AUCKLAND-TARANAKI RAILWAY.

Patea Mail, 25 November 1881, Page 3

AUCKLAND-TARANAKI RAILWAY.

Mr T. Kelly, M.H.R., in addressing New Plymouth electors, said : The South Island had got main lines of railway constructed at a cost of seven millions, while in the North Island the main line has not been continued from Taranaki to Auckland. The great cry against constructing the line between Auckland and Taranaki had been that the natives would hot allow the line to be taken through their laud. He did not believe there had ever been any ground for this cry, and that the natives would not really have opposed the con* struction of the railway if the Government had been determined to do it; They might have noticed in the newspapers re* cently an account of an interview he had with the natives of the Mokau district. These natives were not only willing, hilt they were anxious, that the railway should be constructed through their land, and that the district should be opened up. If the railway was constructed to Auckland it would greatly benefit the colony as a whole. It would place Taranaki district and the Auckland district in a position of safety as regards native affairs. It was the best route that could be taken for a main trunk line for the North Island, as the distance to connect the Auckland line with the Taranaki line was only about 125 miles. There was a proposal to take the line by way of Taupo to Wanganui, but this would not do, as the distance was too great—about 190 miles. Another proposal was to take the line via Napier, but this again was 160 miles, and was a much longer route than the Taranaki one, besides this the country was very rugged. On the Mokau side there would be little difficulty in constructing a line,-and it-would-open up a large extent of new country, besides settling the native difficulty.