£500,000 WANTED.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 214, 6 September 1912, Page 6

£500,000 WANTED.

A MODEST FROGBAMM3B. PROVINCIAL RAILWAY NEEDS. AUCKLAND LEAGUE'S ANNUAL j REPORT. A meeting of the district council of the Auckland Railway.-* League was held tlnb afternoon at the ollice of the secretary i Mr R. R. Hunt), when the annual report, for presentation to the Governmail before the Public Works Statement is brought down, was considered. The report, as read by the chairman (Mr (i. L. IViicocke) set forth that the first consideration of Parliament _hou!d be to open up by railway communication Inrge districts suitable for prosperous settlement, such as the North Auckland Peninsula and the immense areas of rich alluvial and pastoral lands on the East Coast of this island, and also to connect with the Main Trunk railway and the Auckland province the neigh bourmg. yet long disconnected, provincial district of Taranaki. The council still . considers the three lines indicated us of ■first importance from a public, works point of view. Cut they would -now add to these, as deserving of equal attention, ( the loopline across the llauraki Plains, , known as the Paeroa-Pokeno connection. Thie line will shorten the distance by . rail between Auckland and Hie Thames . arid Ohinemuri goldlields districts by , about 45 mile.-., as compared with the ] route via To Aroha. The same mileage will be saved in the journey to all the East Coast, settlements and Cisl>orne when the line is completed between. , Waihi and Poverty Bay. The council recommends that the Government be asked to place a sum of at least £25.000 upon the estimates for the commence- , ment of this work ik-nI summer, at the Paeroa end. EAST (OAST MAIN TRI'XK. During I be past twelve months good progress lias been mad. in the construction of this line, more particularly upon the. section between Gisborne and the Mofcu. which has now reached Otoko. The Titurauga-Paengaroa section has also l>e«i pushed on. but not with the expedition that might have been expected considering the comparatively easy nature of the. country. The satisfactory feature to record concerning this railway is the success of the repeated efforts of the League to have a section authorised and commenced from the Waihi end. With regard to this year's vote for the East Coast line, Auckland to Gisborne, your council recommends that the Government be asked to place on the Estimates for tins national work £150,000, to be allocated as follows: Waihi-Tau-ranga section. £50,000; Tauranga-Te Puke. £20,000; Oisborne-Motii. £80,000. The work on 1 lie north end of the NapierCJisborne line might, in the general interests of the country, well be suspended for one year, and the amount voted last year for this section, £15.000, added to the votes asked for as above, to make the vote for the Giaborne-Motu section ■ £8.1,000, and for tlic. Tauranga-Te Poke section" C 30.000. (be same as last year. NORTHERN "MAIN" TRUNK. The rate of progress on thin line has been somewhat disappointing, no doubt owing lo the natural difficulties! met with in the nature of the country between To Sana and Kaiwaka. and on the route of the deviation adopted via Young's Point and Bickerstaffe to the west of the line originally decided upon by the engineers. Beyond Kaiwaka work lias been steadily if somewhat slowly pushed ahead owing to the unfavourable nature of the country for deep cuttings and tunnelling work, especially on the Bickerstalfe .section, where it is understood the engineers have had great difficulties to contend with owing to the unstable character of the ground to be passed through. The cost of the work, and of bridging the Jvaitara and Otaniatea rivers will probably make the expenditure upon thds section a very heavy one per mile of construction, much of which your Council believe might have been saved by adhering to the original route to the east of Manngaturoto. "With reference to the extension of the main line beyond McCarroll's Gap. tho report of the Royal Commission having decided upon the ■western route via Kirikopuiii, your Council recommend that the Government be asked to make the necessary surveva to enable a further section to be authorised this session as far at least as Kirikopuni, and if possible to Mangakahia. KAIKOHE TO CKAHAM.TOWN. The main line northwards should at once be puehed on to tap the Hokianga district, thus giving settlers in the far north railway communication as far south as Whangarei, from whence there is a regular and frequent steamer service with Auckland. • The particular route from Kaikbhe northwards hliould be carefully considered by the Public Works Department, with n due regard to the country to be traversed north of the J-lokianga writers, together with considerations a.? to oust of construction. The decision of the engineers, after full investigation of the mutter, should be allowed to settle this question. In the opinion of the Council the Government should be asked to place on the Estimates this year the sum of £200,000 for the Northern -Main Trunk railway, including the amount required to complete connection between Kaikohe and Whangarei. Other North Auckland works requiring attention are the completion of . the extension of the Knihu Valley line to the point already authorised by Parliament, and a location survey of a future connecting branch line between Whangarei and the main Jine, at a point near .Waikiekie. LTXKTNG UP WHANGAIIEL There as no doubt as to the importance of .this connecting line so that the traflic from the eastern side of the Northern Peninsula may ultimately flow into the Main Trunk line at a point near Waikiekie. As soon ii>) the progress of the main line has taken it past the most suitable point of junction, for a connecting line with Whmignrei t lie construction of , this railway -mould immediately '"Be put in hand, and Oil' work carried oil siniiiltanpoiisly with the continued extension of the main line northwards to Kalkohe. For the meantime, your Council is of opinion that it is inexpedient to divert attention, and the. public money iivoilnblq, tor the steady pushing ahead i'L v '■' am 'T tlm, "gh the centre of l.eai iui.Uio Whiuifjaiei connection. " STRATFOUD-ONGAiIUE liStiitsi £&T ? fcvsf-JjWfttaa~3n, ej exact l if t AM T,:, On'gar,.; as f$S Srut'ftii-fi eatL,:wero iit-lßst guoceesful i oviTi'omingHlie opposition to tiiie eotiri of the Hod. B. MvKenzie, and -work

