NORTH AUCKLAND RAILWAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14586, 24 January 1911, Page 6

NORTH AUCKLAND RAILWAY

SUGGESTED BRANCH LINE.

PAP A TO NAHM AI,

The question of route in the extension of the North Auckland Main Trunk line, is, in view of the Royal Commission being appointee! to inquire into tho» matter, agitating North Auckland railway leagues. At Whangarei and Dargavillo*publie meetings have been held for the purpose of collecting data and evidence to lay before the Commission as to the merits and demerits of the eastern and western Tangihua routes. The eastern route is favoured by Whangarei residents, and tho western by those interested in Northern. Wairoa, but it must not bo assumed that there is any existing concensus of opinion amongst either party. At the Darguvillo mooting, Mr. Edwin Harding, who till recently was president of tho North Auckland Railway League, stated. that disaffection exists even amongst settlers in the Mangakahia Valley, and this alone is an item which materially Influences the claims of either route. Fortunately, the Royal Commission will, by personal investigation, satisfy itself, and in all probability tho evidence of interested, witnesses will be of small moment.

Curiously enough at, this juncture a third party with route claims, has arisen, has drawn from the conflicting leagues large measures of support, and is contenting itself in advocating recognition of that portion of the provincial district extending from Paparoa to Naumai, on tho Northern Wairoa. Three years ago a route survey was authorised from the Main Trunk lino to some unspecified point of the Northern Wairoa, and now that McCarroLTs Gap has been unalterably docided upon as tho objective of present constructive works, some Otamatea residents are collaborating with Wairoa settlers with a view of their withdrawing all interest in the Tangihua route dispute, and concentrating their efforts to obtain rail communication from the lino in the vicinity of Paparoa with Naumai, on the eastern bank of the Wairoa, 12 miles south of Dargaville. It is not generally known that at Naumai there is a four-mile section of railway, constructed by tho Government for the purposo of convoying log timber from the Crown Itahikatea forest to the sawmill, and that this line is in daily use. It is at the northern end of the rich Raupo flats, and must in the course of a few years bo extended some miles in a southerly direction to tap tho balance of the forest. The Raupo flats embrace 16,000 acres, 9000 of which are in cultivation, and the proposed line would after traversing that territory trend eastward to Matakohe and Paparoa. The country is devoid of any engineering difficulties, and a railway would bo inexpensive to construct. Its length would not exceed 20 miles, it would tap one and a-half million acres of fertile territory, worth from £5 to £20 per acre, and would give an outlet to the great Mangonui Valley. Matakohe, Rehia, Tokatoka, Greenhill," Parirau, and other districts in Hobson and Otamatea Counties.

By the proposed Nan ma i terminus the bulk of Wairoa residents would be enabled to avail themselves of railway facilities, and taking into consideration that on the western side of the river, from Tangaihi to Maunganui Bluff, a million acres of good territory aro fast being brought into productivity, it will bo seen'that the proposed line has much to commend it. With its construction the interests of Otamatea and Hobson Counties would become blended, and immense benefits would result to both. At present Naumai is daily served by a steamer ferry 1 from Dargavillo and other river townships, it enjoys deep sea frontage where ocean-going vessels safely moor, possesses all those features necessary for a railway terminus, and is one of the sites suggested for the erection of freezing works.