THE TAMAKI OANAL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 55, 6 March 1900, Page 5

THE TAMAKI OANAL.

At the meeting-* of the Auckland Harbour Board this afternoon the fol- ■ lowing- ]eter was read from Mr David Niekl, of Newtowu, Wellington:— . "J. H. Witheford, Esq., Chairman! Auckland Harbour Board: "I have seen with pleasure by the news from i Auckland that you have been elected Chairman of the Harbour Board, and. I think very properly so. Will you allow me as a stranger to you, but for some time a resident in Auckland, and as I have a strong interest in. its welfare, to press upon you now to go in for a canal at Manukau, which - would ' fur flier sihoi'ten the mail time ' from Sydney to San Francisco, at least one day, and be a saving of a.bout £50 on the voyage. Then the incoming- mails from Sydney could be delivered here much.1 as they could be sent ashore at Manukau instead of being sent to that place from Auckland for the South. There is money enough in the colony to pay for the work, and there is plenty of labour to do it, so I believe. I would advise you to consult Mr J. E. Tayl6j\ of/Mangere, who tells me, if I remember correctly, that there is only about' one quartxvof a mile "to cut through. Mr Taylor has all the' data at his finger's ends, and he is a very safe man to apply to. I would also mention another important matter which greatly concerns the prosperity of Auckland, that is t(he cut- . ting of two lines of railway from Wellington to Auckland. Why should Auckland be so isolated, and inaccessible? These things ought to iha;ve been, done some years ago."