THE MANAWATU GORGE LINE.

Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 15, 18 January 1889, Page 2

THE MANAWATU GORGE LINE.

The statement which has been put forth on authority by the Public Works Department, that with the letting of the Ashurst contract the whole of tho Palmerston-Woodville line will bo under contract, is incorrect. There will still remain at the Woodvillo end of tho Gorge a considerable piece of line unlet, and this includes one tunnel of considerable lengthy The department, we believe, pleads that this portion of the line, tunnel includod, will be completed by the unemployed, a fow of whom are now engaged upon it. This, however, is not to be depended upon. The unemployed are not at all the class of workmen to be entrusted with the piercing of a tunnel, and we fear it will be a very long time before daylight is seen through any tunnel which is left to their making. The Wellington and Hawkes Bay members should look after the Government in this matter, and insist on a clear understanding that the East and West Coast lines shall be joined, and through communication established as soop as ever the present Gorge line and the bridge are finished. If they do not take care another vexatious delay of months will certainly occur through the non-completion of the line at the Woodville end of the Gorge. There is too much reason to fear that a desire exists in certain quartors to delay the completion of through communication as long as possible, and that this little gap to which we refor is being relied on to postpone the dreaded event to the latest possible moment. The members of Parliament should obtain a definite plodgo from Ministers on the subject beforo the latter transfer the responsibility of dealing with it to the new Board.