A LAND OF PROMISE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 101, 19 October 1911, Page 3

A LAND OF PROMISE.

ALONG THE .STRATFORD-ONGAMJE. LINE. (By our Special Commissioner.) No. 3. Whangamomona on a fine spring day, or even in summer, is a charming spot. We see it today under unfavorable and unpleasant fiircumstances. Its wet above and below. Heavy rain is falling and black clouds betoken a continuance of the downpour. The ground is soaked. There are no street lights, and the place seems all angles and water-holes as we endeavor to make our way about the township. Hern and there a stream of light, crosses the roadway, but serves to make the darkness more visible. There

are not many people about, and hy-and-by the village slumbers. Morning breaks, and it is ,4i|| raining. The return journey to Stratford is contemplated, and the outlook is anything but promising. We are to ride as far as the junction of the Mangere road with the railway line, and thence branch off to the railway line by means of the tramline. But where are the horses? Search in all the pouring rain reveals no trace. Other arrangements are made for me—this is the place to briefly acknowledge all the kindness .shown in providing my means of transit, mapping out my programme, for me, and seeing me through the country as though I were thej moneyed client and my friends a power-: ful tourist agency—and soon the home journey is commenced. The railway formation (which, by the way, extends for some miles beyond Whangamomona already) is soon met with, running by the side of the main road for some distance. Then it follows the Mangere road, and presently after traversing another heavy unmetalled road, bordered by the canvas dwellings of the co-opera-tive laborers, we strike a tram-line, and dismount. My horse makes the best of his way back to the settlement, as he's often had to do before. I am met by Mr. Wildermoth, who has come in from Pohokura, via the railway tunnel, to meet me. The walk along the tramline, which, by the way, was laid in order to take the plant from the Mangere road to the site of the tunnel, is by no means pleasant. The heavy rains have made the rails greasy, and in places it's under water. One has to emulate Blondin at times. Presently we are up against a big hank of loose papa, the spoil tipped from the trucks which run into the tunnel. It's greasy, very greasy, but we clamber to the top, and make our way through the slush on to Hat to the smithy. The trucks are just emptying out their load of spoil, and the driver promises us a ride into the tunnel as far as lie goes. i

Tlic tunnel itself, piercing the Whangamomona hill, is over 33 chains in length, and is laid out with a distinct curve in it. Where linished it is seventeen feet from the floor to the top of the arch, and thirteen feet wide. It is lined witk concrete, and the arch is constructed of concrete block*. This latter work is very heavy, but the men make a wonderfully neat job. At every five chains of the finished work we see a small arched bay. "Manhole, - * laconically explains the guide, who afterwards told us that all these manholes are on the same side of the tunnel and are meant as escapes for maintenance men who may be in the tunnel when a train passes through. The tunnel is at an interesting stage just now. The visitor can see nearly every work in progress. First of all. it wa» intcic-ting to find that in the actual work of excavating two tunnels are made, one above the other. These are known as "headings." The bottom is through, and tram rails run right through it, horse-drawn trolleys taking out s.poil from the earthwork and bringing in concrete blocks and mortar for the concreting and blocking. The top "heading" has been pierced, but not even the assurances of Mr. Stockley could tempt us to go through this way. One look enough for me. ft was black night there. The walking would be over lumps and heaps of papa. No, rather go by way of the tramline, tho' it is slushy in peaces. Our giiulo has a candle, and there are candles stuck in the walls, looking like a long row of glow-worms. The roof, only about six feet high where the top headin- has to be completed, is timbered, making a firm floor for the men who are working above us. They shovel their dirt through holes in their door or roof into trucks. Soon the tunnel will be excavated to its full height, and then follows the widening. The papa is still", and shots have to be put in to break it up for the pick and shovel. It is not so hard here at the Whanga' end as it was at the Pohokura end, as can be proved by the smiths, who have now to sharpen only a lew auger* as compared with the call on them a ■month or two ago. These augers are used for drilling in the sandstone or papa. A charge of gelignite, a fuse, a match, and the thing is done. Whilst we were in the tunnel there came four deafening reports, and the echoes reverberated for seconds in our ears. Rtartled? Rather, but it was only the blasting party at work. Here the tunnel becomes almost a sludge- channel, for which Mr. Sandaggcr (who is in charge of the actual work of the tunnel construction) blames the existence of petroleum gas. Months ago, when the tunnel was only a few chains in from the Pohokura end, the drive became very ehoky owing to the existence of gas, and' this was believed to be petroleum gas. Anyhow, it was highly inflammable. To get rid of it a shaft had to be put in from the hill .surface above, and this has admitted water ever since in such quantities that a hydraulic suction pump had to be installed to get rid of it. It is hoped that the whole of the excavation work will be completed before Christmas, and the blocking should be completed and the service rails laid through to the Whanga' end by March. Long before then the Public Works Department will probably be sending the material through for making the five or six bridges between the itimncl a.nd Whangamomona. At present it look as if the tunnel will be finished before these bridges are ready. There arc 100 men at work in the tunnel, 20 on the approach, and 40 men in the cuttings between the tunnel and Maugere road. Here we are out in the daylight again, and we meet Mr. Rodgers, the overseer at the Pohokura end. We are more interested, though, in the little boardinghouse opposite, and presently we are sampling Mrs. Osborne's midday meal, to which we bring a well sharpened appetite. The remaining stages of the journey arc made on horseback to Ngatimaru. the last four miles at a hand gallop, and thence to Stratford by ballast train, ea«h leaving its "impressions." The net impression of the journey into the backblocks is that the railway is opening up a great eountry. The s<"ttleiM appreciate its benefits already, and Taranaki warehousemen need to be alive to see that all the trade that can be ob-1 tained eventually comes this way.