EAST OUAST RAILWAY-

Gisborne Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1716, 5 April 1906, Page 2

EAST OUAST RAILWAY-

IMPRESSIONS OF THE COUNTRY,

THE MAMAKU ROUTE.

Sixieial to the Times. Auckland, Tuesday. The New Zealand Herald despatched a special commissioner to report on tho East Coast railway, and ho gives the following very interesting report: — Tbat thoro is no district so widely settled and so far from railway connection as the oountry fronting the Bay of Plenty is a fact that cannot be disputed, A southerner might points to Cheviot in the far Dorth of Canterbury, but the f ’ Cheviot lino is now far advanoed, and \ there is not now anywhere in the South £ Island any fertile oountry that is not being brought into touch with tho railway system, or, at least, has had its railway authorised and money voted for radway construction. What a different position some of the rich couotries of Auckland and Hawke’s Bay provinces stand in today. Between the Coromandel Peninsula and Tolego Bay, above Gisborne, following Ihe coast line, is cne vast sweep of rich country, a great portion of which is settled, and the other portion would.be settled immediately the Crown and native lands were thrown open. The shadow of native ownership lies drop between Lake Rotorua, Te Teko, Taneatua, Galatea, the Motu (behind Opotiki), and the East Cape, but, with the exoeption of the Urewera country, the native holders are beoom'ng adapted to the changes and progress of civilisation, Bnd more and more they are showing a desire to throw open theit lauds.

AN EAST COAST SYSTEM. 1 Along the Bay of Plenty frontage Auckland possesses some of i's richest lands, whioh, given the neoessary means of transport, will return instant and large revenue to the railway system. The residents of the TauraDga and Te Puke districts, in petitioning for a railway, wisely refrained from laying out any particular route, leaving it to the Public Works Department to suggest some way, the least coßtly in construction, but yet BerviDg the most widely settled areas. So 1 long as the Department has due and proper regard to the conditions of con- , Btructiog, a railway on the easiest possible route that will yet adequately serve the 1 districts, no one is going to seriously 1 quarrel with the particular survey selected, Without, therefore, defining any one absolute route, the settlers are demanding a general East Coast system, 1 such a system for instance as would b 6 oreated by a railway leaving the Rotorua l line at Mamaku and following round by i the Rotoehu, Ratoiti, and Rotoma Lakes, i towards Taneatua and Whakatane, the Opo’.iki district, audso on via the Motu to Gisborne, with another line going through 1 the Te Puke and Tauranga country and 1 possibly on to Waihi, and then across to the Wsikato at Mercer ; and a Napieri Taupo line coming in to the Rotorua line 1 or the Main Trunk, with even a further auxiliary in the shape of a railway to Ihe Galatea district. Buob a system aB that, i of course, cannot be looked for yet, but 1 there are portions of it whioh urgently call for early attention, and one of the most I pressing needs is for a railway serving the Tanranga, Te Puke, Matata, and Opotiki districts. It is quite possible that the great eastern line might be taken from Mamaku down the long grade through the Rangiuru district and just tapping the Te Puke oountry by turning above the Waiari s’r.’am, below Rangiuru, and following on to Matata by the Okamar&kau Hills, and so on to Whakaiane, etc. Another suggestion is railway communication between Waibi, Katikati, Tauranga, and Te Poke, but that, again, is not only ' a route that would entail very costly earth. 1 works, but it is also a larger line. It has been suggested, and with very good reason, that a railway should run from Tauranga to Waihi. and from Waihi aoross to Mercer. Tbat would mean certainly a short cut from the Bay of Plenty to Auckland city, but it would also mean a long wait for thG Bay of Plenty peopls, and then it would not tap the most settled areas, and that way seems rather one to keep in view for the future, when the native lands have been opened up, and when the great settlement that the now idle country will yet see demands the shortest and quickest route to the metropolis regardless of OQBt, A TAURANGA LINE. Having regard to all these features, the first very necessary step seems to be rail, way communication between Mamaku and Te Puke and Tanranga, and the next step a line serving Whakatane and Opotiki—next, of ooursp, only because of greater distanoe from an existing line. Whether these should be separate railways or only one as far es the Waiari stream, with a branch off through Te Puke to Tauranga, is a question that need not be dealt with at present. This narrows the present impression down to a MamakuTe Puke-Tauranga line, aud it needs np Publio Works engineer to readily recognise the advantages of such a railway from the standpoint of eoonomy of construction, as well a 3 thpjstandpoint of revenue-earning capaoity of the se vio>. Mamaku, on the Rotorua railway, is 158 miles from Auckland, and 1884 ft above »ea level, while Te Puka lies just a little above sea level. Nature, however, seem 3to have spcoially designed the oountry for a railway route, as one great leading spur runs right from Mamaku to Te Puke, and a line would have a grale of one in 50 at the mo 4, with no cuttings or embankments of any moment more than would be necessary to regulate small surfaoe undulations, aud without a bridge until the Waiari stroam was reaohed. The Mangaorowa river would bs missed altogether, its track being in a deep valley to the right of the leading spur. With a small bridge at tho Kaituna, the railway would be carried into Te Puke, and from there it would have a practically level ruu to Tauranga, along the great flats on the water front. While a railway down to Tauranga would oost £3OOO per mile for rails, sleepers, ballast, etc., in common with other New Zealand lines, another £3OOO per mile for earthworks and goneral ft rotation would be a good wide estimate, so tbat the lioe oould be expeoted to cost under £6OOO per mile, whoreas the average co-it of New Zealand lines is £7OOO per mile.

1 The To Puke district is exceptionally 1 rich country. Its higher slopes are all of beautiful soil, while its vast swamp lands along the water front have some of the richest areas in a province noted for fertile soils. The Notives of the district are vory much alive to the importance of opening their lands for settlement, and, indeed, some of them, without waiting for Courts or regulations to assist in the opening, are endeavoring to adopt European methods, and,are farming 60me of the laud, and growing maize crops. But there are still great areas of native land lying idle, and worse lhan idle, for they are spreading noxious weeds over the country. The native lands neatly all lie along the forest and road frontages, aud to fee the country propeily one has to go behind the Maori lands on such routes as the Rangiuru stock track, now the new road, between the Eaituna strpam and the Oropi road, while a journey through the magnificent Rangiuru forest of riruu down the great gradually sloping downs of fertile country to Te Poke, and aloDg the extensive flat and swamp laud toTauranga, will show anyone the neoessity for the early construction of a railway line through the district,