NEGLECTED RAILWAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16996, 1 November 1918, Page 4

NEGLECTED RAILWAYS.

EAST COAST AND NORTH LINES

: «.< GOVERNMENTS IMMEDIATE DUTY [BY TELEGJIArK.— -SPECIAL COBBESVONDENT-l WELLINGTON. Thursday. The need for pushing forward the work on the East Coast Railway, the great settlement lino of New Zealand, and on the North Auckland Maul Railway, was emphasised by Mr. T. W. Rhodes (Thames), in a speech in the House of Representatives this evening. The.e lines should be pushed on with great vigour," he said. "If a start is made on the East Coast line from Fokeno, through the Hauraki Plains, a very highly settled area will be traversed, and the lino will be a paying proposition from the outset, for full advantage will be taken of it as it progresses." Failure to attend to tho East Coast and North Auckland Railway;, he added, would be a vital mistake on the part of the National Government. A change in the policy of settling soldiers was advocated by Mr. Rhodes. " More use should be made of the largo extent of unused land," he said. "There are enormous swamps in both islands. Would it not be good business to drain them and prepare them for soldiers Let us start this immediately, for we ought to have been doing it' in the past. By this means we can increase the cultivated area of the i Dominion by between 200,000 and 250,000 acres, comprising land which would return anything from £10 to £20 per acre if cultivated. By that means we would increase production by about £2,000,000 1 a year."