THE DRULY AND AUCKLAND RAILWAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 297, 25 October 1864, Page 4

THE DRULY AND AUCKLAND RAILWAY.

Oi i: readers will have perused the report made by the Kngineer-in-Chief,'Mr. Weaver, on the several lines by which it has been proposed to bring the railway into Auckland. Wo were quite prepared to find that his decision is in favour of the absurd plan of bringing it across Mechanics' and Official Bays to a'spot- " somewhere oil' Point Britomart." The thing was to be done, and this course has accordingly been approved as the only practicable line.

.Now, however, if we look into M r. Weaver's " rcporl «o .shall find tlmt one of his chief ob- , jcctious (o bringing (lie line in by way of' Free' mini's Hay, or to (lie foot of Grey-street, is. that i these lines in leaving the town have. tlie one in the distance of (>S chains, Hie other in the disi tance of ;>:i chains, too steep an incline to sur- ' mount in reaching the summit. level. Xow the Knginecr-in-Chiel's experience in railway en- < ! gineering should tell him that such ' dilii- : ! cultie;; as these an; far from being inseparable ones, are far from being considered of | so obstinate a character as to necessitate the j driving of the terminus to a point removed far j from the populated part of the city and where it will be most inconvenient to :i verv large majority oi' the people for wliose use it is intended. Mad Mr. TV eaver ever visited Glasgow lie would have seen how these things are managed : he would then have seen that; the firM two miles of the Glasgow and Edinburgh Kaihvay is a far steeper incline than that to which he so much objects in the approach to the (irey-streei and hrceman's Hay termini, and that the ditlicnlly is got over bv workimr | the carriages by means of a rope up to (lie level j summit. 'lhe same tiling is done between J .kdinburgh and Granton. and, we believe, in j many other places at home. As to the objection ••igainst the fifleen or twenty chains of tunnelling necessary. we cannot, see how that can be set against the expense of a sea wall in Mechanics' Hay, for il, must lie remembered that, a railway embankment, such as the one proposed, across a tidid harbor, is not a suitable means of enclosure —that, if; for ever cuts offal! (hat portion , ot the city enclosed, and in the rear of it. from ' direct communication with the harbor. "Wharves cannot be thrown out, on the outside of the embankment, lor no roads can lead to them from the streets within; the line of railway is too low to allow of them to pass beneath it, too high to pass over it—and tor a tratlie such as that, upon the Queen-street "Wharf to pass it on a level would be as much out of the question. To carry this embankment across Mechanics' Bay would not only be to undertake an impracticable scheme as regards the railway itself, but to inflict upon the eastern side of the city a lastingand positive injury. M r. "Weaver is too young a resident, in Auckland to understand fully the impracticability of bringing a line of raihvav across an exposed portion of the harbor such as that proposed. Let him stand, if lie can, upon the Queen-street wharf in a fierce north-easter, such as we occasionally experience, and he will then feel the force of these remarks. The truth is, without going into the numberi less objections against the Parnell approach ! which we have over and over a'jain drawn attention to, it is predetermined by those who have appointed Mr. "Weaver to the survey that the line ylmll be brought ia by (hat road, the interest and convenience of nine-tenths of the citizens is to be altogether disregarded, and an incline, which in the old country would never be allowed to turn a line from its proper and legitimate course, is under the cloud raised bv the report of the " Kngineer-in-Chief" made a pretext. to enable the Commissioners to carry the line to that spot where it will be least central, ! and least suit the convenience of the people of , Auckland. The eitv is growing westwards, and that fast t —and therefore the terminus of the railway is i to be brought into the eastern side of the ]

town and in the least accessible part too. The chicf population dwells upon the western side, and though trade will surely follow population, what does that population chiefly consist of, but the mechanics, the lesser shopkeepers, and the working classes of Auckland. It is not necessary to study either the interest or convenience <}f such classes of meii, so let ~tlib railway be brought ,to the foot of 13ritomart Barracks, let'it be taken through Parnell, and the plebeian west side of the town must put up with the loss and the inconvenience.

If sue]i reasoning as this is to be, or is even able to be supposed to be the guiding rule, then it is time that the pel-sons affected spoke out quickly and lo;idly ou the mlltter while there is yet time. We have always said that ii great blunder was beitig perpetrated, ilnd tlie more the matter is investigated, llie more clearly does it seem that a central terminus at Grey-street frill not only be the most convenient for the goods and passenger traffic of the city, but the less costly, and one that will less interfere with existing rights.