AUCKLAND RAILWAYS LEAGUE

Auckland Star, Volume XLIX, Issue 87, 12 April 1918, Page 6

AUCKLAND RAILWAYS LEAGUE

A meeting or the Auckland Railways League was held yesterday Mtemoou, fcicre 4fiHiJ ,r^ eUt « I : >lr r ' < - uei " vcnairmam. ±>._f\atnau, S. Westney, c. j. iiu'riiinson, l. I. Nathan, f. v larK v Koianus, d. .Muelier, Hornolow, It. Hunt aud !•;. vVright. ' -New iiieuiuers were elected as follows:— .Hessrs s,. Auiuury, .1. . „urt, a. Alueiton, A. Kulaous, am-, v. Wilson. A letter was receiveu noni the Minister of w ,Vn. r ,' is :,>Mlrl "S "''' 1-eaitue that he is not losing siL-m „r ibe necessity to resume work at uuaruu tunnel as soon as ue 11111 ariaiigc matters. The (.'uiiiiui.-sioiier ot the Auckland Railways League, in his report ou the MauuKUunoto tunnels, said: -.liierc are still tuu- usanus ol slaos and temporary sleepers slacked or scattered about perismng in yie weather, also Huge liuuinevs oi Kauri sunlings and oiner heavy limners brought inithy miles at great oipeu'se, and uarU to replace, vvnlcn win soon ue useless. 'mere are many tons ot rails nun other iron lying about rusting, and iron is valuable now. in a omc cases lengths will .soou be burled, to be diseovereu later by tht plough ot tue settler, to his sorrow. _v_lso, there are several thousand permanent sleepers waiting for the line to be prepared to be put in place. The tour miles ol tram will soon be useless, as the sleepers are corroding and will be too far gone in decay for use J.he sight of It all 15 convincing proof of the vast wealth at the diniiosal of the Public Worts Department, as no private concein could afford" to waste niouey ou such n lavish scale." The following resolution, moved by Mr K. Wight, was carried:—-1 hat this " League protests against the removal of the service, rails from Pukcuiiro. they having been taken there at enormous expense, and I ■should be left for the prosecution of the Pukomlro line to its authorised destination." Mr It. E. Hornbiow proposed, "That, in view of tho statement made by the Defence Minister that alien labour is to be used in the near future on Public Works, this executive is strongly of opinion that the alien labour available in any particular locality, such as Kaihu. should be utilised as far as possible on the public works there, and not transferred lo other localities.'' Mr Hornbiow spoke at some length on the valuable assets in the North, and referred lo the Waipouu forest, which he said h.iil an area of 'JS.SSO acres. This was originally bought for 3/ an acre, some forty years ago, from the Maoris. Now it was one of the greatest uuworked assets or the Northern Wairoa district, for it was part of the terirtory embraced iv tiie Waipouu Riding. The forestry expert asserted that, managed on successful lines, the forest would provide remunerative work at the value of £1,000,01)0 on logging and sawing the timber. With such a huge asset lying almost at the door of the present authorised railway objective the payable prospects of an extended Kaihu Valley railway were assured.