BAY BOUNTIFUL

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 82, 7 April 1914, Page 4

BAY BOUNTIFUL

MEANING OF N.I. EAST COAST RAILWAY FUTURE OF TAURANGA PORT CENTRALISATION OR WATERCARRIAGE? Isolated as it is from all the great trade routes of the Dominion, the eastern shoulder of the North Island has for many years been almost a terra incognita, but there is increasing evidence that it is at last coming into its own. On his recent visit the Prime Minister — a farmer, and therefore a sure judge of land — seems to have been greatly taken with the Bay of Plenty, and has pronounced the district " worthy of a railway," which the Government will proceed to construct "at the earliest possible moment.." The line to which the Government is committed is the East Coast Trunk, which is a continuation of tho AucklandFrankton- Waihi railway till it links up with the Gisborne-Motu line. From the present terminus at Waihi the route crosses over to/Tauranga harbour, and for many miles continues near the coast of the Bay of Plenty, touching at Tauranga, To Puke, Paengaroa, Matata, and Opotiki. From Opotiki it suddenly strikes inland, across the lofty and thickly forested peninsula that ends m the East Cape, and descends to Gisborne, the centre of Poverty Bay. TWO BAYS OF PLENTY Cook correctly named the Bay of Plenty, but his christening of Poverty Bay was unfortunate. However, that district has lived down its name. When this railway is completed, traversing the B?y of Plenty and Unking up Gisborne, the' average New Zealander will have facilities for seeing what rich districts they both are. Two mountain systems have Helped to perpetuate the isolation of the two districts from the western 1 territory, and from each other. When Aucklanders opened up the Waikato, they found that the gold-bearing Coromandel range and its southward continuation shut' them out from the Bay of Plenty. Equally, the Huia-rau and Rau-kumara ranges, running from Hawkes Bay north-east-wards to the East Cape, divided the Bay of Plenty from Poverty Bay. In recent years the railway has broken through the first rampart in two places— the Karangahake gorge (a low-level pass leading from Paeroa to Waihi) and Mamaku (a saddle 1888 ft high leading to Rotorua). ,The crossing of the Huia-rau or Rau-kumara mountains to Gisborne has still to be effected, and it is a big undertaking; at what elevation the railway will cross lemains to be seen. It is tho continuation of the Waihi (not the Rotorua) section that is to effect the crossing ; and that choice has caused some jealousy in Rotorua. In fact, rival route interests are in danger of being a stumbling-block to the East Coast Trunk line as now forecasted, unless the Government holds firmly U> its set course. AUCKLAND'S BOTTLENECK RAILWAY. And here ariees a very neat problem In ,what might be called economic strategy. Auckland has been arguing that the East .Coast Trunk railway will bring so much more traffic to the North Island Main Trunk that the single lino •jotween Frankton Junction and Auckland will not be able to carry it. Mx. MafNpy himself has been impressed by a report by tho railway authorities that the 79 miles of single liiii> between Fra.nkt.on and, Auckland is nheady carrying almost aa much tvami' an is possible. The New Zealajid HeraM t.uggf«tf- that ! he . ttrairi fan Ik> meet by a -i4-mi!e connecting l'tio Letween Paeroa. and ?Pokeno, crossing Mw rich "reclaimed Bwamps-krmwn us the llauraki-Pla/ins; and tho paper argues that an alternative lino opening up now country la preferable to a mere duplication aJong an existing" route. Which is no doubt true. But, as the locp would terminate at Pokeno, and as between Poktno and Auckland there is &i miles of single line, the last .state of that bottle-neck would be worse than the first. It would be a choice oetween 79 miles of duplication on the one hand, and, on the other, 34 miles of duplication plu3 ii miles of new railway. NEAREST DEEP-WATER 'PORT." This in turn laises another question altogether : Will the long haul by rail «dy lo Auckland (Waihi itself is over 140 inilps by rail from that city) be Mto ueimaueiit outlet of Bajy of Plenty.. rn'U'

