CANALS FOR TRANSPORT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20827, 20 March 1931, Page 8

CANALS FOR TRANSPORT.

REVIVAL OF MOVEMENT.

link with waik/jto river.

INDUSTRIAL INTERESTS ACTIVE.

Canal connection between the waters of the two harbours which wash the shores of the Auckland Isthmus—the Waitemata and the Manukau—has long been an alluring prospect to Aucklanders. A Ithoush a report on a proposal was obtainerl by the Provincial Council as far back as 1860, and numerous schemes have been put forward since that time, no one project has yet met with the unanimous approval of all the interests likely to be affected and the two great bodies of

water remain separated. .There are now, however, indications that if the negotiations which, it is understood, are going on are brought to finality the prospect of having a canal cut through the narrow strip of land dividing the two harbours will be brighter than ever before. Large financial interests are very seriously interested in such a venture, and already the harbour authorities have been asked to furnish a report with comparative costs on the two canal sites which are available. These sites are the Whau route and the Tamaki route, and while the interested parties are not at the moment willing to discuss their plans, *ii is known that the route chosen for the canal will depend on N the cost of construction and operation decided by competent engineers. It is understood that much of the capital necessary for carrying out the work will be provided by overseas investors who will, naturally, wish to see their on the canal that is cheapest to build and operate. New Zealand Perpetual Forests, Limited, is one of the industrial undertakings vitally interested in the construction of the canal, and early last yea* statements bearing on this project werfl made in Auckland by Sir Herbert Mat- ~ thews, of London, and Mr. A. C. Morley, of Melbourne, trustees respectively for the English and Australian bondholders in the company. On that occasion Sir Herbert Matthews, in indicating the huge developments ahead of the industry, said it might be necessary to solve the problem of getting the matured timber and the output of proposed pulp mills to their market by cutting canals from the Waikato to the Manuknu and from the Manukau to the Waitemata.

In the past the canal proposals have failed to materialise owing, probably, to there being no guarantee of sufficient freight to pay the cost of building, and operating the waterway, but it is now claimed that with the establishment of pulping mills, somewhere on the banks of the Upper Waikato Iliver, there will be a large quantity of pulp and by-pro-ducts to be shipped to the Waitemata. Large quantities of' butter for carriage L 7 barge from the Waikato to the ship's side at Auckland could, it is stated, profitably use the canals, while return cargoes of sugar, fertilisers, bricks and other commodities manufactured in Auckland and required by the farmers of the province would help to make the canals a profitable venture. In the meantime the whole project is receiving very serioa* consideration by the several interests vitally concerned.