The Gorge Line.

Manawatu Standard, Volume VIII, Issue 130, 12 November 1884, Page 3

The Gorge Line.

(Editor of New Zealand TtmeOSir,— ln the concluding paragraph of your Wood ville correspondent's letter m jour iasue'of the 29th ult., he says, "It» is "to l»e hoped Government will abandon the idea of prosecutingthat piece of madness. the • Gorge line,' and prosecute that whi'jh /will connect Napier with Wellington. They should at once abandon ihe pro ject of making a railway to benefit a private company* such as the West Coast Railway Company." Now, sir, your correspondent's views on this important question are entirely •bis own, and do not m any way represent the vie^s held by the Woodville settlers. Their great desire is to be connected with Wellington by railway by one of the easiest and shortest routes, and as thaV by the Gorge and Palmerston is admitted on all hands to be fully thirty miles shorter than that via Mnstcrton, they without hesitation support it. •Another reason for supporting that route is that the line throughout will foe a level one, and free from any sharp curves, and will enable travellers to reach the city fully four hours : quicker than any other route. The Gorge line as a whole presents no engineering difficulties, and the short section through the gorge proper, some three mites m extent, where any do occur, I am assured by engineers of repute, can be constructed for about . j£l 0,000 a mile— a very small sum as compared with the cost of many miles oi the steep and dangerous Rimutaka line. Again, by connecting Wood•ville with Palmerston, some seventeen miles only will be required to be built, while by the other route sixty miles will be required to be constructed to make the connection with Welling ton. These sixty miles would, if we may bo guided by the experience of the past, take the Government fully fifteen years to complete, while that by the Gorge, calculated at the same rate, would take only four years ; and should it happily be placed m the hands of the enterprising and pushing Manawatu Railway Company, we might hope to see it finished m eighteen months from date, but I fear there is no such good fortune m •tore for the settlers of this district. 1, with others, feel that we owe a debt of gratitude w> the above company for the vigor they have displayed m the prosecution of the great work entrusted to them. For without such a company Woodville and the surrounding districts would for many years to come be shut out from the benefits such a market as Wellington ■will afford for the sale of their produce. I must apologise for taking up so much of your valuable space, but Ij m common with my fellow-settlers, feel that 3 cannot allow your Woodvine correspondent's views upon this important question to pass unchallenged. I am, Ac., WOODVILLB. October 20tb, 1884.