RAILING THE EAST COAST

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 269, 23 March 1911, Page 5

RAILING THE EAST COAST

HON. E. McKEXZIE BAXQUETTED. By Telegraph. —Press Association. Gisborne, Last Night. The Hon. R. McKenzie, who has been on n visit to the East Coast north of Gisborne, returned to Gisborne this evening by steamer from Tokomaru. This evening he was intertained nt a large representative banquet by the Chamber of Commerce, at which His Honor Justice Chapman and Mr. W. A. Barton, S.M., were also present. Mr. MeKenzie expressed himself as greatly pleased 'with the potentialities of the district he had visited, and emphasised the necessity for closer settlement, instead of the large areas at present held. Referring to railway*, the Minister said that in a few months tliev would be starting at the Gisborne end and also at the Napier end of the Gisborne-Napier railway, and it would be one of the most important lines in' the Dominion, He said the East Coast Main Trunk line would get to Motu inside of eighteen months, and when connected up eventually wriuld be one of the most profitable in the Dominion, tapping vast areas of rich countrv. Tlie raihvav from Tauranga would probably roach Opoliki at the same time as the railway from Motu would reach Opotilii. The Minister leaves early in the morning for Napier, overland, via Wairoa, to follow the route of the Xapier-Gisborne line.