THE AWAMOKO RAILWAY.

Evening Star, Issue 4106, 25 April 1876, Page 4

THE AWAMOKO RAILWAY.

From its junction with the Waitaki line to ite termination in the Gorge, where mingle tbe waters of the Maerewhenua andWai-

fold, the length of the line is twenty-one miles. The tramway as completed some tiifdlve months ago by the contractor, was -found tb-be imperfect, dangerous, and utterly nnfit for traffic. As a natural consequence it was condemned, fresh levels 'had, to be taken, and the work had to —this time under ',C&?6ot. control of :the Provincial

Government.. A start was made shortly before last Christmas,-and since the commenobmeht 7 of the year up to: the present tiihe pbowb 100 men have been employed / constantly bn the work. Of the magnitude offlip inrolved some'idea may be formed trheit it is stated that every sleeper hiu hod tp be detached from the rails, lifted, acarfod with .the adze, relaid,, dogged, and •übsequently packed. The levels throughout have been altered, and the road has been raised and depressed in places, necessitating .large.expenditure for additional ballast. The rails, many of them bent through the cranky deflections in- the contractor’s handiwork, have , had to be straightened. In shert, an amount of work has been performed almost equivalent to the construction of a new tramway. Meanwhile the goods traffic has never been suspended, and at great .inconvenience to those employed, And imminent risk to the guard, driver, and .stoker, the iron horse has pursued his perilous journey as far as Papakaio and Maerewhenoa almost daily* It- need, therefore,

occasion no surprise that several times "Puffing Billy” hasshown serious symptoms •of and- a disposition to forsake ; Mr r Proudfoot’s patent Provincial locomotive, corkscrew for a less torturous path of: bis own. invention. Thus it hapSned, that little more than a week ago, Mr ‘Kenzie, the guardian angel of the van, always equal to emergency,. in order to avoid a threatened accident, performed a - flyings leap; that might well have raised a blush on the bronzed countenance of an ac- ' oompliahed Japanese acrobat. The first fifteen miles have been completed, and in the course of a very fevf weeks, the line, as far as its termination, at the township of Duntroon, will receive its present finishing touch at the hands of the navvies, under the direction and stolid supervision of ex- ' pctienced gangers, the latter having given a lair account of their services, and, save, by some of the “lean salaried pedagogues of the plains,” who are ever '"P*teoasly- whining about the walls of ( Schools,! and the lining of their nonets, the .money expended will not De begrudged.' That the line is still far •from being perfect, and susceptible of considerable improvement, will not be denibd, but it will also be conceded by competent and impartial authorities that the Best possible use has been made of the material provided. If the sleepers . Are) toe narrow, and the rails too light, the fault obviously does not rest with the -laborers and their officers. To meet the requirements of the goods traffic, and to make the line safe for passengers, more substantial material is wanted, and at no

distant date will probably be supplied. Ofr tbe respurcea 0 f the district, and its abihty to render a tramway highly repro- ' ductive, there cannot exist a doubt, y Fertile and doubly fertile table-lands, yellow with golden grain, busy woolsheds, and h-iavily freighted, teams, have amply at tested the growing wealth of this inland’division. The present tramway may or may not be the concluding achievement of the Otago Government, but under any circumstances the manner of its completion will be ne disgraceful memorial •to the spirit and enterprise of Provincialism,—‘N. 0, Times,*