ON THE MAIN LINE. WELLINGTON TO AUCKLAND.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 36, 12 February 1908, Page 3

ON THE MAIN LINE. WELLINGTON TO AUCKLAND.

THE LAST CHAPTER OHAKUNE AWB DISTHWT. [By Oun Special REron-rKK.] Not a score of miles to complete, not a year to run befoic completion, sums up the progress of the Main Trunk Railway to date, and the anticipation of finality. It is estimated, as was mentioned in yesterday's Post, that by the end of tho current year, by next Christmas, through trains will bo running -between Wellington and Auckland. So much has boon done already to ;he unfinished portion that there is no reason to question the forecast. Thus the last chapter of one of a romance of railroad construction will be closed, the shifting population of workers and their dependents will melt away, their tents disappear, and their wooden shanties moulder to ruin or be razed to mako room for permanent habitations. The through passenger between the two cities will bo borne over this central region of the North Island in a sleeping-car by night and only in his dreams, .perhaps, imagine the country as it was during the building of the railway, and picture to himself the builders. Such languago may seem grandiose, but it is impossible for one who has sson the line in building, tho beauty of the landscape through which it passes, and the monumental works of engineering in the viaducts and tunnels along the route, to speak without enthusiasm. TWO GREAT VIADUCTS.From tho spot where tho railway enters the Rangitikci Valley just beyond Huntervillo, right throughout its course to Te Kuiti, where it drops down towards the Waikato ciistribt, it is a genuine triumph of design and construction. There are two viaducts of the first magnitude — one at Makolune and the other at Makatote, both among the highest in the world — and there are also the long structures at Mangaweka and Hapuawhonua, with innumerable bridges large and small over the various streams that cross tho route. The longest tunnels are situated at Mataroa and Poro-te-arao, but there aro more than a score of smaller oiies. The other remarkable features on tha lino itself aro the famous spiral at Raurimu and the horseshoe curve at Turangarere. A great deal of tho heaviest work has been found in the deep cuttings and high embankments entailed by the ruggedness of the country, in its physical features one of thej most difficult imaginable to traverse with a reasonably graded railway. / With tho 'completion of the northern end to 'Waimarino and the southern to Ohakmie, it may be said that the worst is ever. A great deal still remains to bo done to bridgo the gap. The Makatoto viaduct, with its enormous height, will take another six months, ifc is estimated, and the Ohakuno tunnel and the Hapuawheriua viaduct are not yet finished. All the work, however, is well under way, and 1908 should see'stho completion of* the line for the running of through trains. THE STATION IN THE BUSH. Meanwhile the centre of interest for the southern end of tho railway is' a little waysida station about a mile in from Ohakuno. A more charming placed could not be imagined. It is not on the main route, which cuts a wide swath like a high road through the forest, rising like walls on each side to form a majestic avenue. Ohakune platform is reached by a littlo temporary train lino looping off from the main line like a bridle track through the bush. Eiiormoufl rimus and K&hikateas, with N a shrubbery of undergrowth; throws d preen shade over the toy engine and its tiny train as it whistles cheerfully on its way. Tuis warble and pigeons coo from tho overhanging branches, and the only reminder of a greater world without is the booming of a succession of blasts from "the tunnel half a mile away. From the tropical verdure of tho foliage, one would imagine it a x line through the forest of some South American republic. The train ■ issues suddenly out of Jie bush into a little clearing crossed by a rough platform with a shed for a station house. Here the stationmaster., greets the arrival of tho train with accents that bespeak more than a nodding acquaintance with tho wider life of the older country His courtesy is remarkable in a place where one might naturally expact the brusqueness of the bush. .' OHAKUNE. Half a dozon coaches lino tho circular drive touching the platform. Some bear the sign "Raurimu and Waimarino" others "Ohakune and Raetihi." Passengers for the northern rail head take the former, but a visit to Ohakune and tho surrounding district seems worth while, and soon the local coach bumps its load over the stony road to the little township of more than local fame. Ohakuno is worth more than passing mention. Five years ago, when the writer cycled through from Pipiriki to Taihape, Ohakune was a mere name, represented in actuality by a store and a house.' Today it numbers several stores, three accommodation houses, numerous shops, stables, and a church. Its enterprising inhabitants mean to cap their past, achievements by the erection of a town hall to cost about a thousand pounds The shares have already been largely subscribed. In this way will Ohakune eclipse its neighbours, which, at any rate, is better than eclipsing them in the cubic content of mud on its streets, which used to be its chief title to fame. The Mangawhero stream furnishes a perennial supply of the purest water, so the experiences of suburban Wellington are not likely to be repeated in Ohakune. ' THE BUSH. Immense tracts of the heaviest bush surround the township and extend for miles and miles in every direction. Tho people of Ohakune are saying to one another daily and to the guileless stranger on his arrival : "Wait till we get the mills in hove! Won't we go ahead then?" And the mills are on tho way, so Ohakune won't have to wait long. To tho lover of tho picturesque in scenery, and particularly to the lover of tho most beautiful bush in New Zealand, that will be an evil day when tho mills come, but it spells prosperity to Ohakune.

An appreciation of New Zealand is contained in a letter to Messrs. Cook and Son, Wellington, from Mr. Frank F. Smith, who writes from Dunedin prior to leaving the Dominion for Sydney. "We have much eujovrd the toiir through this country, which your firm i-rraugcd for us, and found the hotels recommended satisfactory in every way. Now Zealand is a delightful colony, which we shall hope to revisit some time in tho future, and we shall take pleasure in telling our frisnds in the Old Country of the great kindness that we have everywhere met with since we lauded at Auckland nine wciks ago. The cruise Jo the West Coast Sounds was a. truly grand experience, which alone justifies the \oyage from England, but thrre is midh bcautus that to attract one."' Mr .Martin Rtddington, of L'livistihiuch, hap been nominated for a A-;it on tha Hallway Appeal Board an .' icprefcentative of the Middle fr.-uid, f-»c--oud division. The election of uumiburs will be held on 2nd March.