now being prosecuted simultaneously from both ends, to the great satisfaction of the Ohura settlers. The amount expended upon this line the year before last was £76.234, us against £03,235 spent the previous year. The council thinks that a ! similar sum should be placed upon the Estimates for this important work as was voted last year, namely, 100.000. BRANCH LTNES. There are several branch lines ;n connection with the development of our railway system in the interests of settlement, which call' for early attention on Ihe part of any Government in power, rhpse are Huntly-Awaroa (alreadyauthorised and started Wuiuku branch, Kawhia branch (connecting that fine West Coast harbour with North Island Main Trunk), VVhangarei-Waikiekie branch (already referred to). Of these lines the one of the most, immediate Linportance is the Huntly-Awaroa branch, which should be extended to Piikeiniro ivith as little delay as possible. At this joint, about 10 miles beyond the Runtly bridge now uDiler construction, the line vvil'l tap deposits of goo<l coal, which will <nsur-> profitable freight. When pushed further on in the general direction of Raglan it will become an outlet for the fine Tp Akau block of country, rapidly becoming settled by Crown tenants, and it present completely cut off during the .vinter by impassable roads from all ■arriage facilities for their farm and domestic requirements. This branch will llso. when it reaches the Raglan Harbour •vaters, become a feeder for the ilaiu Frank traffic from freight and passengers Iγ coastal steamers trading between West joast districts and Raglan., The Waiuku jranch. if not at once imperatively needed from a national point of view, would *ithout doubt prove most useful as a feeder of the main line traffic, As a lomparatrvel'y closely settled district for •nany years, in which the population are, from "geographical circumstances, deDrived of easy access to.the main line, the ;laims for consideration of the Waiuku branch are far more deserving of attention than those of numerous branch lilies jpon which large sums have been spent in the South Island with no adequate public advantage. At the same time your 2'ouneil does not consider it expedient to press for votes this session , for any of these branch lines except for that known is the Huntly-Awaroa, upon which work las already been begun. Last year a vote ->{ £-20,000* was Bit down for this work, which includes a combined railway and traffic bridge across the Waikato. The ■ounciV thinks a vote of £25,000 might be isked for this year. rAKSTEEL TU^rNEL. '•We now hope that tho urgent need 31" this work will be recognised by tho present Minister for "Railways, who has i lißNil knowledge of the question, and tha-t tho duplication, of the tunnel at last agreed 'to "_>y the Ward Government -will be immediately taken in hand, by the Administration" of which the lion W. F. Massey is the head. XQBTH V. SOVTH. "The votes for railway construction in this provincial district herein proposed amount in the aggregate to £500,000 for the specific purposes named. Our representatives in Parliament we hope will support this modest programme of works as an irreducible minimum of expenditure upon works which we consider of the most immediate importance. In face of. the fact that tho 118-2 miles of North Island railways earn within a fraction of 3 per cent., while the 1030 miles of South IsUukl lines earn only 2 per cent., it is surely a plain business proposal to suggest that, outsklt; of two or threw lines* which ought certainly to go on. public works expenditure on railway construction in the South island ought to bo suspended, anil the 'bulk of the money available devoted to fahe extension of rail-way facilities in that portion of the Dominion where they are. shown to be most profitable to the State, where they are most needed in the interests of the development of the country and where they ere most justly due on a basis of comparative population and mileage of runways in each Island.