The Evening Star TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1932. THE TARANAKI RAILWAY.

Evening Star, Issue 21254, 8 November 1932, Page 6

The Evening Star TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1932. THE TARANAKI RAILWAY.

Foil very many years the main connection between Auckland and Taranaki—the two great dairying provinces—was by sea. The Union Company’s Takapnna plied regularly between the ports of Onelutnga and New Plymouth, one a bar harbour (Mamikan) and tho other a breakwater port. Many travellers will remember this speedy boat, steaming her best with a list, for prior to tho completion of tho North Island Main Trunk lino the route from Wellington to Auckland was by rail to New Plymouth, and 143 miles thence by sea to Onehunga. The present direct rail route skirts Mounts Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe, and Tongariro instead of Mount Fgmont, and with the cessation of tho regular ferry service between the two West Coast ports connection between Taranaki and Auckland involved a long detour south as far as Marton. The lino which was opened yesterday leaves tho Wanganui-New Plymouth section at Stratford and connects with the North Island Main Trunk line at Okahukura, a few miles north of Taumarunui, the distance being eighty-nine miles. Tho magnificent scenic diversions provided by this ride imply a succession of engineering difficulties, making construction cost very heavy per mile. Consequently this rather vital connection attracted very close scrutiny by tho Railways Board last year when there was delegated to it tho duty of reporting on lines under construction and lines on which construction work had stopped. Tho board, although it examined this work exhaustively, did not deal with it in its report of September 9, 1931; for tho board .was not then called on to re-

port a second time on a line unless it recommended stoppage of its construction. But it had been a close call. “ After a good deal of anxious consideration,” says the Railways Statement for 1932, “ the board came to the conclusion that, taking account of all tbo factors involved, the case might be considered a border-line one. The board decided, therefore, that, having regard to the advanced stage of the work and the comparatively small expenditure that was required to complete the construction work, the line should be completed. . . . The board de-

sires to say that a decision to complete the railway as a means of transport for the district should imply, for the purposes both of expenditure on roads and the application of the principles of the Transport Act, 1931, that the railway is to be regarded as the means of transport for the district to the exclusion of competitive services.” Consequently the work was pushed through to completion after having been in hand for thirty years, and yesterday the Prime Minister drove the last spike at Haeo — not where the railheads actually met, but where the last of the big tunnels was pierced (some thirty-one miles from the junction of the new line with tbo Main Trunk line). So, for the time being, railway construction in New Zealand ends, except that the Tawa Flat deviation, near Wellington, proceeds in order to lessen the cost of operating a short section of an arterial line. Prior to this the Government had closed down construction work on the northern section of the Napier-Gisborne line, on the southern end of the Nelson-Inangahua line, and on two far North Auckland connections or extensions. On the constitution of the Railways Board these cessations were ratified by it, and the board went yet further by causing work to cease on the sewenty-six-mile WharanuiParnassus gap in the South Island Main Trunk line, the middle section of the Napier-Gisborne lino, and the connection between Inangahua and Westport. This mark-time policy represents a considerable amount of capital being thrown idle, on which the dominion still has to pay interest; but it also represents the saving of interest on a number of lines which, if constructed, would not have been able (judging by recent experience) to contribute anything towards interest on a very heavy capital cost, even if they had managed to make traffic receipts balance operating expenditure. It is perhaps unnecessary to add that this policy was virtually dictated by the impossibility of borrowing to replenish the Public Works Fund. A virtue has been made of a necessity. It is a new experience for New Zealand to have no railway construction work in hand, and for the Public Works Department also. It is many years since tbo last railway construction contract was let in the dominion, the last occasion, if we remember aright, being the Arthur’s Pass tunnel contract on th» Midland railway, and in that case the contractors threw up the job, which was carried to completion by the Public Works Department. Ho would be a bold man who would venture to prophesy when the next railway contractor will arise in New Zealand. Unless some future Administration reverses the presumed decision of the present one on the recommendation of the National Expenditure Commission, such jobs will bo tendered for. But the question arises whether there will ever again be such jobs. At present existing railways are fighting for their lives. Where they are State-owned their survival may be helped by protective legislation. But as to new extensions, especially through difficult country involving heavy capital charges, the future presents a riddle no one can solve definitely. Possibly some day, when New Zealand is far more densely populated than now, such lines as the Napier-Gisborne and the Christchurch-Picton may be completed. We do not venture to speculate, but would merely point out that there are alternative routes by sea and by road, and, to a certain extent, by air.