The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR or W&MR) was a private railway company that built, owned and operated the Wellington-Manawatu railway line between Thorndon in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, and Longburn, near Palmerston North in the Manawatu, between 1881 and 1908, when it was acquired by the New Zealand Government Railways. Its successful operation in private ownership was unusual for early railways in New Zealand.
History
At the time of the company's founding in 1881, the government had built the Foxton Branch railway linking Palmerston North and Foxton, and had completed surveys of lines down the west coast to Wellington. The government of Sir George Grey had approved the construction of the line, which was included in the Public Works Estimates of 27 August 1878. The final details of the survey were completed, and the first workers for the construction of the line were hired on 21 August 1879. A short section of the line, from Wellington to Wadestown, was partially constructed. However, Grey's government was defeated at the September 1879 general election and left office in October 1879. The government of Sir John Hall took office and he had the line removed from the Public Works Estimates. Hall then created a Royal Commission to review the government's public works programme, with a view to reducing government expenditure. The Commission reviewed the Wellington-Manawatu line in March 1880, and concluded that work should be abandoned.
Company formation
Backed by the Wellington Chamber of Commerce, a group of prominent Wellington businessmen decided to form a company to fund the railway's construction. They did so on 15 February 1881, issuing 100,000 shares at £5 each. By May 1881 43,000 shares had been sold, including a substantial package to Māori landowners in the Manawatu, who exchanged land along the proposed route for shares in the company.
In May 1881 the company signed a contract with the government to purchase the land, formation and materials used for building the line so far (which had already cost £30,000). The government made certain undertakings limiting the company's profitability and dividend payments, and made substantial grants of Crown land (210,500 acres or 85,186 hectares) to prevent land speculation and make the railway a viable entity. The total land grants were valued at £96,000.00. The contract stipulated the line was to be built within five years of commencement; it took four years and two months to build. The contract also included a clause for the government to purchase the company in the future at a "fair value", something that was later to prove contentious.
The government had proposed that the new "West Coast" line would go via Foxton, but the new company (William Travers) said in February 1881 that the route would to follow the most direct route to Palmerston North (via Fitzherbert, connecting with the NZR at Longburn), so bypassing Foxton. This was a shorter and more direct route to Napier and Auckland (72 not 82 miles), and avoided "unproductive country" in favour of a route with potentially better hinterland. As the company was raising money by selling shares, William Fox said that the terminus had not yet been decided and that Travers was not authorised to make an announcement, and consideration of engineering difficulties and cost would be required (although the company directors would then choose the shorter route!).
In August 1881 the Railways Construction and Land Act was passed, allowing joint-stock companies to build and run private railways, as long as they were built to the government's standard rail gauge of and connected with the government railway lines. The Act had the effect of authorising the WMR (and also the New Zealand Midland Railway Company).
Construction of the line recommenced on 25 September 1882. A list of land purchase in the Tawa area includes 17 names, including 6 for which the amount was decided by the Compansation Court.
Construction was completed on 27 October 1886, with the first through train running on 3 November; see Wellington–Manawatu Line