THE NORTHERN TRUNK.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1251, 12 May 1884, Page 2

THE NORTHERN TRUNK.

The Wellington Post publishes the following account of Mr Mitchelson’s examination of the Mokau-Taranaki route for the Auokland-Wellington railway :—The Hon Mr Mitchelson waa accompanied by Mr Knorpp, one of the moat experienced engineers in the Public Worka Department. and Messrs Bess and Holmes, the engineers who had been engaged in making the preliminary survey of the route. The party left Kihikihi on the 28th April, and rode to Te Uira, where they camped for the night, 1 he distance travelled wav about thirty miles, and this part of the route is practically the same as that for the central route, only it goes along the right bank of the Mangapu instead of along the lert bank. It consists of good fern land and light bush country. Thence is crosses the water-shed between the Waipa and the Mokau river into' the valley df Mokoite. The country hereabouts is limestone formation. On the evening of the 29 th they camped at a native village on the Mokau, and Mr Mitchelson made enquiries with a view of pushing through to Taranaki. The friendly natives, however, informed him that his passage'woqtd probably he obstructed, and he found also the country was so'broken thqt it ( Tfoql<| take at least a month to penetrate that part of the proposed route. This, according to all accounts, is by far (he most difficult pare of the line, and will be a very formidable obstacle to surmount On the 30th the explorers reached Buahangarahu, were the obstructionists were encountered. Mr Mitchelson, Mr Holmes and Mr Boss, together with some friendly natives, then went to the Ohura river, where, from the elevated position, they were able to see about twenty miles of the ' valley. They found it very good country - on the whole though broken. Sir Carkeok who had explored the line from the Taranaki end, met the party on the road, and all assembled at Totara on the Mokau on the 2nd May. Thence th*y wentcfbwn the river in canoes, and had an opportunity of observing the coai seams visible at various points en route. The river isvefy shallow and difficult of navigation. Tqq country between Totara and Sfokau is exceedingly hr .ken, qnd the laud is ; OQT. In fact all the authorities seem to think J

Utterly impossible to carry fhr. the' railway by this route. TLe yuity i pie | down the coast on the> 4th iost,, t-mi ar- I . ired at Mokan. Next day the Munster, | together with Messrs Holmes and Rosa, then Went by rail to Stratford, whence they proceeded inland to a high trig, station, where they could see the country lying towards the point where they had been obliged to abandon the Stratford route. They observed good land very fair for construction, till the broken and difficult country already referred to was reached- The exact extent of that country is not known, bdt it would involve extremely heavy engineering work to carry a line through it. The party had splendid weather throughout, but tbe country passed through of course necessitated a good deal of roughing it. The scenery both on the West Coast route and the central route, is said to be exceedingly fine. Sufficient details have not yet been collected in regard to tbe Stratford route to enable a comparison to be made with the control route as regards cost of construction, but. the distance will be somewhat shorter by the former than the latter, but the engineering work will be much heavier. Tbe advantage seems to be all with the central route in regard to tbe land opened up, and apart from this, the latter has not the competition of water carriage to compete with, which is a great drawback to the West Coast route. -As to the recommendation of Mr Mitchelson on the subject, of course nothing will bo known until the official reports are presented to Parliament.