The Central Trunk Railway.

Manawatu Standard, Volume IV, Issue 140, 13 May 1884, Page 2

The Central Trunk Railway.

The West Coast Route.

[Saturday's Post.]

As we mentioned last evening, Mr Mifcchelson returned to Wellington yesterday, after exploring the various routes for the proposed trunk railway through the North Island. Details regarding the exploration of the central route havo been published, aud some particulars regarding what the party saw during their examination of the rival route will doubtless be perused with interest by our readers. The Hon. Mr Mitchelson was accompanied by Mr Knorpp, one of the most experienced engineers m the Public Works Department, and Messrs Boss and Holmes, the engineers who had been engaged m making the preliminary survey of the route. The party left Kihikihion 28th April, and ( rode to Te Uira, where they camped for the night. The distance travelled was about. 30 miles, and this part of the route is practically the same as that for the central route, only it goes along the right bank of the Mangapu instead of along the left i ank. It consists of good fern laud and light bush country. Thence it crosses the watershed between the Waipa antl the Mokau river into the valley of Moko-iti. The country hereabouts is limestone foimation. On the evening of the 29th they camped at a native village on the Mokau, and Mr Mitchelson made I inquiries with a view of pushing | through to Taranaki. The friendly natives, however, informed him that | his passage would probably be obstructed, and he found also the j j country was broken that it would ' j take at least a month to penetrate that part of the proposed route. This, accordingly to all accounts, is by for the most difficult part of the line, and will be a very formidable obstacle to surmount. On the 30th the explorers reached B. uangarahu , | where the obstructionists wero encountered. Mr. Mitchelson, Mr H« 'lines, aud Mr. Ross, together with some friendly native*, then went to the Ohura river, where from an elevated position, they were able to st'e about 20 miles of the valley. j They found it very good country on the whole, though broken. Mr Carkeek, who had explored the line from 1 the Taranaki end, met the party on the road, and all assembled at Totava, on the Mokau, on the 2nd May. Thence they went down the river m canoes, and had an opportunity of observing the coal sea ins visible at various points en route. The river is very shallow, and difficult of navigation. The country between Totara and Mokau is exceedingly broken, aud the land is poor — m fact, all authorities seem to think it utterly impossible to carry through the railway by this route*. The party lode down the coast on the 4th inst., and arrived at Mokau next day. The Minister, together with Messrs Holmes and Ross, then went by rail to Stratford, whence they proceeded inland to a high trig station, where they could see the country lying towards the point where they had been obliged to abandon the Stratford route. They observed good land, very fair for construction, till the broken and difficult country already referred to was reached. The exact extent, of that country is not known, bivt it would involve extremely heavy engineering work to carry a line through it. The party had splendid weather throughout, but the country passed through, of course, necessitated a good deal of roughing: it. The scenery, both on the West Coast route and the Central route, is said to be exceedingly fine. Sufficient details have not jet been collectsd m regard to the Stratford route to enable a comparison to be made with the Central route as regards cost of construction, hut the distance will be somewhat shorter by the former than V c latter, but the engineering work will be much heavier. The advantage seems to lie all with the central route m regard to the land opened up, and apart irom this, the latter has not the competition of water carriage to compete with, which is a great drawback to the West Coast . route. As to the recommendation of Mr Mitohelson on the subject, of course nothing will be known until the official reports are presented to Parliament. In any case it will be generally admitted that the Minister deserves great credit for having, at considerable personal sacrifice, adopted the most practical method of testing the conflicting claims of the rival routes.