The Patea Mail. Established 1875. MONDAY, MAY 21, 1883. HAWERA RAILWAY.

Patea Mail, Volume VIII, Issue 1037, 21 May 1883, Page 2

The Patea Mail. Established 1875. MONDAY, MAY 21, 1883. HAWERA RAILWAY.

We hope to see a large attendance at the Public Meeting to-morrow night, called to urge upon the Government the necessity of pushing on the work of railway construction between here and Hawera with more vigour. The subject is one of vital importance to country and town alike, and for that reason we hope to see country people in attendance ; so that although they should take no active part in the proceedings of the evening, their approval and support will be accorded by their presence. Wellington has now spoken through her Chamber of Commerce, and has done her best to forward the construction of the line. Hawera held a meeting on Thursday, and unanimously resolved that it was dcsirabro the line should be pushed on. Our meeting to-morrow will doubtless arrive at the same conclusion, and no doubt Government will not neglect the opinions thus brought under their notice. There were one or two resolutions moved at the Hawera meeting, which would, we think, be advisable for Patea people to endorse. The first was that the work would be greatly expedited by calling for tenders for the next section from the Hawera side. Mr King, the mover, urged with some show of reason that the Manawapoiv contract was a heavy one, and that if the work were pushed on from the Hawera side to meet it, the line would be finished much quicker than if the construction were only continued from the Manawapou end. The object of all ‘ of us is to have the line through as quickly as possible,' and if its completion can be accelerated even a mouth by the course proposed by Mr King it is clearly to our advantage to urge.upon Government to take that course. The other subject brought forward at the meeting, was the route for the trunk railway. Our readers are doubtless aware that extraordinary efforts are being made in Wellington, in fact by every town between that place and Wanganui, to have the Mokau route abandoned, and the line brought down through the centre" of the island to join at Wanganui or Marton. The disadvantage to this coast is obvious. At the present time,we have the railway to Foxton, and a company is constructing a line through from Wellington to that place; so that in a couple of years we shall be connected by rail with the Empire City.' Our object is to have railway cpmmnnicaticn with -Auckland, which will give ns two markets in place of one, both for buying and selling. The Hawera people have decided to ask the co-operation of the Auckland, Chamber of Commerce towards obtaining the extension of the Waikato railway via Mokau and we think we might very well pass a similar resolution.. In addition to trade reasons there is the fact that a line by the Mokau route would dissipate for ever the remaining shreds, of the Native difficulty by opening up the country for settlement, and that in itself is a powerful argument in favour of the route. We hope to see public opinion on this matter expressed in an unanimous and emphatic manner to-morrow evening.