FRANKTON'S PROGRESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18411, 29 May 1923, Page 10 (Supplement)

FRANKTON'S PROGRESS.

A BOOM IN BUILDING. BUSINESS CONFIDENCE. AN -INDUSTRIAL FEATURE; . Frankton which did not reach borough status, until 1913, amalgamated with the : borough of Hamilton in 1917, but the town retains a distinct identity and there j is every reason for believing that it will , continue to plough its own furrow until in the course of time the growth of population completes the merger. The commercial life of Frankton is vigorous and a feeling of rivalry with Hamilton traders is acting as a stimulus. At the present time' the ; building of business premises is -proceeding apace ''in Frankton and the face of the locality is changing rapidly. A short section of the main street is being laid in concrete and when this work is continued and the footpaths put . in thorough order, the shops will rival in appearance those of many a larger town. It is obvious that the trade of Frankton is growing rapidly and there is almost a boom in building sites. _ The new buildings are generally of a | substantial character. The owners are J not thinking of the trade of the day but - of the prospects of to-morrow, and no one Can doubt that their enterprise and , confidence will be misplaced. , :|i| The guarantees for -Frankton's future k j are the fact that the of the '■ I town as a railway junction increases :;l every -year and also the fact that the local population is increasing by leapsand bounds and will unquestionably continue to do so, for Frankton offers an ideal situation for factories and workshops of every kind. ' Because all railways there converge, it is one of the finest distributing centres New Zealand and in view of -the. immense stretches of good land still undeveloped in" South Auckland and in the northern portion of the King Country, it will probably become the .greatest. .Frankton lies almost mid-way between Auckland city and Taumarunui which is j in the heart, of the King Country and every traini going north or south must pass through it. Auckland is 85 miles distant and Taumarunui 90 miles. Eotorua is 85' miles away, Thames 63 miles, Waihi 56 miles, and Cambridge 16 miles. Every • train for all these places passes through Frankton Junction where there is an extensive area of flat land for workshop sites alongside the line. : The Railway Department is leading the way in using Frankton as a workshop. There it has built its great and, for New I Zealand; - unique - house making plant and sawmill adjacent to which is its , model settlement where the factory workers will live. Three.'dairy- factories have been established'in Frankton and there the . New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Coy.. has . its' huge box-making plant and . subsidiary: departments. It is reported that a leading engineering . firm has secured an "extensive'site -r with ; a view to future fexpSnsion'; and;;there is ground for believing that other manufacturing firms are .investigating Frankton's possibihtes. Other advantages that Frankton possesses for the manufacturer are that coal mines lie near at hand along the banks of the Waikato and the Main Trunk railway ; hydro-electric power from Horohora is available, and when Arapuni is harnessed there will be sufficient power to meet all demands Jot many years. The day no doubt will come when Frankton will-not be the only railway junction in the southern portion of the province. When East Coast line is linked up with Waihi the volume of traffic certainly will be greater than the capacity of the junction with present facilities, but a much stronger argument in favour ot a more direct connection between the main south line and the East Coast will be the circuitous nature of the Irankton route. The proposed route of a linking line is from Pokeno to Paeroa, a route that would bring Paeroa nearer to Auckland than Frankton now is and sooner or later this line will have to be constructed. It will not however affect Frankton s future. Its value as a distributing centre will be just the same and its field for trade will be even greater for railway communication to the East Coast will expedite settlement and closer settlement.