THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1921. PAEROA-POKENO RAILWAY.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4344, 18 November 1921, Page 2

THE Hauraki Plains Gazette With which is incorporated THE OHINEMURI GAZETTE. Motto: Public Service. MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, & FRIDAY. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 1921. PAEROA-POKENO RAILWAY.

The outstanding importance of the Paeroa-Pokeno railway project warrants repeated reference thereto without apology. From a' purely local point of view, this railway is greatly needed; at all public meetings on the Hauraki Plains the subject is referred to more or less, and wherever groups of men gather to discuss the needs of the district the railway proposal taeks pride of place. Even ’the vexed question of bridges pales into insignificance when the railway is mentioned, some people going so far as io say that some of the proposed bridges that are talked of would scarcely be required if a railway ran from Paeroa, across the Plains in the vicinity, of Kerepeehi and Ngatea and on to Auckland, which is the only route worth considering. Any idea of a route which would skirt the river line and seaboard must be scouted as a foolish duplica-. tion of trade-routes, and terminating at a blind end, from which the railway is never likely to be extended, and which is not a deep-sea port. The desire of certain vested interests to have the line start from near Thames has had a retarding influence, though the Government was never foolish enough to agree to a proposal which would be hailed as a national scandal if given effect to. Also, the desire of various centres on the Plains to have the railway run through their respective localities has given the Government a good excuse for shelving the scheme. All these party moves dropped, and the line must without let or hindrance, where the engineers know that it should go as an engineering and commercial proposition. It is safe to state that there is

ho other area in New Zealand which offers such sure prospects of financial success from its inception as does the proposal to run a line across the Hauraki Plains; the volume of goods and passenger traffic would be enormous, and an adequate revenue would be assured from the start.

From a national aspect the Paeroa-Pokeno railway project is unassailable; already the line from Frankton to Auckland is considerably overtaxed, but the Paeroa-Pokeno line would put off for several years the evil day when a costly duplication will have to be undertaken,* and which would not open up a single extra acre of land or cause another pound of produce to be grown. But a railway across the Plains would tap virgin country than which there is no equal in the Dominion; its existence would become one of the bulwarks of railway prosperity in the North Island, linking up the Bay of Plenty and the Auckland Province, and with the latter the chief port of call for steamers coming and going via the Panama Canal to the Dominion’s markets overseas.

To-morrow night there is to be a re-union of* N.Z. Farmers’ Union branches at Ngatea, which will afford a good opportunity of enlisting the combined support of the farmers on the Plains and the Thames Valley for a vigorous policy advocating an early start on the line. Later on a Parliamentary delegation will in all likelihood be visiting the Plains, and the occasion must be seized to put the most forcible case possible before members of the House on behalf of the prime need of the hour in this district, the Paeroa-Pokeno railway.