The Daily Telegraph. MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1883.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3868, 10 December 1883, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. MONDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1883.

Travellers from Napier overland cither to AVellington or Palmerston very justly complain at tho unnecessary time consumed on the journey. Tho total distance is about 232 miles, of -which 137 arc covered by railway. Leaving Napier by the 7.25 a.m. train the traveller does not reach AVellington till 6.55 p.m. the next day. Thirty-five hours and a half, it is justly contended, is a great deal too long, and might be shortened by at least two or three hours. As it is now, the time occupied by the journey, to say nothing of the extra expense, prevents the overland route from entering into any sort of competition with the steam boats. A reference to the mail coach advertisements is calculated still further to prevent a stranger from undertaking the journey. The first advertisement runs as follows— " Makatoku to AVoodvillo and Palmerston. On and after December Ist intending passengers for Woodville and Palmerston must leave Napier by the 3 p.m. train on Monday, AVednesday, .and Friday, resting at Makatoku all night, leaving by coach following morning at 6 o'clock." It will be seen 'that there is not a word about Masterton in the above advertisement, and travellers are told that for Woodville and Palmerston they must (the italics are ours) leave Napier on the afternoon of the days specified. Everybody except a stranger knows that there is no must about it, and . that by taking the morning train on those days the traveller can roach either Woodville or Palmerston without spending a night on tho journey. To make the matter still more perplexing to a stranger another advertisement, immediately following- the one we have quoted above, states that travellers for Masterton and Palmerston must come by tho train leaving Napier at 7.25 a.m. on tho very same days on which passengers for Palmerston must come by tho afternoon train. Tho two advertisements clash, andboth are misleading. Wo should not havo re-

ferred to this matter so pointedly, but we have lately been calling attention to the losses the colony is sustaining by working its railways. Railway communication between Wellington and Napier is very important to the welfare of the whole country lying between thoso two places, while at Woodville, midway between the two, there is rapidly rising a large and thriving population of producers. It is not a question with us as to whether Wellington or Napier shall have the trade of Woodville, that is a minor affair that can be safely loft to settle itself to suit the convenience of the commercial classes. Our business at present is with the railway. There is now a gap in our railway communication of thirty-two miles between Makatoku and AVoodville, and of fifty-eight between Woodville and Masterton, in all ninety miles. At the present rate of public works progression it will probably be at least seven years before that gap is bridged over, and in the meantime the steam boat company is making a profit on j.assougcr traffic that would otherwise go to swell the receipts of the railway. There is happily, however, a brighter prospect of through communication than that afforded by Government public works. AYe allude to the operations of the ton-Manawatu Railway Company. In six months' time this company will open the first section of its line—from AVellington to Porirua, aud in three months' time tenders close for the formation of all the sections remaining unlet. From Porirua tho hue goes through very easy country, and it is confidently anticipated that in two years the whole line will be open for traffic from Wellington to Palmerston. It is too much to expect the Government will have their line ready from Tahoraite, through AVoodville to Palmerston, by that date, and from all appearances thero is no intention to try to do it. If, however, the Government will not undertake the Wood-ville-Palmerston line, the company next session will apply to Parliament for the right to do it under the District Railways Act. The advantage of uniting Napier with AVellington via AVoodville and Palmerston can bo very easily shown. In the first place that route saves a distance of thirty miles as against tho Masterton line, and," what is much more important, saves the steep and dangerous grades over the Rimutaka rang-e. Supposing then that connection is made via Palmerston we should obtain these results : The distanco between Napier and Wellington could bo travelled in eleven hours, and the faro for a first-class ticket would be according to present tariff, 3Ss 3d. Thus the steamboat would be beaten by nearly ten hours in time, and 21s 9d in the passage fare. These results by themselves aro not to bo despised ; but, apparently, they have been quite overlooked by the Government, who are "pegging away" at the Masterton route, which at present looks, in view of the Rimutaka range, as if it woidd never stand a chance of being reproductive. Instead, therefore, of bridging the Manawatu river at the foot of the Gorge, an extensive railway bridge is in course of construction at the upper crossing on the road to Masterton. Here we have an obvious mistake, for while it would be quite possible to connect Napier with AVellington by railway in two or at most three years, and thus make the line pay, the error in the choice of route will defer through communication for an indefinite period.