D.-4.

24

' ]•'.. ('. PUBDIE.

and the north. That league was so constituted thai its president was a Dargaville man and the secretary a Whangarei man. The raihvay problem presents itself to me in this way: If you take Kaikohe as the objective point, there are three ways of reaching it—First, by xvhat might be called the extreme eastern route by Whangarei: secondly, by what might be called the central route to the east of the Tangihuas: and thirdly, by the central line to the west of the Tangihuas. The problem seems to me to resolve itself into this: that by two of these routes —that is, the line either to the east or the west of the Tangihuas—the distance from McCarroll's Cap to Kaikohe would be about sixty miles, whilst the distance from McCarroll's Gap to Kioreroa is twenty-seven miles. If you follow the line by making the twenty-seven-mile i - nection, you add to the distance of the point of objective at Kaikohe by about thirty miles. On the other hand, you bring into touch xvith Auckland several years in advance the xvhole of the Whangarei County and the whole of the Whangarei Borough, and the whole of Hokianga, and the whole of the north, and it seems to me, knowing the needs of the north fairly well, that that is the course that ought to be immediately taken. I do not want to go into the question of statistics, because after all they are only a matter of memory, and I take it that this Commission has access to data of that sort without requiring evidence from a mere looker-on. Rut I would suggest that whatever statistics are considered in connection with this railway ques tion, they should include statistics of the xvhole of the Ray of Islands and the whole of the Whangarei County, as materially bearing upon the question. Taking the average railway construction, as far as I know it, I should say that by connecting by way of Kioreroa and McCarroll's Gap the xvhole of the north to Hokianga and the whole of the cast will be connected with Auckland quite ten years sooner than if they wait for the line through the Mangakahia Valley to Kaikohe. At the present time, to my own knowledge, a very large number of passengers from as far north as Mangonui and as far west as the Hokianga take coach to Towai and join the train there rather than take the long xvater journey from Mangonui or the Bay of Islands: and xvhen the line is through to Kaikohe, that number, I venture to say, will be very greatly increased. In my time in the north, and I believe at the present time too, all the coach-roads converged at Ohaeawai, and passed on to Kawakawa. When the line is open to Kaikohe—possibly in two years —the coaches no doubt xvill make Kaikohe the terminus. Now, a junction must sooner or later be made betxveen Whangarei and the Main Trunk line proper, and I can see absolutely no reason why the raihvay traffic from the north to Auckland should lie delayed ten years while the Main Trunk line is being constructed through the Mangakahia Valley to Kai kohe. It seems to me that from all points of viexv it is highly desirable to make that connec tion as soon as possible. The harbours on the east coast are good harbours ;on the xvest they arc poor harbours. Whatever connection xve have with the outer xvorld must be by xvay of the eastern harbours. A movement has been on foot in the Town of Whangarei for many years past to have their own harbour established as a port of entry, and merchants here tell me that, before many years, if trade goes on increasing at the present rate, that must come about. In that case, I take it, Whangarei will be the distributing centre for places as far south as Maungaturoto and Kaiwaka, and also for the north. In that case the connection between McCarroll's Cap and Kioreroa would very materially aid the inland settlers. Mr. Fowlds, when be xvas through the north, remarked that in his opinion the north would! be the most closely settled district in the Dominion, and gave as his reason that the north was more capable of productiveness under intensive cultivation than any other part of New Zealand xvith which he was acquainted. I quite agree xvith that viexv. Dr. Findlay, xvhen he xvas here, suggested that the lands, particularly betxveen here and Kawakawa, being very cheap, were particularly well suited for fruit-growing. In that opinion I agree also. He also indicated not only that the land was suited for fruit-growing, but fitted to carry through a scheme for the utilization of prison labour for the preparation of farms to be ultimately disposed of to settlers, and that he xvould see to it that the north, whose climate xvas particularly suited for fruit-growing, should be used in that xvay. I have dealt with xvhat I should call the eastern present line, and now I should like to come to the question of the central line. I have always held that a central line should be the shortest, the cheapest, and the most central. I think that the people to the north, although they would be convenienced for a perod of, sax, ten or fifteen years, by the linkingnp of the Main Trunk line by way of McCarroU's Cap and Kioreroa. should not be penalized by thirty miles for all time. So that simultaneously with the construction of this connection acentral line should be carried on from McCarroll's Gap to Kaikohe. That central line should, in my opinion, go to the east of the Tangihuas. I must at once say that I do not know the country to the west of the Tangihuas to anything like the extent that I knoxv the country to the east. I hold the opinion that xvhen the railway passes through the valley of the Mangakahia close settlement xvill be encouraged. I consider the Mangakahia to be the most extensive and most fertile valley in the whole of the north. I wish again to refer to statistics, not by way of giving statistics, but by xvay of indicating what I consider mere justice in the matter of computing statistics. I take it as an axiom and an absolutely just maxim that if statistics are considered at all, and! a central line is under consideration, a straight line should be drawn through the centre of the district to be served by the raihvay—a straight north-and-south line ft nd that the statistics—population, stock, and others—should he computed from the sea-coast to the line. I make that suggestion because on a former occasion, xvhen the eastern and xvestern routes were under consideration, the statistics furnished as bearing upon the question excluded in toto the xvhole of the country to the oast of the present Whangarei-Kawakaxva line and the whole of the country for ten miles xvest of that line. In that xvay, by a simple process of manipulation, the whole of the population of the Whangarei Borough, the whole of quite twenty toxvnships lying between Whangarei Heads and Bay of Islands, the xvhole of the production of a very large area, were absolutely excluded, and should, in my opinion, have been included, On