ISOLATED AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10406, 2 April 1897, Page 3

ISOLATED AUCKLAND.

XOUiiALAU auvauauL/i TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—A recent visit to the South has impressed me afresh with the disadvantage under which Auckland labours in being to such a large extent cut off from the rest of the colony. The pride of place in relation to population among all the cities of the colony undeniably is to be claimed by Auckland, and vet wherever one (rots ill the South there is a sense of being distant from Auckland that is absurdly out of proportion to the number cf miles to be travelled. The cause is not far to seek. It may be expressed as water-way versus railway. It is true that it is only a sea journey of tweive hours from New Plymouth to Onehunga, and 1 that there is an excellent steam service available for the convenience of travellers. But there are thousands of people to whom every oue of those twelve hours on a sea voyage represents an agony that will only be faced under absolute compulsion, with the result that, to a large proportion of the population, there is a practi- j cally impassable barrier between Auokland and the Southern parts of the colony. That, I venture to say, is a distinct loss to the colony at large, and especially to Auckland. The provision of suitable facilities for intercourse between the people dwelling in our various centres would do much to break down the provincialism that has been the bane of colonial politics. In addition to this it would most certainly be a clear gain to the commercial interests of Auckland if railway communication were opened up with the South. No one who knows anything of Wellington can doubt that tjie splendid strides it has taken of late years may bej traced in large measure to the railways , that have brought nearly every place of importance in the North Island, barring Auckland, within a day's journey of the capital of the colony. What are our leading business men in Auckland about ! that they are not more alive to the importance of supplying the connecting railway | link between Waikato and Taranaki? The distance to be covered is not great, and there are no engineering obstacles. It is distinctly a reproach to the business tact of our leading representative men that Auckland should be left isolated as it is today. _ There was no Chamber of Commerce in Christchurch some thirty odd years ago, and yet there was public spirit enough among its citizens to ensure the carrying through of such a tremendous undertaking as the piercing of the Port. Hills with the tunnel that has proved of such enormous 'social 'and'. commercial advantage to the .wKqle'vpfV the Island. .' We have a Chamber of Commerce iu Auckland, and the task before them is as mere 'child's play compared with that associated with the name of Sefton Moorhouse. The climate comes in as a convenient scape-goat for the sins and shortcomings of Aucklanders generally, but even after such an exhausting summer as that we have just passed through, there ought to be spirit enough left in our leading men to prompt them to take decisive action so as to bring our beautiful city in closer touch with the rest of the colony. A city of 60,000 inhabitants ought not now to be in the position of a bush township that receives its mails from the outer world, only twice a week, and that can only be left or approached on the condition of wind and weather permitting.— am,etc., Wm. Jas. Williams. March 31, 1897.