THE NORTH OF AUCKLAND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 13948, 2 January 1909, Page 4

THE NORTH OF AUCKLAND.

Me. Fowlds will greatly assist the progress of the Dominion as a whole and of Auckland in particular if he can induce the Cabinet to share his views upon the immense possibilities of the North of Auckland and upon the desirability of pushing forward the railway to Hokianga and beyond with the greatest possible rapidity. In the course of an interview, which appears in to-day's Herald, Mr. Fowlds expresses the opinion that the North of Auckland railway " is as important to the City of Auckland as the connection with Wellington, if indeed, it is not more important." This is a sound judgment. While we must not forget or overlook the pressing need for other provincial railways—such as the East Coast connection, the Stratford connection, and others of a developmental character—it is ■ safe to say, as we have repeatedly urged, that the Northern line would be peculiarly advantageous to the Northern metropolis. As Mr. Fowlds points out, the Northern Peninsula is necessarily a district for intensive cultivation and will therefore carry a very large population. if ' the

Government can be persuaded to act energetically, not ■> only in railway building, but in the throwing open of Maori lands and in the fostering of the branches of' agriculture for which the North is ' so obviously adapted, it cannot .be many years before the production, the population, and the trade of the Peninsula equal that of the whole of the province at the present time. The increased revenue derived from such progress would, munificently reward the Government for every expenditure, while Auckland would have a princely share in the perennial fruit of Northern industrial expansion.