The Stratford Evening Post With which is Incorporated "THE EGMONT SETTLER." (Established 1890.) WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1932. The New Line

Stratford Evening Post, Volume II, Issue 90, 9 November 1932, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post With which is Incorporated "THE EGMONT SETTLER." (Established 1890.) WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1932. The New Line

THE tumult and the shouting have died, the captains and the kings have departed, and the opening of the Stratford Main-Trunk line is now a thing of history. The celebrations of this event, and the opening of the Mountain Road cannot be said to have gone off without a hitch, but on the whole the organisation worked out well according to plan and the great deal of work put in by the various celebrations committees was brought to a creditable issue. The Mayor, Mr. Percy Thomson, had the satisfaction of seeing his original plan carried out almost in toto, and it worked well despite the delays which cannot be laid at the door of the Stratford Committee. I hesc delays perhaps resulted in certain curtailments, but a slight departure from anv set programme is always, more or less, inevitable. Congratulation is due to the Committee associated with Mr. T homson, particularly to the secretaries, Mr. Skoglund and Mr. Campbell, whose splendid organisation was tried and proved, and also to Mr. Cleland and the Eastern Celebrations Committee. The new line means much to Stratford and also to Taumaruniu. As Ihe Taumarunui Press points out, it will serve the fertile land of the Waikato and the King Country, and it will play an important part in the development of the very large district that surrounds Ohura and Matiere. In the past the Ohura district has undoubtedly been retarded by lack of access, but the opening of the Eaumarunui-Stratford railway will bring it within easy reach of new markets. During the construction of the line many settlers have been forced to leave their holdings, but those who have been able to retain possession of their farms hope that the linking of Stratford with the Main Trunk line will mean prosperity. Ihe country surrounding Matiere, Niho Niho, Otangiwai, and Tokirima is now looking at its best and, although it is comparatively undeveloped, it has vast potentialities. The Ohura County comprises 42 7 square miles, and supports 2 725 people on 330 occupied holdings. 1 o anyone who has made a survey of the country it is obvious that immense development will lake place and the Ohura County should become another source of huge exportable production. At the present time there are only about 132,250 acres in grass in the County, but so fertile is the soil that the district is able to carry I 60,000 sheep and 29,000 head of cattle. At Matiere the Ohura Valley Dairy Company expects to produce about. 350 tons of butter this season, but the supply is drawn from a fairly restricted area, owing to lack of access. With the trains running regularly the output is exported to increase substantially. With a regular railway timetable undoubtedly more life v/il 1 be instilled into the sheep industry, and the possibility of railing manures and implements at low rates must hasten dairying on the small holdings. Close to Ohura there arc extensive coal denosits, and a new seam was recently opned up at l ain, near Heao. The coal is of good quality and the owners of the mine are confident that they will get ready sale for their coal. A word is due to those who constructed the line, and the surveyors and engineers whose brains were behind the great undertaking, and the men who py-morl the tunnels, built the bridges, and laid the rails. They did their work well. It: was an enterprise that was not without many a touch of romance, and those who played an important part in the great adventure will look back on it in the years to come as nerhnps the most eventful and colourful period in their lives. The blazing of a new trail has a fascination all its own, and it is a fascination that lingers through the years. Yesterday men who were eway in the hinterland over thirty years ago making the early surveys and wondering how the line was going to push its way through su~h forbidding roi”'f rv. wme f rr *m many corners of New Zealand to see the last spike driven.. They sew the line started, and they have seen it comoleted. Theirs v/ns the travail and the triumnh: the reaping of the harvest of their labour, let us all hope, lies not very far ahead.