments which could be brought forward there which would influence the Councillors in any way; they would only get details and figures. The Mayor remarked that there would be a long discussion before the motion was agreed to. The proposal was in the interests of the ratepayers. Cr. Richardson said he understood the Council had been brought here to discuss the Racecourse proposition. He did not see what good a desultory conversation would do. The Mayor: To give you a chance of getting acquainted with the plan. Cr. Richardson asked whether it was not possible for the Council to give some expression of opinion. He did not like the motion, it was rather discourteous, he thought. Cr. Luxford said that if it was the wish of the Council he would not, push his motion. He wanted to bring matters to a head. The Mayor considered that it would be better not to pass any motion to-night. Cr. Burnett said that the Council should go to the conference with its mind made up. Cr. Donaldson considered that the holding of the conference did not preclude the Council giving an expression of opinion, on the site pro- 1 posed. If no opinion was to he expressed, the discussion, in his : opinion, was useless. The Mayor said that he proposed, before any finality was reached, to call a public meeting. Cr. Luxford said that there were a good many other sites which could be considered. Cr. Sigley considered that the Council should give a lead to the public. OBJECTIONS TO THE PROPOSAL. Cr. Richardson then proceeded to give his views on the proposal, which he said, he opposed. The Racecourse, he said, was a park and a beauty spot which should be reserved for the people, and which the Council would eventually get. The reserves at present were not enough for future use. When the Jockey Club gave up racing on the reserve, it would automatically go back to the donors, and the Council would only have to wait awhile to get it. The proposal meant the blocking up of two of the arterial roads to Castlecliff —Jackson Street and Ingestre Street, extension. The raising of Heads Road would make an eye-sore of that street. Before any finality was reached, the Council should go to the people, who he was sure, would turn the proposal down. ELECTRIC TRACTION FROM WANGANUI EAST. Cr. Luxford considered that other sites available should be considered, i and then the public asked to give a decision. Personally, he was disposed to favour Wanganui East, not because he lived there. He was quite prepared to leave the decision to a board of experts appointed outside of Wanganui. He considered the passenger station should be on the main line. By electrical traction passengers and goods for Wanganui could be brought in along the foreshore, even to Castlecliff. The old bridge could be enlarged for this purpose and he considered that a tremendous expense would be saved. The train should be cut out of Wanganui altogether; then the Borough would get the benefit of the line from Aramoho to town, and all level-crossings would be cut out. So far as the present'scheme was concerned, it was going to be a costly one; compensation to the Jockey Club alone would be £25,000. He did not think it in the interests of the Harbour Board, for the Club will not leave their course for at least five years; it would be better to consider other schemes where the work could be started at once if the Board wanted immediate possession of the wharves. The Board was rather short sighted; instead of fighting the Department for years, it should have built their wharves below the engine sheds: they would have then had up-to-date wharves and sueds. He thought that more than one scheme should have been placed before the people. Cr. Donal&aon wanted the Council to give an expression of opinion. He moved: “That in the opinion of this Council it was inadvisable to proceed with the erection of the station

on the proposed site,” Personally ne ia'.ouie.i tne station bei.i., oi ,c<. ■ ed on the main him, wi.ctuu- m, Aramoho or at Wanganui Li...t, was a matter for experts to ueeme. in I passenger traffic speedy transit was necessary. The Council hoped to build up an extensive tramway service, and were the station at either place he had indicated, it would act as a revenue producer for the trams. EXPERT COMMISSION SUGGESTED. Cr. Burnett considered that a tribunal of independent experts should be set up to inquire and take evidence as to the best site for a station, in the interests of Wanganui as a whole, and to make a report to the Council. He did not favour a referendum! which would, he considered, be in favour of the Racecourse, not because it was the best site, but simply because it would have the majority of votes. He thought the Harbour Board ought to be asked whether it was prepared to wait five years before it got its foreshore. He understood that the Jockey Club would not be able to get out for five years at least. The Mayor replied that the-Rail-way Department quite understood the position, and when the question of site was settled, it would immediately give the Board sufficient accommodation on the foreshoi'e to enable that body to erect additional shed room. Gr. Sigley: Supposing Wanganui East was decided upon; would the same thing happen? The Mayor: I dare say. DEVIATE THE LINE. Cr. Burnett said that his suggested commission could also take evidence as to the best route for the deviation of the line from Wangaehu to Wanganui. The present route over the hill would have to be abandoned soon, and he pointed out that a deviation through the valley would bring Wangaehu eight miles closer to Wanganui. Two routes were suggested; one through the Matarawa Valley, and the other via Kaitoke and Putiki. The only difficulty in the latter route was a bridge over the river at Putiki. Its erection would mean the wharves would have to he shifted below the bridge. He understood that the Department had surveyed both routes. He considered it would pay Wanganui to contribute half the cost of such a bridge. It would put the town on the main line. If the proposal he had suggested were not given effect to, then he would favour the Wanganui East site. He considered it would pay the Borough to give the Jockey Club £25,000 compensation for the Racecourse. There was a danger that the Government would take possession of the land there. Cr. Liffiton agreed that it would be better to have an expert tribunal. Cr. Sharpe said that most Councillors were opposed to the proposal, and he was also. He did not see what good was to be gained out of continuing the discussion. Cr. Aitken took the same view as Cr. Shnrpe. Cr. Richardson: Trust the people. Cr. Thompson said that there was a possibility that the Government might take over the Racecourse after the Jockey Club had finished with it. Personally, he favoured Wanganui East. POINTS TO BE CONSIDERED. The Mayor said that he agreed with Cr. Burnett’s suggestion. He considered it was only right, before any decision was arrived at, to have the Chief Engineer and Mr McVilly in Wanganui to fully explain the whole question, and to say what, in their opinion, was the best site. Some time ago he had advocated the Bluegum site, but when he went to Wellington and had the matter fully explained to him by the Department, he realised how unsuitable it wag, and that there was not enough room. What pleased him more than anything else was that for the first time the Railway Department had recognised the importance of Wanganui, and had admitted the necessity for additional passenger and goods accommodation. The people -were told when the little station was built on the Quay that the mere fact of the main trunk being put through would make Wanganui a dead end, but instead of dying the town had grown so rapidly that the Department was now unable to cope with it. The Department proposed to push the Harbour Board out, and if that body was not prepared to- go it suggested that some other suitable site should be found for the Departmnet. Various sites have been suggested, but the Racecourse was the one that found most favour with the Department. The Board was representing the community as well as the Council, which was as much interested as the Board, and sides should not be taken without considering all aspects very fully. Mr Bassett and himself had been trying for a long time to establish the Board’s claim to the wharf and foreshore. At one time the Department put up gates which were locked at five o’clock. He got a. motion through the Harbour Board and the gates were pulled down. After that the Department came to the Board, which agreed to give the Department permission to erect during the pleasure of the Board. The Board had never relaxed its claim to the wharf and right of way. it was not possible to erect further shed accommodation at the wharf. That wharf would always serve the best interests of the town and later on he hoped to see vessels of between 4000 and 5000 tons berthing there. Then there was the question of assembling railway trains. The majority of trains were mixed passenger and goods trains. The Department did not mind where thewas so long as the site was convenient. He did not think it was likely that the Wanganui branch would be cut out; it would always run to the wharf, and it would be a sorry day for this town were it cut out. The Department required plenty of head room for the assembling of their trains, and that is why they favoured the Racecourse. He considered it was not possible to build wharves down streany unless it were in the form of a dock, because the Board would then be in the channel, and where there was no room for a ship to turn, or no safe place to tie up when the river was