KING COUNTRY WANTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14301, 22 February 1910, Page 6

KING COUNTRY WANTS.

STRATFORD-ONGARUE LINE.

MUCH-NEEDED COMMUNICATION.

At the banquet tendered to Mr. \V. T. Jennings, M.P., by his" constituents at Ohura, near Taumarunui, last week special reference was made to the need for the pushing on of the construction of ' the Stratford-Ongarue railway, especially from the Auckland end.

Mr. Jennings, in replying to the toast of his health, indicated the stand he intended to take in regard to works which lie considered of vital interest to his electorate, amongst which was the construction of the railway line from the Ongarue end when once Whangamomona was reached. Ho said he would certainly vote against the Government in all measures which would tend to defer or prevent such works. He read a letter from the Minister definitely declaring that the railway should join the Main Trunk line at Ongarue. That matter was absolutely fixed. Ho also quoted from Hansard passages to show that the starting of the work from the Ongarue end was not by any means absolutely refused. It would be his strenuous endeavour to bring before Parliament, in season and out of season, this most necessary work, of which 110 one recognised the importance more clearly than he. (Applause.) Mr. W. Dunne, in proposing the toast of " The New Zealand Railways," spoke with much vigour 011 the disabilities under which settlers laboured on account of want of access. Ho remarked that when the sections in the district were taken up every plan map had the Ongarue-Stratford railway on it as a.settled thing, and all the pioneers who had entered that valley came in on the distinct understanding that the railway would be built within a reasonable period of time. Were they to die in despair, ho asked, before these anticipations were realised? No one but themselves knew what they suffered in the winter for want of communication. He onlywished the Minister for Railways were present to hear the people's views. That gentleman did not know their condition. Mr. Jennings did. He could only impress on the latter to urge from his place in Parliament the importance of this great question. for if the railway did not l>egin from the Ongarue end by the time the present formation had reached Whangamomona, he feared there would be nothing short of a revolution throughout the length and breadth of that great valley.