The Daily News. MONDAY, MAY 6, 1912. THE OPUNAKE RAILWAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 202, 6 May 1912, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, MAY 6, 1912. THE OPUNAKE RAILWAY.

The sitting of the Opunake Railway Commission in Taranaki next Week is i fraught with considerable importance, for upon its recommendations to Parliament the route of the proposed railway line will probably be determined. Not only : the railway route, but the question of establishing tramways in that part of Taranaki will be considered. The Comt mission will sit at several centres, and it is necessary, for it to arrive I at a wise decision, that it should be furnished with all the information available, as well as the views of the people of the localities affected. It is only natural that each of the southern towns should want the junction at its place, and there is little doubt that no stone will be left unturned on, the part of those interested to convince the Commissioners that the best route is that junctioning with Hawera, Elthani or Stratford, as the case may be. All these arguments will doubtless be duly weighed, but we will be surprised if the Commissioners do not take a broad view of the whole position and consider in making their recommendations the interests of the district through which the proposed line is to go and' those of the Dominion as a whole before what might be termed "local interests. 1 ' They will possibly not be influenced by the consideration of the initial cost of a particular route. The cheapest articles are not always the best j rather, the dearest are frequently found to be the cheapest in the long run. The Commissioners will have to consider what -route will confer on the district and Dominion the greatest benefits—and not necessarily immediate benefits. The natural outlet to every railway is a harbor, this being essentially the case in a producing district like Southern Taranaki. At present Patea serves the bigger part of Southern Taranaki, but it is a short-sighted person who ignores the potentialities of the deep-sea harbor that is now well under construction at Moturoa. Accommodation for the largest vessels trading to the Dominion will shortly be available here, and it is as certain as night follows day that within a short time a regular ocean-going steamer service will include New Plymouth in its itinerary. Oil the other hand, Patea can never hope to be more than it is at present—a coastal port, subject to the drawbacks, limitations and inconveniences inseparably associated with every river port in New Zealand.

Eventually, the whole of the export and

import trade of the province must of sheer necessity pass through Moturoa,i and it is therefore desirable that the junction should be effected at a point as close as possible to the natural outlet. To this fact the Commissioners no doubt will give full consideration. Weighty as theae considerations are, however, there is a factor which transcends them all in importance. We do not know whether it has ever occurred to the f people of this province what may, and is, indeed, likely to, happen when the Stratford line connects with the Main Trunk, an event which at the present rate of progress is not many years off. Take a map of the North Island, and it will be seen that there is very little difference ? in the distance between Wellington and Auckland via the Stratford line than between the same places via the present Main Trunk. The latter is an uninviting route, bitterly cold and uncomfortable in the winter owing to the altitude and consequent inhospitable weather, has steep gradients, is costly to maintain and difficult to work. The Stratford route, on the contrary, will be as comfortable for travellers as the other is uncomfortable, the highest point on the whole journey being at Stratford. The gradients 1 will be easy,'and the line comparatively cheap to maintain. If the public are permitted to choose between the two routes, there can be very little doubt as to the one that will be selected. Probably the Railway Department, because of the lesser cost and convenience of working, will preper the Stratford route, and divert to .it as much traffic as possible, just as it diverted the traffic from the Wairarapa line to the Manawatu. It is significant that the Department is spending a considerable amount of money on '•educing the gradients at Manutahi and other places and relaying portions of the line with 801b rails.) Stratford is destined, by reason of .'its centrality, to become an important railway junction, and 1 is already being equipped to meet the heavy demands of the future, and it is for the Commissioners to bear these important facts in mind when recommending to Parliament the route the proposed line should take.