POKENO-PAEROA RAILWAY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 246, 15 October 1917, Page 4

POKENO-PAEROA RAILWAY.

The promise of the Minister of Public Works to bring in a bill authorising tbe Government to build a railway line from Pokeno to Paeroa does not mean that work will soon begin ou that much talked of short cut; it merely means that the Government can start ou it when it likes. But the bill w ill advance the proposed line an important stage. Hitherto the line has been merely a project: iv the railway map that is attached to this years Public Works Statement it appears among the ** explored " lines, the most remote category, which includes proposals for railway extension that perhaps will not be realised for a generation or two. We do not like the general policy of starting newlines where there is so much urgently needed extension of main lines to be done, but this short cut across the rectangle formed by Auckland, Frankton, Te Aroha and the Thames, is out of the ordinary run of new- lines. It is necessary for quick communication with the La.-t Coast, and it should be built at the same time as, or soon after, the oxtension of the East Coast line from Waihi to Tauranga. The Waikato railway system was not designed to give the shortest access to Paeroa, Waihi and Tauranga, consequently the traveller by rail to Paeroa and Waihi has now to go a long way round by Frankton and Te | Aroha. By means of a line built straight across country from Pokeno to Paeroa forty-live miles could he saved on the railway journey to Paeroa. which, although only sixty odd miles from Auckland as the crow (lies, is now- nearly 130 miles by rail. The line would lie a cheap one to build, and besides providing this short cut to the Bay of Plenty, would bring the rich llaurnki Plains district into much closer railway i connection with Auckland. But the , saving of time and material in the run I to Tauranga and the settlements beyond | is the main argument for its construe- \ tion. It would be highly wasteful to I plan for a great deal of traffic with the Fast Coast, and then take the trallic all the way round by Frankton and Tc Aroha. i