THE RIVAL ROUTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 304, 24 December 1898, Page 2

THE RIVAL ROUTES.

*. «■ ; (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. 1 find that a correction is necessary in the information telegraphed a few clays ago regarding the area, resources and probable value of the Waimarina forest. The quantity of timber in the block has been estimated by the Public Works Department at 16,524,000,000 feet; but this, of course, is a mere guess, as the forest has not been i systematically explored. -At one shil- ! ling per hundred feet, this would yield a total of • ight, not as previously wired, three millions sterling; but I am afraid this is a very optimistic guess, however nice it may appear on paper. * i 1 find also that I somewhat mis- ! represented the views of Mr Blow, Under-Secretary for Public Works, in reference to the rival routes. What , he gave me to understand was that, ! in his opinion, both lines of railway would eventually have to be constructed; and that the line inland from Stratford for a distance of forty miles, which, of course, would be part of the Taranaki route, is justifiable at once. But as it will take four or live years to construct this forty miles of line, the agitation for the" complete • adoption of the Taranaki route niav remain over until this portion of it is i finished. ; The Lands Department estimates ! the total area of the Waimarino block at 350,000 acres, and while it admits that there is an abundance of o- ooc i timber, the surveyors state that much of it, especially the totara.- is injured by dry rot, due, no doubt, to the fact that the subsoil, which is overlaid I with a very thin layer of soil resultine- ! from decaying vegetation, consists of pumice. Within the block is the small . township of Eaetihi, and there is some | settlement in other directions. In ! he clearing- » great quantity of vaiu- ! able timber has been burnt, there : lack of railway communication The general idea among the experts j of the Lands and Survey Department is that the value of the land C a£ l \ the Stratford route is much superior! to that of the Central line, which would be practically worthless when denuded of timber.