Railway Construction Extraordinary.

Patea Mail, Volume XXXIX, 3 July 1914, Page 2

Railway Construction Extraordinary.

Tii i formal opening of the Wbanga momona section of the railway which is to eventually connect the province of Taranaki with Auckland by rail was opened on Wednesday by the Minister of Railways. According to the official figures supplied by the Department the line is now open for a distance of 37 miles 53 chains, The first sod was turned by the Hon. W. Hall - Jones at Stratford on March 28rh, 1901. over 13 years ago eo that the line has not progressed at the rate of three miles a year. Whatever may be the reason for the tardy progress made with such an important work we are not prepaied to say, but on tho face of it it appears a blot on any countiy and especially one that prides i-self on being progressive, It serves I too to show that the method of railway I construction that has hitherto obtained in this country is capable of much improvement. The lino itself has presetted no engineering difficulties of any magnitude. There is, it is true, a fairly large cutting at one portion of the line and two small tunnels further on, but on the whole the line was one of the easiest to construct. It passes all understanding therefore why the work was so long delayed. We hope for the sake of the settlers along the proposed route of the line that the remaining 45 miles on which construction has not yet been ■ commenced will be ca-ried out in a more expeditious manner and , that the Mi lister of Public Works will see fit to revolutonize the old methods adopted in the construction of this country’s railways and adopt a system more in keeping with the engineering carried out by the larger countries of tho world. We feel sure the cost of such a system would be cheaper than the one that has been iu vogue in the past, and the benefit to the country iu having the hinteiland developed in a shorter space of time would be enormous.