RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS REPORT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 527, 28 July 1880, Page 2

RAILWAY COMMISSIONERS REPORT.

; The Commissioners give in detail their Opinion and recommendation upon each line (jf partly constructed and proposed railway in the colony. These details are too voluminous to publish in extenao, but we give those referring to existing or proposed links of communioation with the Wellington railway Makotoko to Woodrille.—We of opinion that this section should stand oyer for the, present, arid that all funds which may become available for the' Wellington and Napier line should be devoted to the completion pf the Wellington and' Woodvillo portion, with a view to open communication between Wellington and. the West Coast, as well as subsequently between Wellington and Napier. We are confirmed in this recommendation by, the: faot that the land between Woodville and Makotoko is for the most part- native pr - perty. Featherston to Masterton.—The eon-, tracts upon 1 this station''are.approaching completion! 'lt opens' up a district supporting a large population; who have.been' long settled, and it will be the means of increasing the traffic upon the .portion ofthe line which is noropdn.' - J -' • : i Mastertqnt^Opakiand.Mauriceville.' l -- This is a further section of the main line which we consider it desirable to .proceed, witjh without delay.- It will make available a large, extent of 'busk-land suitable for: small-farm-settlement,"andit'aljotaps a considerable block of good Grown Ifind, & great part of whicK is limestone formation,,", V

Mauriceville to 'Woodville.~We "are of opinion that this section of the main trunk line should be one of the.first, to-ber'pro-able. It intersects a large block of good Crown lands, and, will add materially tothe traffic on the line now in'operation.... Woodville to Bunny thorpe.—This line, proposed to be carried through the Manawatu Gorge on the north bank of the river, will form the connecting M between WanganuijJ The cost of construction will, however, be heavy, the estimate of the engiiieeribeing £139,000; and we recommend that it be not proceeded with until communication between Wellington, and Woodville has been first established. ; .-.'■ v.l -L

Wellington to Foxton—This line would be-in direct competition with that which we reoommend. should be constructed by way of the ilanawatu Gorge,-, But apart from that fact, we consider that the proposal is premature, on the ground-that a large part of the country.it-would open up is still in the hands of native owners ; and iriexpedieht, oh the ground that the value of the land which the line would serve has been greatly overrated, and that the undertaking would; be unprofitable one, which the colony wbuid not ba justified in, enternig upon, We advise that the expenditure now going on at the Wellington end of the line be at once stopped, and the labor employed thereon transferred to .the Masterton and Mauriceville section: