LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1210, 19 August 1911, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.

THE NAPIER-GISBORNE RAILWAY,

Sir,—lt would be interesting to learn when tho Minister for Public Works contemplates commencing tho longpromised, most important, and muchneeded railway from Napier to GisboriK'. Ihe making , of this line has been tislkcd about for a lengthened period, but up to the present it has been only talk. Thu urgent requirements of this proposed line have never beon questioned, and that it would prove a, paying venture is not doubled, but' while waiting largo tracts • of snlendid country, both pastoral ami agricultural, are going to waste, owing to the want of necessary means for the transportation to and fro of stock, produce, etc. All tho present settlers have to pay extortionate freight rates, lor instance, tho-cnrtaio of goods >.V wheel from Napier is JE4 per (on, and by water to Mohaka, a distance from Napier of some 25 miles, .C 2 per ton. At present the main road from Napier to Wairoa is in a most disgraceful state, so bad that the mail coaches have ceased running, and the mails are packed in and out. Without fear of contradiction], I can say that this is the worst highway in the Dominion, and a disgrace to any public body. At present, if one wants to travel from Napier to Mohakn or Wairoa, it is cither walk or ride, tiud, if by tho latfc-r, it is ten to one if your horse has a shoo left on by the time Waikari is reached. Only a fow days ago a. wagon was being driven along this main highway, when the leader floundcd into a hole in the centre of tlici road, the wheelers had to be unyolUed and hitched mi to the. unfortunate animal before it could be released. It would seem that the Government takes no interest in the wcllbeing of the farmers in these backblocks—iu men who are the bono and sinew of the. country. What encouragement is given to tho?« pioneers of industry? Echo answers, None. Is the Minister for Public Works so busily engaged keeping an argus eje on tlic Wellington City Council that "ho has no timo to spare, for this district ? Or has Sir James Carroll forgotten his own locality in his anxiety over tho "J'okau Bubble"? Of course, Mr. Dillon, M.P., is apathetic in tho matter, as he does not—it is said— intend to stand again for Parliament. Now is tho time for the settlers in this district to combine, and have some 6olid assurance that the line will bo commenced without delay. Now is (lie time, or it will be tco late after the elections take place if the present Ministry are retained in power. When this railway is made it will open up a magnificent country, which at present in many places is almost inaccessible.—l am, etc, ; WANDEKEK, Mohaka, August' IG.