tluce? The fact is too often overlooked that the East Coast railway will not only connect the Bay country with Auckland. Tt will also link that >'ich territory with its natural port of Tauranga, the only first-class deep-water harbour in the Bay. At, present the East Coast Trunk railway (Auckland to Gisborne) is being built in three sections At tho Auckland end it is being extended from Waihi towards Tauranga. At the Gisborne end it is being extended towards Motu and tho Bay of Plenty town, Opotiki. The- third and middle section is under construction from Tauranga towards Opotiki. Constructional difficulties on the middle section are less than on the other two. Given, therefore, an equal amount of money' and energy on that section/Tauranga will be drawing a certain amount of the trade of the middle Ba.y of Plenty before either Auckland or Gisborne is connected up. , 'This, 1 tio c , doubt', ' W^s" in the mind of a Bay of Plenty resident who recently visited Auckland, to- suggest that the middle (Tauranga-Opotiki) section be constructed before the Waihi extension section. His arguments were, that the country between Tauranga and Opotiki was the best in New Zealarid for cheap and rapid construction, 'the estimated cost being £6000 a mile ; and that produce shipped at Tauranga would not be lost to Auckland, but would come to that city for consumption or transhipment But the Mayor of Auckland, Mr. C. J. Parr, and Mr. Peacocke, the moving spirit of the Auckland Railway League, gave him little encouragement. The Mayor saw no reason for departing from the policy of " Getting (from Auckland) to Tauranga first, as soon as possible "; and Mr. Peacocke declared that the first thing was "to connect the Bay of Plenty districts generally with Auckland and with the general railway system." GETTING THERE "FIRST." • Getting to Tauranga from Auckland "as soon as possible" is an entirely laudable desire, but getting there first is, considering the easier construction on the other section, a different matter. Why not do both " as soon as possible," especially as they are both links in the one trunk line? The plain fact, however, is that Auckland wishes to get to Tauranga first for Auckland reasons. It is hoped that the haul via Waihi (this goldfields town is 333 feet high," as compared with Mamaku's 1888 feet), and the contemplated short-cut from Paeroa to Pokeno (reducing tho haulage distance to Waihi from 140 miles to 97), will bring Bay of Plenty trade to Auckland. But Tauranga is waking vp — not long ago a Harbour Board was formed there — and if a deep-water port at this point does not in the long run magnetise the trade of the Bay, then the position will be an economic and geographical puzzle. A glance at any map will .prove this. Giving eAidence before the Parliamentary Committee that considered railway connection with the great central lake of the North Island, Taupo, the Undersecretary of Public Works, Mr. H. J. H. Blow, stated that' Tauranga is in some respects nearly an good a port as Auckland. In the deep- water portion, from "which the middle section of the lailway is being" built, boats of 4000 to 5000 tons have entered. [.This applies tq the port of Tauranga. not the town, as the- latter is not situated on deep water.] Mr. Blow did more tha.n suggest that the Bay of Plenty traffic would go to Tauranga. He expressed the opinion that, given railway connection, not only Rotorna produce but that of Taupo, , ninety miles inland, "would go ti> the j Bay port. Partly because, by 'reason o/ I the mountain systems hpfore mentioned, a line from Taupo northward has to face severe grades, while ¦ from Taupo to Tauranga there is a gradual fall and easy construction all the way The i<anius*of the country ha« adapted itself to an outlet in the Bay of Plenty, and Tauranga provides the deep water. Mr. R. W. Holmes. Engineer-in : Chief of the Public Worke Department, holds views similar to those of Mr. Blow on the future of that port. VALUE OF DECENTRALISATION. Sooner or later, then., there must be a. degree of decentralisation, replacing the policy of centralising land-carried trade in, Auckland: That thriving city would received benefit from the seaborne trade with <i provincial port like Tauranga ; at the same time, direct shipments from freezing works at Tauranga are distinctly an item in the future programme. The Railway Department ¦would lose some- of its business on the long haul to Auckland, but that fa-et may postpone tho railway duplication cxpeudiluicit has in mind- for tho bottleneck. 'Becidea, at Mr. Bluw \cry justly said beforu the l'di-liitmentary Commit- • tee. such. a'Uiatt<ir camiut be looked at

entirety from tho Railway Department's viewpoint. "You must allow tho people of the country to utilise all the facilities that exist." One thing that has kept Tauranga back has been the infection of a portion of its hinterland pastures with " busn sickness." Thanks to Dr. Reakes aoid the Department of Agriculture, that trouble now appears to be under successful treatment. And the reclamation of Rangitaiki swamp is adding thousands of acres of firet-class land to the Bay country. Centralisation in Sydney has ,been.pne of the evils of New South Wales, and the present Labour Government avows a policy of opening up new ports for reduction of railway hauls and for decentralising purposes generally. . Centralisation would be just as great an evil in New Zealand. Fortunately, our indented coast-line is a big chock on all human efforts to bring it about. ,'**