The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1903. THE CENTRAL RAILWAY ROUTE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXXXV, Issue 130, 3 June 1903, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1903. THE CENTRAL RAILWAY ROUTE.

It is some time now since we had any-' thing fresh Regarding the central railway route. Last week the Minis'er for PubJio Woiks visited the rout; 1 , and was accooapinied by Mr W, T Jennicg*, the member for Egmont, along that portion cf tha route wh : cb passes through his extensive electorate. Amongst the party wae Mr F. Mandei, 1 the iiewly-elected member f r MarsdeD, who appears to have been favou ably impressed, and dealt v.ry impartially with what he saw. He appears also ti have been a close observer of the character of the country through which h< pasted. At one tittxi d.scr'p ioaa ol this route were as plentiful as could be wished, but, as a rule, the country wat rather wholly good or wholly bid, One visitor would state that the soil aid i. c'ima'e along the route was excellent . and that the Waimarino Fores! cotsis'ed of most m igDificfc t totird, enough to pay the Co3t of the line twice B over; while an.ther visi'.or wculd state tas positively that the t (es were all hollow, that the climate Was execrable, and tho land so poor that it would no: feed a rabbit to the acre. Fi om a - personal knowledge cf the route> we 5 know that the truth lay bet wet h tho two, Mr Mander, who has been talking to a newspaper reporter in Au.kland, cob firms thi" t and gives some iut'r s ing particulars of the progress of the line and the country generally. As a good deal of this country will b i tapped by the line now bting put iri T from Stratfordj andj if shipping facilities ai-e provided at the breaki water, will, on account- of the 1 shorter distance, find an outlet there, his remarks will doubtless interest oui readers* " Lea vie g A'leklanl th, , party arrived at Piriak* on S .turdaj night, 23rd ult., s'aying there over i Sunday. There was nothing much to ' see at Piriaka. Mr Mander stated that 600 men are employed there on the nortbera end of the railway) am 1 about 600 on the southern end. The . party next B'opped at tho hfad cf the War.g&uui River. Herb the Viaduct is ■ not completed, but on the south side of it eight miles of line have been formed, On Monday the party reached th« Waimaiico Plair s, camping there until the next day, when thuy proceed'd to Raetihi, On the o her side of the mountain th( y found, Mr Mander said, goad country and an imrneisa lot cf cedar bush (kowaka). This he described as very valuable timb:rj there being quite a forest of it. Also they , saw any quantity of black hear'ed maire. There was not so muoh totara as they had expected to see, and what (here was was defective. On the other hand, there was any quantity of rimu and rata. From Piriaka on t,o the • plains there wa?, he said, a greit tract , ■ of couutry fit for eettlemeut - a great ; deal better country than has bean t e i ' ported 1 Though it was pumice country th ro was a thick layer o! i black soil above the pumice, ar d clay benevtb, besides which the grass was i

lich, and Mr Mander could not imtgice that this country was poor. Some patches the party saw along the line were better than other?. Beyond the plains the country was good sandstone, the pumice country stretching from Piriak* to Otorolunga, m-st of it, though broken, being fid for settlement beyond Piriaka. Mr Mander saw nothing of the desert talked of. There were, he ssi t, hundreds of thousands of acres in tussock grass, this land being capable of carrying one sheep to every five acres, After leaving the Wanganui River the Ministerial party n x camped at Waimarino, and from there went on to Raetihi, travelling thsnce in splendid country to Taihape and Marton Junction. All the country along this section if the line was very broken, but very rich, and on the whole Mr Mander saw no re son to bi discouraged with the country. H e certainly thought it right to put tbe railway through that route. Wcrk on the railway, Mr Maunder stated, wbb progrfssing favouratly. At the s uth end the line had been advanced 30 miles from tbe viaduct in course of erection at Mangaweka, and at the northern end eight miles were completed teyond the VVanganui River southwards. The Government wore making splendid roads hero through the bufrh, at a cost of about £4OO per mi!e. This expenditure was nec ssary in order to geb on with their stuff iri advance.