Bay of Plenty Times. FRIDAY, JANUARY 25th, 1918 EAST COAST RAILWAY

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume XLVI, Issue 6967, 25 January 1918, Page 2

Bay of Plenty Times. FRIDAY, JANUARY 25th, 1918 EAST COAST RAILWAY

The f ict that theßesi K>nt Engineer, Mr J II uinah, has madt! H-rangemeDts at W.iibj for the roni-rjencement rf work on thi.! portion of die East G>.tt railway on Th*"s side of Athenree vriH V-« hailed vrii. i)lfV»>ure by the pei-pi iof T'tur.jUga, Kutikati and W«;i i The comn)9ncment 'f this woik U mainly the' income of perai tent agitation by the Auckland Kailways League, abiy supported by the Mayor of Waihi, Mr Donaldson, dome little time ago there was apparently little chance of having a start made on I'lellue to [lie westward, and when ilia Auckland Railways League took up the question it looked very much J ike a forlorn hope. The executive of tho League, however, made out a good case, aud eventually undertook to n'nd a certain number of men for the work. In. this respect excellent aid was rendered by the Mayor of Waihi, while Mr Q Vesey Stewart, of Katikati, also put his weight into the scale. Many 3ears ago the late Hon. James McGowan consistently advocated the construction of the line from Waihi to OHsborne, and while a Minister of the Orown he ms^e a reconnaissance of a great part of th.9 country through which the line was to run. On that occasion he was accompanied by Mr Hannah, This was some years before Mr Hannah wasstationed in Tauranga, aud the route then decided on has not beeu deviated from, which speaks well for Mr Hannah's skill as a railway engineer, and it should be borne in

mind that the route in the western area presented some difficulties, It is gratifying to find that despite the opposition in certain quaneis the Government has adhered to the line advocated by the late Mr McGowau. lv his day, however, "the line was bu f a dream, but 'here is every indication that it will now ere long become a reality. The materialisation of the scheme then decided upon was en rusted to Mr '[aunah, who iniy be depended upon 'o expedite construction in the Ath m'ee district tqually with the other sections of the line under his control. Tha railway from Waihi to Tauranga will be a line which must result in & large passenger traffic, and will also be the ijeaus of settling the many thousands of acres of land between here and Waihi All the land to the westward can be made productive, and. will be settled just so soon as the railway makes it possible to convert the present ■vasto areas ioto farms capable of carrying thousands of head of cattle and sheep. New Zealand has a very heavy burden on its shoulders as a result of the.war, and one of the ways of lightening that load is to push on with railway construction, especially, so far as this district is concerned, the line between Waihi and i aurauga, in order that the lund vow lying waste mv) bo utilibcd in the direction of adding to the Dominion's exports.