THE WELLINGTON-MASTERTON RAILWAY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5635, 22 April 1879, Page 2

THE WELLINGTON-MASTERTON RAILWAY.

A visitor who has just returned from the Wairarapa writes to us as follows : To a stranger your Featherston line is simply a marvel. It is a capital illustration of what difficulties engineer- , ing skill can cope with; while it will always remain a monument to the extravagance and recklessness of people who would pierce the Rimutaka at any cost. The line, one would think, is and must remain a fancy line, so that it was with a good deal of surprise I observed by the traffic returns you published on Saturday, that it is , worked at the lowest cost of any in the colony, except the Grey mouth railway and mineral line, I am informed. How long it will remain in such a favored position is a question that may well be asked. So far the expense of maintenance and rspairs must have been slight. The immense wear and tear on the hill-side sections has not yet made itself felt, but before the winter is out very heavy expenditure on the line may be anticipated. Most of the cuttings have as yet stood well enough, but evidently there has been little or no rain. Another six months, however, will, I believe, tell a different tale. A great many of the cuttings between the Upper Hutt and Kaitoke, and for six or seven miles beyond, are in very soft country, and the batter, well enough for rock or conglomerate, will be found to bo quite insufficient. In other places where the line runs over made ground the embankments are far too steep, and if heavy rains should fall will require a great deal of attention. The section on the Wairarapa side of the hill seems to run through ■ hard rocky country, and no doubt will stand. There is a great deal of dissatisfaction among the Wairarapa people at the delay in pushing on the sections now under contract. I hear that the contractor has a >

good deal of difficulty with bis navvies. Unfortunately they are not of the saving class. Their wages, hardly enough earned, find their way into the public-houses, and in addition to the time consumed in drinking bouts there are many days lost while the men are really ill from the effects of drink. But apart from all this, the building of the large bridge over the Waiohine is proceeding very slowly, and probably will be the cause of serious delay.