I.—lo.

It. W. HOLMES.j

87

113. You still adhere to that?—Yes. 114. I think you said, roughly speaking, that one-half xvas uncultivable ? —About that, on the company's line. 115. Assuming the Government to adopt a light system of railways and the company's line met the Government requirements, xvould you recommend it as applied to light railways?—l do not think I should advocate such sharp curves as have been adopted in this case. 116. Mr. Buick.] What is your opinion of Wairakei as a tourist resort? —I think it will always be a very great attraction. 117. Do you not think it is one of the greatest thermal attractions in New Zealand?—l think so : there is greater variety there. 118. The Chairman.] I find here in Mr. Coom's report the estimated cost of the alterations and additions to the company's line : " Widening cuttings, Lichfield-Kopokoraki, £25; xvidening banks, Lichfield-Mokai, £400: accommodation at stopping-places, £200; providing stop-blocks and point-locks at sidings, say, £50: total, £675." He does not say anything about the curves. Could that be done, in your opinion ? —I do not think he could do it for that. Thomas Ronayne sxvorn and examined. (No. 22.) 1. The Chairman.] What is your profession ?—General Manager of the Nexv Zealand Railways. 2. We have asked you to come here to-day to give us any information you can that xvill help us in framing our report and in advising the Government in connection with the prayer of the petitioners. We xvould like you to tell us anything you know about the line run by the Taupo Totara Timber Company?—With regard to the line itself, my personal knowledge is practically limited to an inspection of that portion of it adjoining Putaruru, which really counts for nothing. I have knowledge of the history of the line, having from time to time been consulted by Mr. Fulton, who was engineer for it. The original intention, I understand, xvas to lay the line with timber rails, and it was sleepered to suit the timber rails; consequently the sleepers are more closely spaced than they xvould be under ordinary conditions. Ultimately it xvas decided to put down'3o lb. steel rails.' The sleepers are 7 ft. by 7 in. by 5 in., and the standard of the Government lines is 7ft. long by Sin. by 5 in., xxffiich means that the company's sleepers are 1 in. narrower. That is the position xvith regard to the line. I xvas consulted about the rollingstock, and strongly advised the company to build stock that xvould be interchangeable so that it could run over 'the Government lines,' and thus save the very heavy cost of transferring the timber, xvhich is an expensive item. To that end the engineer was supplied xvith the standard of the Nexv Zealand railways, but for some motive best known to himself a different class of rollingstock was built, and it is'not of a sufficiently strong description to justify the Railway Department alloxving it to run over the Nexv Zealand railways. But from a personal inspection of some of the bogie xvagons, I have come to the conclusion that these wagons could be altered without incurring a very large expense and made suitable for running over the Government railxvays. The xvheels and axles are not up to our standard. You might like some information in regard to what revenue the Railxvay Department would receive—say the additional revenue —if it had been working the railway for the financial year ending 31st March last. I got the figures wired in a hurry from Auckland, and it is just possible they mav not be quite correct, but I should consider them approximately so. There xvere 1,728 tons of posts. I understand the company debit their mill account with freight on these posts, £900, for the use of their railway, the Government getting a revenue of £657. The through rate in accordance with the present railway tariff xvould be £818—that is, the Government xvould receive £161, for which the company debit themselves at the present time £900. These are the figures I have. The same deduction applies to timber. There xvere 7,452,000 ft. of timber sent by the company's timber mill; revenue, £15 218 The through rate xvould be £14,594, and the railxvay rate £1.1,178, so that the Government would receive £3,416. On merchandise there xvas only 319 tons outwards; I have not got the inxvards There were 9"3 tons outwards from the company, xvhose rate xvas £168. The Railway got £276, and the through rate xvould be £310; so that the additional sum the Government xvould receive on account of the 93 tons from company's line to Putaruru xvould be £34, as against £168 xvhich the company received for the same service. There are other items. There were 960 tons of minerals —I presume that would be coal—for which the company received £1,224 and the Railway got £460. The through rate would be £552. The minerals xvould be carried at the loxvest rate in the tariff—that is, Class Q—so that the company got £1,224 for freight on the 960 tons whereas on a through mileage basis the Government would onlv get an extra £92 from their terminus to Auckland—from Mokai to Auckland in each case. It goes to show that the Government xvould get verv much less out of the line than the timber company are getting at the present time, xvhich is 'the reason xvhy I produce the figures. Noxv, there is the question of rolling-stock ■ If the line xvere to be worked as a passenger line oars xvould have to be built for it with suitable bogies to xvork H-chain curves. I am assuming that the Government could work the line the same as the company is doing at present, xvithout any alterations at all. But not for a moment would I advocate'working round H-chain curves, because the wear-and-tear on the rolling-stock and the increased haulage are verv serious matters. The cost of a second-class car suitable to xvork on the present line xvould be £750, and the cost of a first-class car xvould be about £925 The cost of aIT truck xvould be £280. The U truck- has a carrvmg-capacity of 16 tons and it is a bogie truck. You must understand that T am of opinion that that line can onlv be xvorked with bogie rolling-stock. It is quite out of the question to think of running four xvheeled stock on a long xvheel base round curves of that description. It would be quite feasible to haul them round if the track were in good condition, but the wear-and-tear would be altogether out of the question. So that it is ptf-vMe on the present 301b. steel track to work any traffic that might be required to go on or off *tit line with certain classes of the existing