THE STRATFORD-ONGARUE LINE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 171, 21 July 1910, Page 4

THE STRATFORD-ONGARUE LINE.

The members of the influential deputation from the King Country which waited on the Premier and the Minister for Public Works last Monday, were in some ways rewarded for their trouble, but they got very little satisfaction about the Stratford-Ongarue line. For Mr. MeKenzie has evidently made up his mind that the line ought to be constructed solely from the Taranaki end, and he said so in his most dogmatic manner. "VVe do not understand on what grounds the Minister for Public Works has come to this decision, for his argument about the additional expense involved in working from the two ends of a railway line toward the middle is hardly worth criticising. Every railway worth talking about that has ever been constructed—from the Cape to Cairo line to the North Auckland Main Trunk, and the Midland railway—lias been laid from both ends simultaneously, for the obvious reason that it is the wisest and most profitable policy to open up the intervening country by extending the boundaries of settlement or civilisation as quickly as possible over the widest possible area. If the great African trans-continental line had been built only from the Cape end, the upper valley of the Niie and the Egyptian Soudan would have had to await mc advene ox civilisation for many years, and similarly ii the i;nu bad been built Ironi tile Egyptian end only, lihodesia and British Central Africa would have been leit isolateand imapproach-'-le. A country or a district trnxi. is opened up by the advance of civilisation from both ends at once must _i_i_ie»Lly make faster progress than if the frontiers of settlement were pushed lurwarii into it from one side oniy. it a-ui_u hardly be uece_sary to iaooui* -lis point, except that it seems to have e_cape_ Air. -ic_-en_ie's observation entirely, but there are other important considerations that apply more especially to the ease of the _iratrord-Ung_r_e

hue. Everybouy kno.vs that tms was the route originally selected for t_e Main Xrunii iine, and that settlers were induced to take up land in the country between Stratford and Ongarue by the definite promise that t_.ey v. ere to be put in communication as specdiiy as possible with the outside world. )iow the Main Trunk line has passed them by, and they aje still' as nopelessly isolated as ever. The country owes it to the settlers in the Ohura and the adjoining districts to fulfil its pledge to them, and to open up then land from the nearest available vantage point, so as to give them tne benefits of communication with the large centres of commerce and population without any needless delay. Now that the line is being driven through from the Stratford end ouly, these settlers who have borne tbe hard-hips of " back-block" life so long have strong and just cause for complaint. And the injustice will not be limited to them alone. For Auckland has a rightful claim upon some portion of the advantages secured to the whole country by opening up these central districts; and it is clear that as the railhead advances frcm the Stratford end, all the trade of the district as it opens up will flow outward into Taranahi. . It is neither fair to Auckland nor to New Zealand that the great material benefits to be secured by opening up these valuable areas should be thus artificially diverted toward tbe relatively smaller and poorer centres of population and trade. For all these reasons it seems to us imperative I that the construction of this railway should be carried on from both ends at once. We sec very little force in Mr. McKenzie's contention that working at _oth ends of the route would necessitate extra expense for additional plant and en;Vneers; and his remark that to build the line from both ends at once would take twice as long as to build it from one end only, soars far beyond the limits of our modest comprehension. It certainly is most unfortunate that the Minister for Public Works should have contracted this inexplicable prejudice against what must appear to the unbiassed observer the only plain and obvious course for the Department to follow. But we hope that our political representatives will be able to persuiT-e Parliament that in asking Government to start work on this line from Ongarue as well as from Stratford, they are not only demanding justice for the settlers and for Auckland, but they are acting in the best interests of the whole Dominion.