D.—4.

124

[H. BUXTON.

24. And you call that a connection ?—Yes. 25. Then a mere siding is a connection ? —Yes. 26. Then, second, instead of having a connection, you may have a junction —something more than a siding ? —No, Sir. 1 understand the siding you refer to in the first instance is a siding connecting with the Government railways. 27. Mr. Williams.] There is in the minds of some of the Commissioners perhaps the idea that instead of the rails meeting you may have them running parallel ? —I should merely call that a terminal siding, and not a connection. 28. The Chairman.] The third point would be where you have running-powers—that is, the rolling-stock of the tramway running over the Government line, and vice versa —mutual running-power : that is another kind of connection ?—Running-powers in the ordinary way are supposed to be the operation of trains into the station ; but it does not follow if you have a connection you have ranningpowere. 29. There are three different things ? —Yes. 30. There is what you call the terminal siding, there is the railway connection, and there is the running-power ? —Yes. 31. Mr. Myers.] Is a terminal siding a connection at all ?- - No. 32. The Chairman.] What do you call it ? —lt is an end for approaching a station, but not connecting with it. 33. Mr. Williams.] You perhaps know that in Australia there are some instances of railways running parallel with each other. Would you oall that a connection ?- No, I would not. 1 only call a connection where you can run rolling-stock from one line on to the other. 34. Mr. Myers.] Would it be feasible, to begin with, to have such a siding anywhere except in the neighbourhood of a station ?—lt would be of no use. It would be feasible, but it would be of no use. 35. I mean, having regard to the operation of the Government railway system ?—No. 3G. Having regard to the reasonable working of the Government railways at Marton, is there room for such a tramway there, and could you operate it ? —There is no room at present, and as far as the operation is concerned, that would depend entirely on what we were expected to do. If the corporation or whatever it might be undertook to cart their stuff from the end of the railway, being so much nearer to Marton than they are now, and present it to us, we would take it and work it, as we are working the traffic now carted, but it would be of no use and no advantage to us as far as that is concerned. 37. Would it be of any advantage to the other people ? —lt would be merely a source of extra expense. 38. The Chairman.] What is the meaning of having light railways- you have heard of a scheme of light railways ? —Yes. 39. Light railways are not supposed to cany heavy wagons, which are largely for ordinary linos ? —No. 40. But they are supposed to connect in some way with the main lines, and to act as feeders to them ? —Yes ; they go into the station. 41. Some light railways, in some countries, arc only 18 in. and 2 ft. in width ? —That is a different matter, I think. The reason for making light railways is that they are cheaper to maintain than roads. 42. And they bring traffic to the central railway, and from the light-railway trucks you change the goods into the ordinary trucks of the railway V —That is so ; they have all the disadvantages of a road, so far as the railways are concerned. 43. But you can get quicker over the ground ? —Yes, that is so. 44. Mr. Myers.] lam not speaking of a railway connection in the sense in which you use it; but is there room, in your opinion, at Marton Station for a parallel terminal siding, such as has been suggested ? —No ; there is not room at present. 45. The Chairman.] It may be got ?—Yes, at certain expense, but there is not room at present. 46. Mr. Myers.] Would such a siding as that be an addition to the expense of the working of the Government railway at Marton ? —lt would. Apart from the cost of construction, the workingexpenses would necessarily be more. 47. Would such a siding as that interfere with the revenue of the working of the Government railways ?■ —I could not give a final opinion on that. If it diverted traffic, of course it would. 48. Have you a knowledge of the class of tramway such as this Sanson Tramway ? —Yes ; I have been over it. 49. Is it a tramway on which your heavier trucks could be allowed to go ? —No, it is not. 50. If you were bringing down a certain amount of produce from stations on the North Island Main Trunk line, could you reasonably make your selection of trucks and so on for the purpose of working in with this tramway and running your trucks upon their line % —The sorting-out of the different classes of trucks to meet those particular conditions would, of course, be difficult, particularly if they were loaded by the senders of the goods. A large part of the timber traffic is loaded by the senders, and that would require constant supervision to see that they did not load a heavy truck that could not go over the tramway. 51. Does the same apply to other goods ? —Yes. 52. The Chairman.] I suppose timber-trucks come out of the timber-mill sidings ?—Yes. 53. And coal-trucks the same ?■—Yes. 54. Mr. Skerrett.] Is it not a fact that there is a considerable amount of goods traffic to and from Marton from north and south ?• —Yes. 55. Is it not a fact that each of the ordinary goods-trains has necessarily to be marshalled at Marton ? —No ; not necessarily.