M. MYERS.]

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been converted from v sheep district to a dairy district to a very considerable extent. The tramway is not required for dairy-produce, though of course it could, dandle cheese, but not butter. Dairyproduce is dealt with by motor traffic to Feilding and Palmerston. What ground is there, therefore, for suggesting that, there is a tramway extension required for sheep ? In any case, at the present time the sheep are railed and detrained at Greatford or Marten, and they have to be driven those paltry few miles between the Sanson district and these stations. One would think there is a very little hardship to drive sheep those few miles at the beginning, or after the termination, of a journey. At any rate, they have to be driven some miles if they go on the tram —from the tram to the farm. Then, Sir James Wilson suggests in his evidence that there is a probable tendency for the dairy-farmers to quit dairy-farming and take up the fattening of sheep ; but there is no indication of that at the present time, and I do not think Sir James intended to imply that there is. The Chairman : He suggested that it would have to go because the internal sheep-runs are not suitable for fattening purposes. Mr. Myers : My answer to that is that the sheep have now only to be driven at the commencement oi- beginning of a journey a very few miles, and that it is absurd to suggest that that is a real ground for the extension of this tramway. Now, your Honour, just a, few words with regard to the question of a terminal siding. I have already dealt with that to some slight extent. My learned friend Mr. Skerrett nmy refer to the Local Railways Act and say the policy of the country is changed somewhat in regard to these questions of local railways, but my submission is that a reference to the Local Railways Acts, 1914 and .1915, will show that what is intended there by the Legislature is not a loop line —not a competing line at all, but a branch line' —that is to say, a branch line in a district which is not served by a railway. The Chairman : What is intended, no doubt, is to give railway facilities to people who have not got railways. What they say is, " You have given the southern portion of the Manawatu County a railway, but you have not done so in the north, and we will make our own railway in the north." Mr. Myers : In the first place, the increase of population is almost all in the southern part of the district where they have the railway. The Chairman : They say they cannot cut up their land on account of having no railway. Mr. Myers : All that land was held in larger areas and was cut up, and it is mainly dairying country. What your Honour says would be all right if it were a mere branch line, but in the first place the Local Railways Act contemplates railways and not tramways. The Chairman : They would not object to a tramway if you did it instead of a railway. They want better communication. Mr. Myers : What I mean is this : that it could not come under the Local Railways Act. The Chairman : That is to say, the Local Railways Act refers to a railway. Mr. Myers : Yes, and it; may under the Act of 1915 connect with the Government line, but that is as a feeder —it is not as a competitive line. No Government would allow a loop The Chairman : You say you would not object to it if there was no connection with Foxton and no going out of the county ? Mr. Myers : If it were merely for the county the proposition might bo different. The Chairman : You suggest that it is going to do something else ? Mr. Myers : Yes. ,jk The Chairman : What is the something else ? Mr. Myers : In the first place, goods from Wellington for Marton and places north, of Marton would be diverted to the tram-line. The Chairman: There you are: that is the whole thing. What you are afraid of is that the tramway would be used to carry goods for the Marton district, which, is not in either of those counties. Mr. Myers : Yes, your Honour. The Chairman : They would not carry into the Levin quarter at all'—across the river. Mr. Myers : No, perhaps not. The Chairman : It is only, then, the traffic they would be encouraged to carry, say, from Foxton, not to the Manawatu and Rangitikei Counties at all, but goods north of Marton and going beyond Manawatu and Rangitikei. ? Mr. Myers : Yes, No. 1. The Chairman : That is the only thing that you say would be illegitimate ? Mr. Myers : Oh, no. The Chairman : What would 'be illegitimate beyond that ? Mr. Myers : Goods from north of Marton lor Wellington would be diverted and go by the tramway through Foxton. The Chairman : Very well, I want to find out what you think would be illegitimate traffic for the tramway to undertake. Mr. Myers : We say that would be. Mr. Skerrett: Mr. McVilly said expressly that he would not object to traffic to Marton and ending there being carried on this line. Mr. Myers : I do not say that is all the traffic. The Chairman : What is the other ? Mr. Myers : There are then the goods which come down at the present time The Chairman : The two things are these : goods from Marton and beyond not coming from the counties, and goods from Marton and beyond going to Wellington and elsewhere outside the counties ? Mr. Myers : Going anywhere outside Foxton. The Chairman : Going outside the counties.