THE WELLINGTON-FOXTON RAILWAY.

Evening Post, Volume XVIII, Issue 119, 17 November 1879, Page 2

THE WELLINGTON -FOXTON RAILWAY.

We heartily support the request mode by a deputation which waited on the Minister of Public Works on Saturday, that the construction of the West Coast Railway might be "started at the Foxton end as well as from this end. The anxiety of the Manawatu settiers for the energetic carrying on of this most important colonial work is easily understood. "Whilst other outlying parts of the country have for many years past enjoyed the advantages of connection with their respective provincial capitals by means of macadamised roads, the residents of Manawatu have been completely isolated, as the road from the foot of the Paikakariki Mountain to the town of Foxton is that nature has furnished along the Bea beach, with all the danger, inconvenience, and discomfort attaching to a coach journey through rivers, sand hills, and on the very skirts of the ocean. Such a gap, 40 miles in length, is quite sufficient to breed , discontent in the minds of the settlers at Manawatu, who are determined to urge their views until the Government actually start the line from Foxton. The advantages, upon colonial grounds, of such a course are apparent. The land between the Manawatu River and Paikakariki is acknowledged to be rich, heavily timbered, ! easily worked, and capable of carrying a large [ population. This country would be opened I for immediate settlement by the construction of the line at the Foxton end, as settlers would be assured of an outlet for their timber and other produce at the port. This fact would enhance the value of the hind, and we have strong grounds for believing that were the purchases at once completed, the sale of the land would repay the cost of construction of that portion, besides which there is the absolute certainty that owing to the timber trade the line would from the opening prove remunerative. That the opening of this country would relieve Wei- I ling-ton of a great portion of its surplus | population cannot be doubted. It would create within seventy miles of Wellington a a yeomanry population equal in prosperity to any in the Colony, and when through com- j mnnication should be attained, the trade (which for the present would go through the port of Foxton) would of necessity gravitate toward Wellington by rail. The duty of the Government is therefore plain. They should at once push forward and complete the purchase of the native lands through which the line would" pass. The natives themselves are willing to sell the land on fair terms, and experts in native matters are of opinion that in a year, at the outside, the whole of the country could be in the hands of the Government. The construction of the line from both ends should be pushed forward simultaneously, the land at the Manawatu end being at the same time thrown open for sale. Such a course would be a boon to the country districts and Wellington alike, and would hasten the day when the city will be connected by roil with the whole West Coast of this island.