LIGHT RAILWAYS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 101, 30 April 1923, Page 7

LIGHT RAILWAYS.

i . j THE WATKATO-COAST PROJECT j — [LINKING RAGLA.J and kawhia. j The announcement that the Waikato 'West Coast railway district has been gazetted brings the ambitions of the promoters of this light railways scheme a step nearer realisation. In 1920 Parliament passed an amendment to the Local Railways Act giving the Governor-! .General power to authorise the construction of private railways of a gauge less 'than that of the standard (3i't Gin) on the application of not less than onefourth of the ratepayers in any defined .district. i The required petition was presented, but the gazetting of the railway district, the rating of which will finance the project, took considerable time, owing to the fact that numerous objections had to be investigated. Now that the area has been determined (it is not available at present) the district can appoint a board to replace the provisional one now inexistence. The route of the proposed railway is from Frankton to Raglan and Kawhia on the West Coast. It is V shaped and branches off to the respective ports at Moerangi Junction, near Waitetuna. By running right into Frankton it is anticipated that a suburban residential area will be created about Hamilton. A very extended area will be opened up by the railway, with great possibilities for farming and milling, in addition to linking up the West Coast with the Main Trunk line. The route has been surveyed to Raglan, while the branch to Kawhia is provisional. It is understood that the Department is favourably disposed to a 2ft. 6in. guage. The value of light railways was demonstrated during the war, and their" * construction, as a forerunner to stan- * dard lines, has been extensively taken up in other countries. The last South African Parliament voted £3,000,000 ' for the construction of light agricultural lines. The line in prospect will ' open a vast district on the West Coast, ' with great potentialities. ' ■' ] ]