THE PAEROA-POKENO LINE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16035, 29 September 1915, Page 6

THE PAEROA-POKENO LINE.

The most interesting feature of this year's Railway Authorisation Bill is the inclusion of a six-mile section of the Paeroa-Pokeno line. The advantages of this loop line have been emphasised for many years. From the point of view of land settlement and prospective profit it has claims second to none, but the deciding factor has been a departmental one. The railway authorities realise that owing to the growth of traffic serious congestion on the North Island railways can only be avoided by the construction of this outlet from the Thames Valley, Waihi, and the East Coast. At present the traffic of the Thames Valley is carried south and west and north again to Auckland. From Paeroa to Pokeno by the existing line is 90 miles. The proposed loop is 44 miles long, through country presenting no engineering difficulties. The line can thus be constructed at a minimum cost, and the result will be to reduce the haulage distance from Paeroa to Pokeno by 46 milesWhen the East Coast Railway is constructed the whole of the traffic of the East Coast must come through Waihi and Paeroa. Unless the Paeroa-Pokeno loop is completed the traffic would have to follow the present circuitous route, resulting in a congestion at Frankton which would be seriously felt over the whole of the North Island . railway system. The proposed loop line is, therefore, essential to the smooth running of the railways. Further, it will run through the famous Hauraki Plains, tapping over 300,000 acres of rich level country, the fringes of which are already studded with butter factories, and which will produce enormously under the stimulus of a direct railway connection. There is no railway project before the people of New Zealand that can be compared with the Paeroa-Pokeno, either in low cost of construction or in the promise of highly remunerative railway returns. It should receive a substantial vote in th 9 forthcoming Public Works Estimates, and the work should bo pressed on with all possible speed.