OUR AUCKLAND RAILWAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13926, 7 December 1908, Page 4

OUR AUCKLAND RAILWAYS.

The formation of the North Auckland Railway League, by a combination of all the districts specially interested in the construction of the Main Trunk through the northern peninsula; and the formation of a Rotorua Railway League for the purpose of pushing on the construction of the Gisborne-Rotorna line from the western end; are cheering signs that the province is not losing sight of its railway needs with the passing of the elections. In the Waihi and Thames districts there is also a stir on behalf of the Tauranga route and of the Pokeno line, while in other parts of, the province there is similar activity on behalf of local interests. While it is quite true that the Government cannot build offhand all the lines which are being clamoured for, it is also true that the" Government can proceed energetically with every promising developmental line if it promptly ceases to waste the public funds upon further railway construction of a purely political character. The Northern Main Trunk is, a line which ought to have been built a dozen years ago; so is the Gisborne-Roto-rua ; so is the Pokeno; so is the Waihi-Tauranga. These, and others, are long-needed and most promising railways, which would not only pay from the beginning, but would enable many hundreds of thousands of acres, now lying waste, to be settled and made productive. As it is by the carriage of produce and .passengers that railways pay, no railway ought to be built which does not open up desirable settlement country until the more pressing needs of the North have been sufficiently attended to.- Mr. Fowlds ought to be able to agree with us that there is no excuse for over-railroading the South at our joint expense, while the North is denied anything like its fair share of the total mileage of the Dominion. If he does so, and if he insists upon a just allocation of railway expenditure— remembering the railways already constructed—there will be no need for him to obtain figures from Mr. Blow to prove how well he has served us. For we shall be able to see the fruits of all true service in material and visible results, and shall not need to be hypnotised into belief by long columns of figures which have an uncertain foundation in fact.