Public Works.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 5029, 10 June 1889, Page 2

Public Works.

(By Telegraph.) WELLINGTON, June ft The Government are engaged in considering what shall bo done with the incomplete railway lines. In one or two instances contracts will bfe let for platolaying as far as the

formation extends, but the difficulty with regard to most of them is that only a very large expenditure will take them to a paying point. Of such are the Greymouth-Hokiiika and Oxford-Eotorua lines. On the former the Teremakau bridge is approaching completion, but £40,000 or £50,000 would bo wanted to enable the trains to run. The latter at present ends in a district whence no road leads to Eotorua, and it is to bo decided whether it is expedient to expend a sum sufficient to take it to within 14 miles from the lake, whence communication can be kept up by road. This would enable travellers (o reach Eotorua from Auckland in one day. The Manawatu Gorge line is turning out much more expensive than was anticipated. In consequence of the insecure nature of the rock a considerable stretch of concrete walling has had to bo built, and another tunnel undertaken. The Minister of Public Works anticipates that despite these drawbacks trains will run there by July or August next year. The unemployed who have been at work between Wcodvillo and the Gorge have been dismissed, and the section let in small contracts. The opening of the line will necessitate the outlay of some thousands in station buildings and sidings at Palmerston North.