EAST COAST RAILWAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15500, 6 January 1914, Page 8

EAST COAST RAILWAY.

AGITATION AT ROTORUA.

DIRECT LINK WANTED.

The question of connecting the East Coast Railway with the existing system via Rotorua and Paengaroa is being brought under the notice of the New Zealand Farmers' Union and other local bodies by the United Bay of Plenty Railway League, the headquarters of which are at Rotorua.

In a letter conveying the resuuiion of the league Mr. Chas. M. Innes (secretary of the league) says:—"The serious disadvantages under which the Bay of Plenty labours through the want of easy access to the City of Auckland have been repeatedly emphasised in the press, bit unfortunately in the advocacy of a particular route the desires and requirements of those most concerned have not been given that attention which is their due. . . . The settlers and residents generally of the Bay of Plenty and Waikato are unanimous in advocating the Eoto rua-Paengaroa railway as affording the best and most practicable route for the connection with the East Coast line for briefly the following reasons:—There would be only 33 miles of line to be

constructed between Rotorua and Paengaroa, the cost of which would be about half that of the Waihi-Tauranga route; the grade is easy, no engineering difficulties having to be overcome, in support of which contention is the Hon. W. Fraser's statement in the Public Works Statement of 1912 that a suitable route with an easy grade had been located by the surveyors; the country is fertile, suitable for either grazing or dairying; the railway would provide quick access, not only to the City of Auckland, but also to a' parts of the province, and thus enable stock to be moved from one district to another easily and cheaply; it would tap the heart of the country instead of hugging the coast for a considerable 'distance."