GISBORNE NAPIER RAILWAY.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume I, Issue 98, 7 April 1911, Page 11

GISBORNE NAPIER RAILWAY.

INTERVIEW WITH MR. DAVID WHYTE. •’lt is very zrarify.r.tr to fin'i that the Hon. R. Mrlxeuz’-e. «no ie credited with being one of the most practical men in the Cabinet, has made a definite announcement concerning two matters connected with the East Coast Main Trunk railway. ' remarked Mr. David Whyte, of Hastings, to the Poverty Bay Herald 7 on Wednesday. Mr. Whyte, who is a brother of Mr. Waiter Whyte, of Tiniroto. President of the East Coast Inland ■ Route, has taken a prominent part in connection with the advocacy of the East Coast Main Trunk line. DEFINITE ANNOUNCEMENTS. “One of these announcements. ' he continued, “is that the proposed route from Gisborne to Wairoa, via the Mangapoiki Valley, is an impossible one for railway construction ; the other is the ter 7 s statement that a section of > the railway will be started from Hawke s Bay eno immediately on the necessary Authorisation Bill being passed by Parliament dur- j ing the coming session. The Minister's condemnation of the Mangapoiki route bears out all that we , have contended in the recent via-; orous agitation u nieii has taken i place. This route, indeed, was; long ago condemned by Govern-1 ment officials, and after a most i careful exploration of the country between Wairoa and Gisborne, the line finally adopted and surveyed by Mr. Hay. Government Surveyor, was that via Hangaroa and Patutahi Valleys, which road is really the only practicable one. I say this with an intimate know ledge of the whole country concerned. “The Ministerial announcement that the railway is likely to be commenced very soon from the Napier end. opens up the question as to which line is to Be decided upon. Acting on the same principle which prompted us in our agitation over the Gisborne-Wairoa route, I fee! very strongly the importance of a thorough investigation of all possible routes in the district being made by the Government engineer, with the assistance of practical prominent Hawke s Bay settlers, who have an intimate knowledge of the country to be traversed.” After detailing the respective merits of the three proposed routes between Wairoa and Napier, Mr. Whvte went on to say that the projected railway had an important item bearing on the point of national defence. He refers to the movement now under way in the development of the inner harbour at Napier: a harbour which he con-; tended promises to become one of the finest harbours in New Zealand ; also the geographical position of Napier, ano he claimed that the question of the route of the railways leading to this harbour is of the utmost importance from the standpoint of national defence. Granted that the inner harbour would become a naval base for a section of the squadron in time of war, this base, he said, would be easily accessible from any part of the North Island owing to the fact that there is at present a railway, connecting Napier wih Wellington, ( Palmerston, and the West Coast;, also the projected railway northwards towards Wairoa and Gis- j borne, and a third possible connec-I tion through the middle of the is-| land leading to Taupo on the one i end and Taihape on the other. By i these means of communication. ! concluded Mr. Whyte, forces could; be quickly concentrated or dis-! tributed as required, and with all ’ the points in view it was of the utmost importance not only to the j district, but to the Dominion as a whole, that the route should be speedily determined on by a body; of competent and practical men.— “P.B. Herald.” ( I