THE OHURA RAILWAY.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 450, 23 March 1912, Page 5

THE OHURA RAILWAY.

WORK AT TE KOURA GOOD PROGRESS MADE With a view of ascertaining the progress being marie at the Te Koura end of the Stratford railway via the Ohura, a Chronicle representative paid a visit to the head of the. works on Wednesday afternoon, The name of the junction at. which She line will be connected witn the Main Trunk called Okahukara, it; being the name of a tributary of the Ongarue river close by. The scene as at present, witnessed from the starting point, reveals the engineer's office (Mr Baker), the store room and the blacksmith's shop together with a number of tents. | On the other side of the river is to be | seen a big cutting, the material of j which is being used to form a filling j about ten chains in length back toj wards the river, over which it is expected that an early commencement will be made in the erecting of a steel bridge. Already gravel for the concrete is being procured from the river and is being washed and got in readiness for the concrete work of the structure. The work of laying off the route of the line has been completed as far as the proposed tunnel, and is almost two miles and a-half. A start has been made in several places wit'.i the formation work as well as the building of concrete culverts The service road from this end has for so far gone about two and a-half miles, including a by-road to the beginning of the proposed tunnel. The road is being well made and is a contrast to the road made in the old Main Trunk clays. This road is being formed sixteen feet wide, a;,d is being made in a most workmanlike manner. Fascines are being used in all the bad places and the road is receiving a coating of pumice. On inquiry as regards the good work being done on this service road it was ascertained that the Public. Works Department intended it to be of first-i'lass order as it was a road that would be ri"cessary at a later period, and that after the railway service work was completed that, they intended to hand it over to the local authority. Work lias also been commenced at the l'J-mile peg on the main Ohura road in the direction of Okahukara with the object of it completing it as soon as possible. There are men to the number of about 1120 engaged on the works, about 40 of whom are employed on the surface road, together with another 2'- 1 working at the 12-mile peg end of the Ohura main road. .Men, however, are arriving daily, and a good amount of work is being pushed on. It is expected that within another six weeks there will be about : ; .F>o men employed. The commencing of the runnel work will necessitate an augmenting of the staff, as it will be a

work that will entail some considerable time before completion. On (he whole, work is proceeding as satisfactorily as possible, in its initial stages. In respect to the men employed, they are. a mixed lot, and with the exception of about -10 per cent, they are " Main Trunkers'' —men that follow up the game. The majority of the old hands object to the modern man, and in almost every instance, refuse to work with them unless they can form a gang of oldtimers. An instance one of the old hands quoted was that the young fellows of to-day came on the works absolutely refused to cook his food, and unless accommodation in that respect was provided he left. That fact, he considered. was a sufficient indication of how they worked. There are now three boarding houses on the spot, and they are doing good business. At a point about three, and a half miles from the junction an area of 20,000 acres of Crown land will be tapped. The bloc!; was supposed to have been on the market by now, but owing to the substantial service road being made the survey was checked, in order that alterations might be made so that sections would froiit the road.