Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, FEB. 13, 1912.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12686, 13 February 1912, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, TUESDAY, FEB. 13, 1912.

GISBORNE-NAPIER RAILWAY. The fact that actual formation work was commenced to-day on the northern section of the Gisborne-Napier railway, .the first sod of M-hich was turned by His Excellency the Governor three days ago, gives reality to last Saturday's proceedings, and proves the earnest determination of the Government to push forward with the construction of this railway, which means so much for the future advancement of the extensive East Coast. Whilst there is every reason for gratification at the expedition shown m commencing the work, this will be tinged with some feeling of regret on the part of the great majority. of settlers on the flats that more consideration had not been paid to the question of the expediency of making the junction of the line at King's Road. It will be remembered that- immediately after the Engi-neer-in-Ghief had given his decision m favor of King's Road, as against the Makj&raka route, he was communicated with by settlers interested, and courteously offered to give the fullest consideration to their representations, which were made a few days ago to the District Engineer. Mr Holmes, himself, was proceeding north into the Bay of Plenty, and we doubt whether sufficient time has elapsed for him to return to Wellington and receive a report on the objections of -'- the settlers. At any rate there can have been no adequate consideration of these representations, and we cannot help thinking that the Minister has been ill-advised m i hurrying forward with the construction Avork at this point until all the pros and cons have been fully weighed, if it was necessary to make a start with the line this could have been done quite as easily at Patutahi as at King's Road, and at least there would have been some show of deference to the opinions of old-standing settlers, who have ft very real concern lest the placing of the railway at King's Road will endanger their properties and possibly their lives. The Minister may have been swayed by the fact that a petition was sent to him by a number of Makauri settlers, who considered the advantage to be gained by them through the taking of the line to King's Road outweighed the possible dangers, but against that petition, was prepared a strongly-signed counter-peti-tion, pointing out the disadvantages of the proposal, and this could hardly have reached the Minister before the mandate was hastily, given to go on with the line at King's Road. We have the greatest deference for the opinion of" the Engi-neer-in-Chief (Mr R. W. Holmes), who has had vast,, experience m the solution of engineering problems such as are here presented; but cannot help- thinking that he came to the c6ncluision he did without a full knowledge of local conditions. Anyone who has seen the district m flood time will realise ihat a railway following the course that has been pegged out would for. almost its entire length from the bank of the Waipaoa river at Bushmere to the King's Road junction be under Avater to a depth- of several feet. If the line is laid level with the land it might be quite possible, as has been suggested, to ballast it so substantially that it would not wasli away, but it is unquestionable that m time of heavy flood the railway would be submerged and traffic suspended for perhaps two or three days at a time. This is a contingency, it is true, which may not come frequently, but all the indications point to shorter intervals between the floods and possibly heavier inundations. Should the railway be constructed on a i solid embankment there is no question that the flood waters would be dammed back, inflicting serious loss on settlers to the north and west of the railway. The only other alternative would be to construct the line on trestles at a sufficient height above flood level, but , the cost would place this proposal quite out of the range of consideration. An additional objection to the Makauri junction, and one which makes the question of interest to all back-blocks settlers, is that it adds more than a mile to the length of haulage to Gisborne oyer what would •be necessary-. with; jthe.JVlaj&araka route. A very small portion <0t the latter route would traverse country liable to flood, and it is difficult to fathom the Engineer-in-Chief's objection to this route, which to the layman appears so obviously the better and safer of the two. The construction now' commenced, we presume, will go on, arid the crossing of the flats and bridging of the Waipaoa river should, be such ah easy matter that within a year or eighteen months it ought to be possible to have trains running to „ Patutahi Valley, which will form a very profitable section of the line, affording grqat convenience to many settlers m the district even as far inland as, .^ga^pa! .and Wharekopae. Thence on to Hangaroa will be another stage, and; tf the work is pushed forward with expeditidh at the Napier end as well as . on .the sections there is no * J 'reason why a through train service should not be accomplished well' within ten years. It Will be necessary for the local Chambers of Commerce and all others interested to make strong representations to whatever Government is m power that adequate funds should be provided -for the energetic prosecution of this great national undertaking.