The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. THURSDAY FEBRUARY 15,1834.

Auckland Star, Volume XXV, Issue 40, 15 February 1894, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 15,1834.

For tlis e»uii that laolu asaistanoj, For the wrong that stidi ritistaae*, ¥n thtfutnrd i£ the di»tanc». ; ' And th« «ood that we can do. : :

The Executive Committee of th Northern Railways League have but expressed the opinion of all Auckland in the letter which they have addressed to the Minister of Public Works regard* ing the connection of our city with Wellington by railway. We confess to sharing the surprise felt by the Executive that such a very long time has been spent over the survey and exploration of the routes without some decisive report being forthcoming, and we can. cannot but feel with them that unless more energy is displayed another session of Parliament may slip by before such a report is ready. As the League's Executive points out to the Minister, the Select Committee of the House recommended in 1892: " 1. That a dray road be put in band to connect Taranaki district with the Upper Mokau. 2. That further exploration and survey are necessary before the location of the North Island Trunk Railway can be determined." The League now wish to know what exploration and road making have been done since the Committee made their recommendations. All of us are equally interested in obtaining information on the point as soon as possible. We do not know if the present exploring parties are sufficient to overtake the . thorough examination of the country before the wet weather sets in, but, if they are n<jt- f - by all ffigapg let th^p be Increased so that when Parliament meets there may be an exhaustive report placed on ttfe table $$$• flojje.

The suggestion in the League's letter on the necessity of a thorough survey of the different routes is a very judicious one. We know that both in the matter of roads and railways in this cojony an extra amount of expense has been repeatedly incurred through the preliminary surveys having been hasty. In the case of roads, it has often happened that they have been taken by circuitous routes, or through parts of the country which were the least likely to be settled and the most difficult to traverse. Of course, with roads, this can be remedied by others being made, but where such an expensive work as a railway is concerned, blunders like these are irremediable. A very careful exploration of the country, especially where it is comparatively little known, as is the case with that part of the North Island over which the proposed line if to be taken, is absolutely necessary before any decision is arrived at. Thorough exploration may save thousands of pounds in the construction of the line, and gain thousands more in the near future.

We do not here enter into the merits of the different routes proposed for the line connecting the Waikato railway with the trunk line from Wellington to Taranaki. The connection at Stratford seems, so far as past exIploration goes, to offer the greatest advantages,, looking at the railway as a trußk line r but the clairaa.of the routes which find favour with many people in Taranaki can" only" be impartially adjudicated when they nave all" been thoroughly examined.- Let them therefore !:be thoroughly examined, as the League respectfully desire the Government to do; and let it be done with expedition so that when Parliament meets we may know what is the best joute.