GREYTOWN AND THE RAILWAY ROUTE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5014, 19 April 1877, Page 2

GREYTOWN AND THE RAILWAY ROUTE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. Sir,—l should like to bring a few fact* before the public concerning Greytown and the much-talked of railway route and its deviation to reach Greytown. Now, sir, anyone not living in Greytown, and not knowing the facts of the case, would imagine from the persistency with which the matter is kept before the public that the whole district was greatly interested in the deviation of the railway route ; but the fact is that the whole agitation was got up, and is kept alive by two or three interested persons— ■ owners of property at the south end of Greytown—who -wish to make people living outside the district imagine that a great wrong is being perpetrated. Now, the question is, is Greytown worth making any deviation' to come near ? I emphatically answer no. Eirst because it lias no trade of its own—the trade

that has kept it from sinking into insignificance has been the trade of tho Lower Valley, the whole of which upon tho completion of the Tauherinakau bridge will bo drawn to Featherston ; the fact is, tho most of it has already departed from this much vaunted premier city, which might be much more aptly called the “City of the Floods,” for it is certainly doomed to destruction. Secondly, because there is no lands in its vicinity at all suitable for agriculture. Where the land is not covered with stones it is under water. Tho whole produce of tho neighborhood consists of possibly 200 bales wool and a few tons of butter ; as for grain there has not been grown 2000 bushels in the last five years, tho whole of their supplies of oats, &c., being obtained from Taratabi and Masterton. Now, with regard to its liability to floods, I find that the greatest part of the north end of the town has been completely destroyed, and where there used to be handsome residences and beautiful gardens now is presented a scene of wreck and desolation, the water having carried away the fences and flooded some of the houses to a depth of six feetj; and the whole of Grey town is more or less liable to the same fate, for although the Board of River Conservators have spent large sums in attempting to stop the encroachments of the river, no one who is not infatuated with Greytown can see any permanent benefit from it, the whole of their works being liable to be, rendered useless by the first large flood. Now, sir, it is over this beautiful site that those few interested persons would have the railway taken. Now, it is well-known that there is a fall of about 12ft. from the old channel of the river to the main trunk road, and that immense quantities of sand and gravel are being continually washed down and accumulating about the road, so that even supposing the railway could be constructed on the proposed route, the expense of maintaining it would bo immense, and irrespective of all other considerations there would always be the liability of its being totally destroyed by the first large fl od. Now, sir, in conclusion, to show the extremely local character of the agitation got up, I find that only one person out of the imraediate neighbood of Greytown has contributed anything to the railway route line. Hoping I have not trespassed too much on your valuable v space, I am, &0., SCRIBENDDM. Carterton, April 17.