PROVERTY BAY TO WAIKATO.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1660, 29 January 1906, Page 3

PROVERTY BAY TO WAIKATO.

WANTED—A EOAD. THE POSSIBLE KOUTES

I' ■ EiLiT.il (Waikato Argus) Tbe need of a more direct and shorter road from Gisborne and the East Coast to the Waikato, than that via Napier, has

long been felt. That a large and flourishing district 1-ke Poverty Bay should have no direct communication by road with Waikato and Auckland, must be a matter of surprise to our South Island visitors. Although a direct read is chiefly required for stock-diiving purposes, it is also

needed for the ordinary purposes of communication, and it is, next to the completion of the Main Trunk Line, the most

important work for the Auckland province. This bat for Borne time been reognised by our more progressive Waikato farmers and a small section of Auckland’s

business men, who fully appreciate tbe benefits which would accrue to their portions of the province as enabling store sheep to be obtained when required. At present sheep destined for Waikato, from the Poverty Bay district, have to travel

almost down to Napier before turning up □ortb, which necessarily means a long and

irying journey for this class of stock. Everyone who ha 3 given the matter a

thought, is unanimous as to tbe necessity of this road, but tbe best line of route to be fo'lowed is not quite so obvious, owing mainly to lack of personal knowledge of the oouotry. Other points in connection with this matter, tha’t will naturally be taken into consideration by the powers that be when approached on the qusstion of route, are : How will tho line proposed work in with roads already made, and I what scope of country, settled and other-

wise, will it tap ? Tee Government is bound to take these points into consideration, and it is therefore necessary to the

earlier fulfilment of their hopes, that our Waikato people intetostod should study this question from a similar standpoint. Also remembering that it would be a better policy to try and obtain tbe best

permanent line, ovon if it means a rather loDger spaco of time before complelim, than to take the line of what may bo called least resistance, with atteadaDt disadvantages of scarcity of feed and shortness of water. { As far as we can ascertain, three alternate routes havo been suggesled, a'l of wh ; ch havo Rotorua as a common objective, viz : (l) From OrmoDd* through the 1 Ucowora country at the bead of the Humrau range to Galatea ; (2) from GisbOrce to Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, thence to Galatea via Waikaremoana ; and f 3) from Gisborno to Opotiki, via Motu, thenoo via Wbakacane end Te Ttke on to the Hot Lakes centre. As it has been put forward in print recently that the Opotiki route was not practicable for sheep on account of the rivers that would have to be forded, it might be well to point out that there are only two rivers of any importance on this routo which have still to be bridged. These are the Whakatene and tbo Rangitaiki, and for both of those various sums have been placed on the Estimates for bridging for several years past, and there can bo no doubt that very shortly fordiug or ferrying these rivers will be a tbiog of the past. The distances on the two last mentioned routes ore ap» proximately as follows: Gisborne to Wairoa 68 miles, Wairoa to Waikare* moana 36, Waikoremoana to Waiotapu via Galatsa 79, Waiotapu to Rotorua 21, total 204 miles; Gisborno to Motu 55, Motu to Opotiki 56, Opotiki to Rotorua 76, total 187. A new and shorter read from Motu to Opotiki via the Otara Valley has already been put in hand by the Government, which will eSect a saving of some 24 miles, so that in considering the permansnt route this should be dej daoted from the total just given. The old stumbling block to travel-

I ling stook along this portion of the I Bay of Plonsy, namoly Obiwa Harbor, no longor exists, as a driving road has litelyboen constructed round the head. No information is to hand in loferonoa to tho suggostod road through the Huirau Range, but no doubt, as soon as I tbo question is taken up in earnest, this I will bo available. Tbo line, via Opotiki, is all made and open for traffic, with tho I exoeption of tho now road between that plaoo and Motu, and offors for almost tho wholo of its length groat advantages in the way of feed and water, and it will also, |in tho near future, undoubtedly booomo the main ooaoh road from the- East Coast to tho Auokland railway system. The Huirau route will, on tbo other hand, probably bapomawhat shorter, but the country along tho Galatea track is not famed for tbo riohness of its feed, and thiß will require to bo weighed against the saving I in distance.