CLOSING WAIHI GAP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18075, 27 April 1922, Page 6

CLOSING WAIHI GAP.

MINISTER'S PROPOSALS.

EARLY BEGINNING PROBABLE NEED OF ROAD IMPROVEMENT [BY TELEGRAPH.— OWN CO&RtSPOSDBu' TAUBANOA. Wednesd*,. An announcement that the construction of the railway between Waihi and Tau. ranga will be undertaken " before long " was made by the Hon. J G. Coates at Katikati yesterday. Tti„ Minister left Tauranga for katikati and Waihi yesterday ■; morning, u Te Puna, 10 miles from Tauranga, he was interviewed by a deputation of over 20 settlers, who urged the completion of the railway gap between Tauraiija and Waihj and the need for tii6 main road. win. h has beeV. greatly damaged by the motor servires. ;■'•s■.. The Minister, in s'rei'rying, said (1, 9 railway gap would requuir'tackling with a good many men "■ ar.-J ' the necessary plant and equipment.' Kv dealing with it in that manner the;:.\s",rk. wouid b e done quick'y and with.-. s.,'..sfactioD to all concerned. He assured Lis hearers that everyone realisr-d -it" was. necesßarv to make this eonne-'tion, and as goo n as moro important Ixes. wore finished ho hoped to ho in a p,.s;tivn to deal with it. : .•>.:■'■■■■• As regards the n.ad,"'rri!ain deviations had been laid out. 7he", department l ! intention was to get' '•'tiiesi' deviations made and then, with the.'assistance 0 f the County Council, tLsy. could get permanent work dune Fertility of the District. At Katikati, about 100 settlers met Mr. Coates. Mr. G. Alley made out a strong case for railway connection. He appealed to Mr. Coates to the line to Uretara and then push on toward Tauranga. They had a very good district, the land would c r ",w almost anything and was one 0! die best fruit districts in New Zealand. There wag no better butter district anywhere. The Katikati district would milk between 5000 and 7000 cows if properly fanned.

lb. Coates: Ido not dispute it, Th» district shows great signs of improvement.

Mr. W. J. Gray asked the Minister to grant a subsidy of £2 for £1 toward improving the worst stretch of main road, about three and a-half miles in length, and that the Public Works Department put the Hikurangi Gorge Road in good order.

Mr. Coates, in replying, said, he realised the fact that it was costing settlers one penny per lb. to cart their butter to train or port. He did not ouestion the possibilities of the district. He be'ieved that with decent transportation the country would come into profitable occupation. Tin bridges were required to bring the line up to Tuapiro. Four of the bridges were finished, three others were nearly finished, and arrangements were being made for the other three. The vote for the East Coast Main Trunk line this year had been overexpended. Work of construction on the Midland line would be out of hand about the end of the year. Heavy construction on the North Auckland line would be done in ten months. The department would then have a lot of plant and material available, and this would mean it would be able to concentrate on other important lines its mechanical appliances and thus speed up . construction. Ho hoped it would not be long before the Government could tackle this job with plant and material and money. Thej had asked for money to metal tha roads. It was importart to make prevision to feed the railways. He would ask for a report on the matter.

Promise ol Pleasant Surprise, The Minister concluded his reply with another reference to tbfi railway 3nd said: " i think we can bring the railway to Tuapiro within 18 month?." After receiving other deputations, Mr. Coatea and the members of bis party, including Sir William Hemes and Mr. H. Poland, M.P., were entertained to dinner by the people of Katikati. In the course of a speech the Minister said that if he had £400.000 a year for the East Coast Main Trunk line he could tackle it, and £500,000 would complete the line from Katikati to Tauranga, He wished to assist settlement and industry, and concluded by saying: " I hope when we get some of the other works out of hand to surprise you and put your line through." Mr. Coates and party left for Waihi in the afternoon. PAEROA AND WAIHI VISITED. RIVERS IMPROVEMENT SCHEME. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORBESPONTJENT.] WAIHI, Wednesday. The Hon. J. G. Coatos reached Waihi from Tauranga yesterday afternoon, bat beiiy; Anzac Day did not receive public deputations. Ho was, however, met by the Mayor, Mr, D. Donaldson, by whom he was handed a written statement setting forth the Waihi Borough Council's grievances in connection with the heavy allocation made on the district fund ac; count in connection with the Ohmemuri and Waihou Rivers improvement scheme. The Minister, who undertook to look thoroughly into the matter, left later in the afternoon for Paeroa to receive deputations there and to make a personal investigation of certain aspects of tie rivers improvement proposals