THE NORTH ISLAND TRUNK.

Press, Volume XXX, Issue 4098, 14 September 1878, Page 5

THE NORTH ISLAND TRUNK.

EAILWAY. At a public meeting, held at the Thames, to I urge , upon the Government the construction of the Thames-Waikatb Bailway, the follow-: ing instructive speech is reported to hare been delivered by Mr James Mackay: — > Mr Mackay ascended the platform, and said that he came forward to give information ac requested, andcould do so disinterestedly, aa he had no landed interest in the proposed line of railway, or any mining interest in the Thames district. All the feeling he bad in the matter was to ccc a place fee had long been personally connected with take its proper, position in the colony. He, as agent for the Government at Waikato in 1873 and 1874, had been engaged with" several Government; engineers and surveyors in exploring the country northward of Waikato, with the ob-: ject of finding a practicable route to join the nearest point of either the east coast line from Wellington to Napier, or, that from Wellington to Taranaki via west coast. Their attention was first directed to the line from Waikato (say frdin- Ohanpo) tit Tokangamutu and Mokau to Taranaki Owing to the native difficulty it was found impossible to explore the country throughout, bat he could speak from his own knowledge there would tie no engineering obstacles of importance in constructing a line from Ohaupo to Te Uira (four' miles west of Tokiingamutu), or from Alexandra to that point. The' expensive portion Of the .line would probably be the descent from the Mokau Saddle to the level of the river bed, and after arriving at the mouth of that river, again ascending to the inland level of the White Cliffe (Parininihi), and thence to the termination of the West Coast line at Waitara. From Waitara to Wanganui was tolerably easy country, and the line already constructed from Wiinganui to Foxton, on the Manuwatu river,- was an excellent one, with the exception of the steep gradients between the Burakina, Whangaehu, and Wanganui rivers* Aβ regarded a line oia Ohinetnuri, Katikati, and Tauxanga, as proposed the other evening, any one acquainted with the country would at once pronounce such a project" to be an absurdity. He, with the Engineer-in-Chief and other officers of that department, had explored the country from Hamilton southwards to Lake Taupo, and thence to the Muritnotu Plains; they found a. practicable route to Bakitepaunui. There the Engineer-in-Chief left the party, and explored the country adjacent to the Whangaehu river, with the object of discovering a practicable line from'that place to the Whanganui and Wellington line. The Engineer- in Chief reported Shis route as being I difficult and expensive, but feasible. Capt. I Turner, district "engineer at Tauranga, and ! the speaker, then endeavored to find a practicable route from Bakltepaunui to the i head of the Oroua branch of the Manawatu i river, running parallel with the Buahine range. They were n it able to travel through the whole distance, but lately he bad been informed by the Government engineers that the line from Foxton to the upper Oroua river was not difficult oi" construction, and another engineer reported favorably on that from the upper Oroua to Muritnotu being practicable. Daptain Turner and binuelf had tried a line from Murieucta to Napier eta the Ngaruroro rirer. This could not be constructed except at an enormous outlay. He would therefore advocate a line through from Grahe-mstowa to Hamilton or Cambridge, and thence by Tanpo, Morimotu, and Oroua to Foxt on. Thie, probably, did not open up the most valuable country in the North Island, bub it had, in his opinion, the merit of being the mo*t direct and most pr*cliaible route between Auckland and Wellington, asd was free from any native difficulty. It was also easy to, iom the Taweaki line on the west coast, and the Napier line to the eastward. Aβ the Honorable th« Minister for Public Work* itiatly observed, the distance between the two line* at Manawaia wee inconsiderable, the hnk between Banfiythorpe on the Whanpmnt line and Woodville on the.Wellington Napw line being only about twelve, miles. He would, like *» point out that ths Hne eurreyedbj Mr Simpson did not crosi fcaerWaihon, or Thamee *£.«*• piece as that intended by "Mr Stewart. Mir

Simpson's line craned the Weihou gneu° th» Wsitoki block, at a place known as Tβ Boa. kohaohao, wfaioh «v some distance below th» Aroba block, and met Mr Stewart's sunrey ou the property formerly owned by the speaker, but now the property of the manager of the Bank of New Zealand in London. Mr Stewart's line came as directly as possibln from Hamilton to Omahu, on the Arohat block; this should now be adopted, and he would urge on the meeting the desirability of onljr following Mr Simpson's line as far a& Waitoki, and then continuing on from there to Stewart's line at Omahu.