THE Otautau Standard AND WALLACE COUNTY CHRONICLE Tuesday, December 26th. 1911

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 346, 26 December 1911, Page 4

THE Otautau Standard AND WALLACE COUNTY CHRONICLE Tuesday, December 26th. 1911

OTAUTAU- ORAWIA RAILWAY. - Public meetings and correspondence m the Press continue to, agitate the community with reference to the -" the above. Since the public meeting m Otautau, similar meetings have taken place at Riverton, Orepuki and Tuatapere. Tha " Orepuki Advocate " has constituted itself the special pleader for and advocate of the Tuatapere extension, and the Otautau-Ora-WJa route is anathema to that journal. Our first leading article bearing upon ) this question has been subjected to severe criticism, and writers have not failed to make strong assertions as to (he correctness of our statements, The distances havo been called ia question, the nnmber of settlers ia comparison with the Tuatapere route has been challenged. The country to be served, according to the critics, does not exist, and altogether, we are told, the claim for a railway from this end only lives m the imagination of a few benighted mortals, whose outlook is limited to the Otautau Town District, and along the roadline leading to Orawia. A number of the assertions made are probably duo to y ignorance of the geography of the/ country, some of thera to prejudice and some of them to a determination to look at the position from their own side of the garden wall enly. Let us look at the position clearly. When this controversy started it had been been asserted the distance from Tuatapere to Orawia was 7 miles, whiie^ the distance from Otautau was 14 miles ; both of these statements were vague and indefinite, as Orawia is a wide district. In our leader of 28th Nov., we gave the distances from Tuatapere to Smith's store (the post-office) as 9 miles, and from Otautau to the same place 12 miles ; these distances are correct, all the cries of interested parties to the contrary notwithstanding* A line of 7 miles from Tuatapere » would bring the terminus somewhere m the vicinity of Mr D. Cameron's Maori Hill property (eastern boundary), and between these two points it is safe to say there is not one-fourth the number of settlers there is between Otautau and the Orawia post-office. From Orawia towards Wairaki, the railway would take the same route whether the junction was with Otautau or Tuatapere. The Prime Minister's statement is that the estimated cost of the line from the Otnutau railway would be £90,000, not £120,---000 as proclaimed by the "Orepuki Advocate." Taking the OrepukiTuatapere line as a guide as to cost, the £50,000 stipulated for the extension towards Orawia would only carry it to the 7 mile peg, and leave it where we have stated. It appears necessary • to expect that from Tuatapere the line would run along the Orawia and Waiau rivers, which effectively bar all access to it on one side till the [7 mile terminus is reached. It is not wanted

there for timber, as all the limber between Maori Hill and Tuatapere is quite within rail convenience now From Otantau to Orawia the rail would be fed on both sides all the way ; a large area of Crown bush land, m addition to private land, would be made accessible to sawmills and settlement, and tho bush land, if the railway is not made, will practically be tied up for all time. The references which have been made to Otautau and its tradespeople can very well be passed over with contempt, as they can only have been made through ignorance on the part of the writer responsible for them. JNo amount of abuse will alter the facts we have placed before the public m a fair and reasonable manner, and no specious argument will get away with the extra 20 to 25 miles of railage tho settlers of Orawia and Wairaki districts will have to pay if they allow the line to go by Tuatapere. The speediest settlement will be arrived at by the coalition of the Otautau and O-awia Leagues, the united appeal of which would soon result m the line being started as we advocate.