13

I.—la.

,T. ARMSTEAD.

You have staled. Mr. Armstead, thai the idea was to pul the tram-line in for carrying purposes only. Seeing thai you or your firm liad the conduci of this matter through the Public Works Departmeni in ordei to gel the Order in Council, why was it yon made no provision in the Order in Council for carrying loose coal, seeing thai coal was the principal product thai would be carried over thai railway? I did uoi in any shape or form have anything to do with the Order in Council going through. Certainly ury firm pul the Order in Council through, but I had nothing personally to do with it. I knew nothing aboul it n'll it goi to the Wallace County Council, and when ii goi v. thai office it was discovered there was no such thing in regard t<> loose coal. The coal was supposed to be in bags, and a rearrangement was made with the Wallace County Council to carrj loose coal. IS. Bui there was no provision for it, ami no coal was carried over the line in bags? —No, thai is so. hut the Order in Council was altered by the Wallace County Council. 79. If the object >vas carrying only, eurely you should have had ii as the primary point in ill,, order and provided Tin' that i you know that More ami Sons were open mid hiimi fi//< in everything they did. SO. If it was to lie a carrying company only, why was it that they did not provide for that .' —I could not say that, hut it was provided for when it eaim- to the Wallace County Council. 1 never saw the Order in Council rill it got to the Wallace County Council. (SI. You have said that you had in view during the whole time the extension of your railway to Ohai where we are wanting our railway to go to? Yes. 82. Why was it thai you did not ask for permission to provide for such an extension in the Order in Council if that is bo?— You know what trouble we have hail to gel that railway-line where it is. You know perfectly well that that was in tin 1 minds of More and Sons at the beginning. 'That was what your offer was made on. 83. It was not in the Order in Council? —There arc a lot of things not in the Order in Council. We can always gel a fresh Order in Council. 84. You say tin' intention was to lie a carrying company only. You have taken no notice as to whether your terminus would hf accessible, let alone convenient, for the settlers. It is an absolute impossibility for any wago ■ vehicle to gel into your terminus apart altogether from the line that goes down from the mines.' The terminus of the mine is designedly a quarter of a mile from where the coal company's pit is. and that was done so as to allow other connections to come down. 85. lam talking about access from the farmer's point of view. There are no means of getting to your terminus with a wagon or vehicle?—No road access. 86. And while you say you are a carrying company for the benefit of the settlers, vet you did not lav out your railway accordingly when you goi the Order in Council?— Yes.

Horatio John Hooper Blow examined. (No. 6.) 1. Hon. Mr, Fisher.] I understand yon have here a report from Mr. Kurkert which has a bearing on t hi.s matter '. Yes. 2. Would you please read it to the Committee \ I have just got the report, which is a departmental record. It reads as follows : Public Works Department, Hon. Minister of Public Works. Wellington, New Zealand, 15th June. 191 I Wairio Ohai Railway. l.\ accordance with your telegraphed instructions, which reached me at Oamaru, I met .Mr. Rodger and proceeded t<> Southland with him. I went ovei the country between Wairio and Birchwood, and examined the route proposed to he followed by the suggested extension of the railway from Wairio to Ohai. I also looked into the possibilities of reaching the same point l>v an extension of the Nightcaps line, and also by an extension of the Wairio Birchwood tramway "I Messrs. More Bros. I found that a large dumber of coal leases have been taken up in the vicinity of the proposed terminus, the conditions- of which leases require that the lessees shall turn out certain minimum quantities of coal in the first year, and thereafter increasing quantities up to a total of 33,000 tons. Two of these lessees an , at present served by Mores line, leaving 24,000 toils as a minimum output which must hi , maintained by the other companies. In addition, boring operations are now in progress to ascertain whether further areas will prove carboniferous, and the indications are extremely favourable in fact. 1 might say it has been established with ceil ai nt v that the coal extends for sonic miles beyond the portions already taken up. Although the lessees are hound to not less than 2-I.<><)() tons, this amount was based, no doubt, on the present Facilities for transport/which consist of wagons on the road. I think I may here state that were the lessees to attempt t<> turn out this quantity of coal, even for a period of three months, the roads would become absolutely impassable unless a huge amount of money were spent on them in entirely reconstructing them, and thereafter in carefully maintaining them. With railway facilities it is reasonable to expect that a very much greater output would In- maintained. In view of the fact (hat the Nightcaps Mine, which has railway communication, turns out something like 70.000 tons per annum (rising in 1912 13 d> 92,000 tons), the estimate of Mr. Rodger, of 100.0(1(1 tons to lie obtained from the six projected mines, seems a safe one. always provided that a market can be found for this coal. From what I wastold by some of the mine-owners interested, and also by More Bros, two years ago. when they were starting their tram, it is at present quite impossible to cope with the demand for this coal, it having been sent as far as Tiinaru. while Nightcaps coal goes as far north as ( Iheviot : and the fad that move coal is not turned out (if these mines at present is simply accounted for by the absence of reasonable facilities. The road, once a metalled one. lam fold, in very good order, is now in a state of extreme disrepair, no metal being visible for long distances.