RAILWAY TO MATIERE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18342, 7 March 1923, Page 2 (Supplement)

RAILWAY TO MATIERE.

SETTLERS' LONG WAIT.

PROGRESS TOWARDS OHURA. On March 28, 1901, Sir William HallJones turned the first sod at the Stratford end of the railway line which eventually will connect with tne Main Trunk line at Okahukura, ana on November 22, 1911, Sir Joseph Ward, then Prime Minister of New Zealand, took part in a similar function at the Matiere end of the line. For 11 years from that date the settlers in the district surrounding Matiere stuck gamely to their holdings in the hope that some day they would awaken and hear the shrill whistle of the locomotive puffing into the muddy little township. Their hopes were realised on May 23, 1922, when the line was completed to the town and the opening ceremony was performed by the Minister for Public Works, the Hon. J. G. Coates. It was a day of great rejoicing for Matiere, and the first train through was crowded with visitors from all parts of the King Country. The arrival of the train at Matiere opened a new era in the prosperity of the Ohura County, which is destined some day to be a wealthy agricultural community. The principal works in connection with the Matiere section can be summarised briefly as follows Earth works aggregating 650,000 cubic yards ; five tunnels totalling 100 chains in length, including one 76 chains long; one bridge over the Ongarue River carrying combined road and railway traffic, total length 260 ft.; five smaller bridges totalling in length 710 ft. for railway traffic. The Okahukura tunnel, 76 chains lpng, necessitated the excavation of over 58,000 cubic yards of papa rock in the tunnel barrel alone. This tunnel was started in February, 1914, and was completed in December, 1920. The Ongarue River bridge, carrying a railway on the upper deck and road traffic on the lower deck, was commenced by driving the first foundation piles in 1916. The bridge was completed in June, 1921. The rails actually reached Matiere township before the end of April, 1922. Since April, 1922, work on the Okahu-kura-Matiere section of the line has been proceeding rapidly. The ballasting is now Hearing completion, and the concrete and hardwood piers are in position on those bridges which have not yet been completed. The steel sections for the five bridges which are being worked on are at present being riveted in the Okahukura yards. Some of the sections have been taken to the bridge sites, and it is safe to say that this part of the line to Stratford will be almost completed by next Christmas. Although the settlers in the Ohura district are more than thankful that the line has at last reached Matiere, they are nevertheless anxious that it shall bfe pushed on to Ohura as quickly as possible. This desire is easily understood by anyone who has made a trip over the Matiere-Ohura Road during the winter months, when at times it is almost a day's work to get through with the cream carts. The Public Weeks Department is pegging along at this part of the line, and formation work is in hand on the various sections. A fair number of concrete culverts are being put in prior to the completion of some of the big fillings. There is some heavy work ahead in the construction of this section of the line and it will probably be another two or three years before the rails reach Ohura. Since the line reached Matiere the Public Works Department has run passengers and goods trains from Okahukura for the convenience of the settlers until such time as the line is finally completed. The immediate benefits from this service are that farmers and their families can now make a trip into Taumarunui and back -in one day; they can get provisions through without fear that they will be delayed for a day in an unfriendly wash-out on the bad roads; and the timber mills can get the millions of feet of timber that have been stacking for years away to their customers. The Ohura County roads have always suffered from an absence of metal, which is scarce in the district. Now, however, the trains can supply this want from the shingle pits at Ongarue. The settlers of Ohura and Matiere look forward now to a new lease of life, and they certainly deserve it after waiting so many years for the train to free them from their isolated existence. 11