The Daily Telegraph. MONDAY, MAY 21, 1883.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3697, 21 May 1883, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. MONDAY, MAY 21, 1883.

Although v flying , survey is being- made of a proposed route for' a railway to connect Napier with the Waikato we look in vain for any recognition on the part of our contemporaries of the possibility ot such a work being , ever undertaken. I'hero are throe rival routes, biil the Napiev-Taupo one is ignored. Indeed, the Wellington Post goes so far as to say thut " the route is definitely fixed from Wellington northward as far as Marton —about 120 miles— and from Auckland southward as far as Awamutu—about 100 miles." Having made this apparently official statement, the Post then proceeds to say :—But, supposing wo are going from Wellington to Auckland, the question arises-—Which way shall we go after passing Marton r . Shall we follow the present railway to Wanganui and thence to New Plymouth (when Mr Walter J"ohns,ton has " straddled across " that last ten.-miie gyp), £f.nd then go coastwise via Mqkau? Or shall we inland up,the , Rangitikei Valley, and tijrough the centre of the island by Murimotu and 'i'g.uyo P That is the point now at issue, and 'there is likely to be as much warm partisanship as regards these rival routes as there has been respecting tho course of the South Island trunk line's extension to Cook Strait. Perhaps another Royal Commission will be resorted to as the most comfortable method of solving the troublesome .problem." The Post understands, however, that the Government have now before them full details of the practicability of the inland route for the North Island; such line based on a survey of Mr Sieely\s, and confirmed after cxami* nation by 'Mr Marchant, Chief Surveyor. It goes from the neighbourhood of Marton up tho right bank of the Rangitikei river, and passes through Huntervillo to the plains pf the interior. Mr Murray, a surveyor ill Maiton, some time ago reported to tho

RaTig-itikei County Council upon a route ho had discovered. Mr Sicely's route is an improvement upon it, for it avoids some high land which affected the gradients unfavourably. The land that the line would open is described as equal to the average ot{ Rangitikei country, and portions are said to be as good as any in the colony. There aro splendid forests of valuable timber. Ono totara forest of an area of twenty square miles is specially mentioned. Considering the scarcity of this timber, and its value for sleepers, this makes the discovery of the roTite of great consequence. Mr Murray, in. his printed report, states that coal and superior limestone have been found hi the beds of the several streams in the interior, and indications are such as to point to an extensive coalfield. The Post, carried away by imagination, then says it may prove that we have touched by an accident, as it were, on what has the capability of growing into a New Zealand reproduction of the English "black country," full of manufacturies and flourishing local industries. There can be no excuse for delay on the jjart of the Government in making a detailed survey of tho route, and we hope to hear of this being promptly taken in hand. The value of tho Crown lands by increment would pay for tho line, and, as it is asserted that from GO to 70 miles would bo saved in distance between "Wellington and Auckland as compared with tho coast Ktic via tho Mokau, surely a very strong case exists for an exhaustive examination. In the meanwhile how about Mr Williams' survey ? Was it all along intended to be a blind 'i