THE RIMUTAKA DEVIATION

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 8, 4 October 1919, Page 4

THE RIMUTAKA DEVIATION

the'tauherenikau route.

Sir.—The letter of vour corresnondent, WfiHOjUjje* s®iMmt Keys, in your issue of October 1, strongJv advocating, ItheX'Taiiherenikau' route for the Rimutik'a deviation, is a seasonable adQitioh to the present controversy.

lam very glad indeed 'to see: it. Because, if I prove, from'this writer's own words, how unsuitable the Tauherenikaudeviation is to Wellington, I shall-firm up considerably the Wainui 'deviation., as/ tho only route the city can accept. Your 1 , correspondent says, "That lie was, actually on tho different surveys,", so that wo must respect his opinions, even if, I sho\y that his facts are absolutely wrong. ,' :,".-.; Let mo tell him at once that -I first. proposed, in Wairarapa, many years 'ago, tho Rimutaka deviation by the,Tauherenikau route knowing well how vastly : , superior that route was to the present Summitline. After proposing it I' discovered that Mr. William Beetham," of Masterton, in his young days, hao been.over that line, from Kaitoke, and-tMt.'he'was always surprised the railway.-had.-: : not. : been taken that way, in place of vviatho present Summit. The present-Summit route is really, a political line, '.'engineered by Dr. Featherston -and •Miy'Hcnry' Bunny,'in order to compel the -line to' pass through Featherston (named; after the then Superintendent)', .'aud'.so: as : :hbt. to avoid that town, which ybur--corres-oondent is .doing by taking to; Woodside, as he suggests...-. Clifford Square, and Fox: and,^Feather-., ston Streets, etc. etc., :in whose names had to be preserved,- at/the., cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds, and untold misery in train sickness, to the peoplo of Wairarapa ever since. (Will not tho sdmo political game hapnen to our main roads, if the Government take them entirely out of county hands? Some will be made, and 6ome not. just as it pleaoes tho politicians). ' Biit discussing this Tauherenikau deviation with 'the engineers, I found that it would: not do away with the most dangerous section—Upper Hutt to Kai-' toke—rising S36ft. (as your correspondent points out), and with no central rail. So I sought about for a flatter line. Mr. Sam Cundy suggested that a line .might bo taken through to Wainui.' He had not been through there himself, but- he thought it a practical .proposition. . I asked the, then Minister of -Public ATorka (Sir William Hall-Jones) to .have the Wainui route surveyed; as well as that by Tauherenikau. All I need say now is that vour correspondent's' frank ad-' mission that his deviation- starts only ■from Kaitoke places him quite out of court so far as Wellington's future interests are concerned. Three or four different lines have been ■ surveyed between Tipper Hutt and Knitoke,"so as to reduce that heavy- grade,but. without success. ' The deviation via Pigeon Bush was surveyed "to- get over [the difficulty by avoiding Kaitqko alto, wther. This is tho .line, suggested by Mr. J. P. Maxwell. But as that deviation gives a heavy grade on both sides of the hill of 1 in 35, I hold it unsuitable for Wellington. No doubt it would be well for-us-to have: Mr. .E.......W. Holmes's .opinion,' 'as- Cbelieve thatrpfen--' tleman has- a"'l in 70,: grade, out'.,of;the citv in view. lam sure Wainui. r allows that and! less, up.to 1 in '100;', w %>' BKPJ the'citv an express line for service;. But I am hot going to-be governed entirely, by the experts in this matter. ,-.l. want, the best grade for the city, and/ 1--any not going to consider the saving-'of .£IOO.OOO in cost. '-~.. • •■-Not- as to .your correspondents mis-; 'takes in facts. He says, "that the Wainui route means the construction of about forty miles of new railway Tho survey gives 30 miles 00 chains. Why this great error? ' Mr. Maxwell says that the Pigeon Bush deviation means thirty miles of new line, so there is not much difference in length, between thosetwo deviations. . In time, however, this matter of. length is" vastly in favour of Wainui. But your correspondents statement of distances a-ia Tajiherenikauplace'him again out of court,,' He further says:-"That eleven miles would be-saved over the present distance'from Wellington to Woodside by adopting tho Tauherenikau '.deviation. The survey only- gives .1i hides. ■ Why this error? ' . With respect to the milk supply.-, lour correspondent says: "That a train would leave Woodside at G ,a.m. to Jie in Wellington by 7.30. In: fact themilk would still-be':warm from- the "cow." Quito apart' from .'the train could--.possibly ■travel',!front -Wellington. by'therTailhereiiikau. proposed by your correspondent,-in one hour and a 'half, there is-the further great fact that there are no. cows or dairy factories at Woodside. The: factories are either at Carterton, Greytown, or Peathorston,; and the milk vans would have', to, be loaded .from ..either of., those places,; which' means another half-hour ■or more.,at the Very;least. "'-As' lam advised, sin express serydco.'could, not be fun'via the Tauherenikau route, at all, so that your correspondent's "statement of one and a half hours is simply inconceivable. . ' . As to his condemnation : of tho barrenness of the Wainui route: This, I regret to say, is as surprising as his other statements. Nearly ;ev6ryono knows the country up to tho Wainui reservoir, where the long tunnel (three miles and fifty chains only, almost the same length as tho Lyttelton tunnel) entors the hill. The only piece of rough, barren country I know in the Wainui route is the short Diece down the Wairongamai Stream from the mouth of the tunnel to Mr. Matthews's homestead, and not the whole len"th at that. But tho section from Mr Matthews's homestead to Pigeon Bush is one of the prettiest and bestgrasscd' pieces of country in the province. _ I should be glad if Mr. E. W. Holmes would kindly give us his opinion upon this matter, as Ihave no-wish .to'leadWellington'astray. As an expert, I ask him to take into consideration the growin" rivalry of Wanganui as a port of entry i and that it is nbsohifoly -essential for the citv to flatten its rail grades. I know Wanganui has its bar to contend with, which Wellington has not. But thpse bars can be improved by trainingwalls and dredging; and if-its aim is to get 40ft. of deep sea draught, I do not think that constitutes a danger to Wellington's trade. Wanganui is already the fifth sea port in the Dominion. But I have no jealousy of that port. n All I unro is tliat .Wellington must flatten its rail grades. The highest point by tho Wainui route" is only . r >Goft. lo cai-rv all our goods almost 1000 ft. up, which will have to bo done, by the Tauherenikau route, places Wellington under a great handicap as against Wanganui. As to the high pressure water service: Your correspondent suggests scrapping tho Wainui reservoirs entirely, and installing a'new intake in the Hutt EiVor at the Pukeratahi. If the Mayor (Mr. J.P. Luke) likes to'agree, to that, I have no objection, ng it will remove any objection on his part to the Wainui railway deviation;-but I am not posted in thefacts regarding tho Hutt supply There may be objections to it of grpat moment to the city—l am, efe, COLEMAN PHILLIPS.