THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. MONDAY, MARCH 8, 1909 THE RAILWAY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 137, 8 March 1909, Page 2

THE KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE. MONDAY, MARCH 8, 1909 THE RAILWAY.

The visit of the Minister for Public Works to the district is gratifying evidence that the progress which has taken place in the King Country during recent years is attracting attention to our requirements, and there can l»e little doubt that the visit will have a beneficial effect. In the past Rohe I

r - oiae nas suffered considerably from j

want of knowledge on the'part of those in authority, but this disability, is gradually being eliminated by the activity of the settlers, supported by the efforts of Mr Jennings, the energetic j member for the district. It was generally expected that Mr McKenzie would, during the course of his visit, [ decide upon the route to be taken from Mangaroa of the Stratford-Main Trunk

Railway, and Ufc efforts of the settlers were directed toward* impressing the Minister with, the advantages of the rival routes. The Minister in hi i speech at Managroa, however, made it painfully clear to the settlers that he had no intention of immediately deciding

upon a route, and disclosed a policy which is directly hostile fto the advocates of both routes The programme suggested by the Minister of concen-

trating all the work of the line on the I Southern end, with a view to opening up Taranaki as a market for the King Country, may appear to the Ministerial mind an ingenious method of evading j the real point at issue, but it will be received with widespread dissatisfac- I

lion, not only in this district, but throughout the whole of the Auckland province. Mr McKenzie rightly holds | loat the best interests of the Dominion j ■* a whole have to be considered in ! building railways and professes to see the said interests through Taranaki spectacles. We believe the best interests ot the Dominion to lie in the opening up of this great district in the ShOrtCSt time IK>3Jtihlp in nnlnr »*,„»

of the increased, and ever increasing production of the most progressive portion of the Country. As Mr Jennings forcibly pointed out, the line from the Taranaki end cannot possibly give an outlet to this end of the district for fifteen years or more, whereas every mile of construction at the northern end «.vould heip us, and would pay handsomely. The real point at issue still remains. Every settler in the district must urge in the strongest possible manner that the point of connection shall be decided upon immediately, and that construction work at the northern end shall be started directly such decision has bpon mnr?o