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[m. myebs.

Mr. Myers : Yes. The Department also says would interfere with their Wanganui and Marton Section, because anything going through Wanganui to Sanson would go that way. Otherwise it-would go to Feilding and be carried over. The Chairman : X want to get at your objections to find out what is the traffic the Railway Department think they would be injured in. Mr. Myers : I have given two or three cases, and the others are given in Mr. McVilly's evidence. I think Mr. Hiley also deals with it in his evidence. Your Honour will see also that as soon as this loop is made, if it is a loop or even a dead-end, the agitation will commence again. When your Honour was asking me for the objections did your Honour mean in the case of a dead-end siding or a connection ? The Chairman: I was putting it as a dead-end siding—you were object ng to it on all three grounds. Mr. Myers : Yes, but if it is a siding it becomes more serious because of the interchange. The Chairman : Yes, we understand that. Mr. Myers : Then what is this tramway connection afterifall for ? It is to enable The Chairman : Supposing the County Council chooses to say this : We are going to make an efficient county, and commercially efficient. We cannot make railways because the Government stop us, and they will not make local railways. Very well: we will put a tax on the county of perhaps 6d. or Bd. in the pound, and we will furnish for the traffic a number of motor-buses and motor-cars, with the result that we shall encourage the traffic to come from Greatford and Foxton by motor-buses. It is a level road, and we will take passengers also. The Government railways could not interfere. Mr. Myers : If the law allows them to do that, well and good. Assuming that it does The Chairman : That would be competition. Mr. Myers : That is all right. We cannot stop that, and we do not want to stop it. The Chairman : And that would be efficient competition. Mr. Myers : It might or might not be. No, it would not. The Chairman : Why ? Mr. Myers : Because it would cost them a great deal more to maintain their roads. One thing would counteract the other. The Chairman: Ido not know what the future may show in regard to mo tor-traction. It is going to revolutionize a lot of things. Mr. Myers : That may be quite a fair trade risk, but it is a very different thing from allowing the State line to be tapped by a loop line. The Chairman: But it is allowing the line to be tapped by motor-cars. Mr. Myers : Yes; but I mean physically. The Chairman : I am only showing that you cannot expect this growing monopoly to continually stop local development. Mr. Myers : But the motor-cars would probably feed the railways. The Chairman: That is what they say about this —that is one of their main arguments. They say that if you encourage intensive culture in the counties you will have double the number of sheep, double the number of requirements, and double the output; and the meaning of the Local Railways Act was to encourage intensive cultivation so that the railways may be fed. Mr. Myers : But there is no indication of that. The only indication of that has been the close settlement for dairying purposes in the district. The Chairman : But it may come. Mr. Myers : Yes, but in the meantime it is the duty of the State Department to look after the interests of the State,'which is the owner of the railways. The Railway officials are, after all, the most competent to judge on matters of that sort. They say they regard a line of that kind not as a feeder at all, but as an absolute competitive concern. Mr. Hannay : A dangerous competitor. Mr, Myers : Yes, a dangerous competitor. If it were allowed here it would be the first of the kind, and then others would say, " You have allowed it there : we want it here " ; and so you would have the State railways gradually interfered with in all parts of the country. And as far as this particular loop is concerned, the only people who would derive benefit would be the landowners in this already fat and prosperous district. The Chairman: There is no doubt the landowners will have all the wharves and railways in the end. Mr. Williams : Does not your remark apply to all railways ? Mr. Myers : No, not always. There may in some cases be many advantages accruing to other districts as well, but in this case we show that the only advantage is to the landowners in the particular district. That may be, rightly or wrongly, but that is the position as it presents itself to us. After all, we say, why cannot they use carts and motor-lorries to some extent ? As a matter of fact they do. Mr. Drew, Mr. Wilson, the Mayor of Marton, Mr. Dalrymple, Mr. Purnell, and, I think, Sir James Wilson all say they cart from Marton or from Feilding. The Chairman: Ido not think you could say it is the duty of the Government Department to discourage efficient local traffic. Mr. Myers : No, Ido not say that for a moment; but what I say is this : that they have only to do this carting over a very few miles, and the inconvenience—if it is an inconvenience—is not a serious matter at all, and the people of this district are in a very much better position than almost any other district in the country with the railway and tramway connection and the excellent roads they have in the district. It is submitted, therefore, on behalf of the Department, first of all, that the Government certainly should not-be asked to acquire this line.