OUR RAILWAY.

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5490, 25 April 1910, Page 2

OUR RAILWAY.

The fact that Government has decided ie to commence railway construction ig southward from Tanranga harbour fe evidently docs not find favour with the Je Auckland Herald if we are to judge ;* by a leading article which appeared in ." the city daily last Wednesday entitled r " Bit* of Railway." '1 he Herald says t j 4 " Without being ungrateful for ar.y jf odd item, we may still express our r- astonishment that bits of railwa} r s ir should be peppered along the Coast .c instead of a statesmanlike and busit nesslike effort being made to push for!r ' ward what is practically a main line. f To commence a railway at Tauranga ' and end it at Opotiki is evidently a !C mere fanta ia, of which the motive and re the purpc se would be hard to discover j- did we not know that the chief end of nf the Public Works policy of the Govsntmeiit is to spend as little as possible in the North, so that as much as possible may be left to spend J' in the South. . . . Every ton oi material will hSve to be carried by sea to this odd bit of construction now commenced, and when enough mileage is laid to > justify the opening of business every ton of plant and rolling stock must be similarly transported, At . isolated fragment of line, which has nc speedy prospect of being connected with the railway system of the North will there appear, to be docketed awaj in Departmental returns with thos« other fragments which are the costliesi and least profitable of railway investments. ... As things are th( people of Tauranga and Opotiki art well aware that they cannot possesi the real advantages of railway communication until the line comes through to Waihi, and they rejoice in the commencement o* their section mainlj because it increases their prospect oi some day being linked up with the main railway system of the North.' Further on the article says the rail< way "will lead for the time being only from one small port to anothei small port." The opinion of the /Auckland Herald is certainly not the opioioi held by the people of the Tauranga Te Puke, Matata, Whakatane, auc Opotiki districts. Persons possessing a knowledge of the country fron Tauranga to Opotiki readily admit thai the Ward Administration has nctec wisely in deciding to give the settler; to the southward early access with ou< of the best harbours on the eastcn coast of the North Island. 'The motive and purpose of the Government ir constructing the railway from Tau rauga to Opotiki is to give the settlen in the intervening area, and mai.j others to the northward of the Tauranga harbour, a reasonable chance o: securing a fair return for their labour which, under present conditions, thej are unable to secure. The shee] farmers and dairymen of the coast an now greatly handicapped for the warn of freezing works in their own vicinity When a settler has fat sheep for salt he has to face the expense of drivinj the animals a long journey to the rail' way or sending them to Auckland bj steamer, and often when they read market they have depreciated considerably in value as compared at th< time when they left the farm. Tfc( land from Tauranga to Opotiki is wel able to turn off sufficient fat stock tc support freezing works, and the Auckland Herald can rest assured that the coastal settlers will be ready with tb< works as soon as the railhead reaches Opotiki. Railway communication tc the port of Tauranga and the operation of freezing works here are of vital importance to the dairymen of the Bay of Plenty, who are now called upon tc pay heavy cartage and steamer freights on their butter and cheese, in addition to wharfage, freezing and other charges in Auckland. When the railway is running from Tauranga to Opotiki and the freezing works are in operation the steamers which convey NewZealmi's produce to the Old Country will be able to call at Tauranga and take away the beef, mutton, butter, cheese, flax, etc , produced by the settlers of the coast Of course, some of the concerns thaare now getting good pickings out of the farmers will lose them, but there will be the satisfaction of knowing that the action of the Government in starting this "fragment of line "—as our contemporary calls it — will ultimately be the means of securing for our settlers the full reward to which they are ontitled. Even the small section of the line from Tauranga to Te Puke, between thirteen and fourteen miles in length, will prove a great boon to the 6ettlere of Te Puke, Papamoa, Paengaroa, Pongakawa, and Maketu. This area of land ranks with the most fertile io the province and is capable of very great development, especially when the thousands of acres of swamp land are thoroughly drained and fit to carry dairy herds, which will be the case in a year or two. Dees the Auckland Herald know that it now costs the Te Puke Dairy Factory £l 17s 6d per ton to land its butter on the Auckland wharf ? With the railway running to lauranga and the Drospect of cheaper steamer freights thence to Auckland bhe dairymen of Te Puke may w.JI reckon that this charge will be reduced by about half. Chaff may then be sent to the Auckland market with a reasonable chance of competing with that product from Waikato, as up to th»aresent our chaff growers have be<n jractically blocked o&c of the Auckland narket, owing te the cost of cartage rod steamer freight Maize growers '

It**"'-' ! I !j,i I I . ,< . will hail iho railway with delight, as they cnn count on a much better retnrn and nake sure of catehiilg ike trarket. 'ihe flaxu ills, too, that are '-■pirating in the neighbourhood am Hire to benefit. Wiih Iho advent of «he rai'way steamer freights are certain to be reduced, a d the Tauranga dairymen ai.d sawu i!ers will, therefure, ben« fit in these concession?. In the natural order of things passenger faxes between Taur-nga and Auckland must come down in the near future. Ouf contemporary says "every ton of rnattnial will have to be carried by sea to this odd bit of construction" and "eve y ton of plant and rolling stock must be similarly transported." Well, all we can say is that merchant -ships and war-vessels of between two and three thousand tono have eDtered and left the pert safely, even in its present undeveloped state, while the depth of water provides for vessels between double and treble the above tonnage. It is to the credit of the Ward Cabinet that they have recognised our great ratural asset — wcrth untold wealth to the settlers of the East Cobbl-— and have decided to fail the country frcln Tauranga to Upotiki as scon as possible so that the farmers may establish freezing works and send their beef, mutton, butter and cheese direct from Tauranga to the British market. The Auckland Herald, in its anxiety to hurl a stone at the Government, evidently has ao consideration for the severely-handi-capped settlers of Te Tuke, Matata, Whakatane and Opotiki. The people of the coast recognise that the Government is going to batter down the barriers of isolation that have held the residents of the Bay of Plenty in serfdom for the third of a century, and which only for the Ward Administra tfon might have continued for a longer period. In conclusion We may say that the great majority of the settlers of the East Coast are just as anxious as the Auckland Herald to see the line started from Waihi, and have sufficient faith in the Government to believe the Minister's assurance that construction will start in the near future from Waihi, as well as northward from Tauranga.