The Manawatu Standard PUBLIBHED DAILY. Suivunt la verite. THURSDAY. APRIL 19. 1883. THE RESULT OF AGITATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 112, 19 April 1883, Page 2

Manawatu Standard PUBLIBHED DAILY. Suivunt la verite. THURSDAY. APRIL 19. 1883. THE RESULT OF AGITATION.

The Railway Commission for the purpose of inquiring and reporting respecting the feasibility of the proposed direct railway from Christchurch to the West Coast of the Middle Island, has now been appointed, and consists of the following gentlemen : — Messrs Wilson, M.H.R. for JEtangitikei ; Mr Napier Bell, engineer, of Christchurch ; and Captain Russell, of Hastings, formerly M.H.R. for Napier. The Commission will commence work in all probability about a week hence, that being about the time when Mr Bbll will be at liberty to act. The Middle Island has obtained this concession by dint of fair downright badgering and agitation, both being perfectly legitimate means t to a desired and desirable end. What has been fought for has been granted, in t'uat a Commission has been appointed to report upon the alternative routes. The result will be that the matter will be formally brought before Parliament, and the thin end of the wedge will be introduced. These special Commissions are generally appointed just prior to a session of Parliament, when a policy of conciliation is considered politic. Why should not a special Commission be appointed to report upon the merits of the proposed continuation oi the Napier railway through the Gorge to Palmeri ston ? There can be no choice of routes there. Nature has only offered one, viz. — the opening in the mountains known as the Manawatu Qorge. That must be the great highway between the East jand West Coasts. No other is available. Through the Gorge must come the produce of both coasts to their respective ports of shipping at -Napier or Wellington. It is unaccountable how persistently the value of tbat great natural high- 1 way has been ignored, If there were no such means of access, engineers would have been at work long ago surveying impraticable trial lines over the most inaccessible spurs in tbe dividing range ; but because tbe route lays invitingly open to traffic, no advantage is taken of it. In course of time the Gorge must be admitted to be the one practicable route for a railway to connect Wellington, Napier, New Plymouth, Wanganui, and Auckland. It is in fact the key to the whole position, and forms the solution of the entire difficulty. Granted that the projected

Auckland Trunk Railway must connect with the existing Foxton-New Plymouth line, which it most inevitably must do, and that the WellingtonManawatu railway will progress satisfactorily, as it now is doing towards a successful consummation, the connection of Woodviile with Palmerston will unite all the parts we have enumerated by an unbroken "iron road." But the publie must agitate, or nothing will be done. Let them remember and consider well what agitation has achieved in a similar direction in the Middle Island.