The Daily News. THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1914. THE WHANGAMOMONA RAILWAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 36, 2 July 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JULY 2, 1914. THE WHANGAMOMONA RAILWAY.

The Whangamomona settlers were a glad people yesterday, When the Minister for Railways brought in the first train of the regular time-table between tlie township and the outside world. For many long and weary yearn they have been anxiously awaiting the coming of the iron horse, for it has meant everything to them. It has meant tlie ending of terrible isolation and hardships innumerable, and crushing freiglit rates—inward on their necessities, and outward on their produce. In short, it has meant the opening of a new and ' brighter era for them and the district. The construction of the line has been all too slow. Started in March, 19tH, it lias taken over thirteen years to reach Whangamomona, a distance of not quite 38 miles—about three miles a year! It is a record one cannot he proud of. True, the work has not been without its difficulties, as one can see on going over the route. But, making all allowances, no excuse can be offered for the long time it has taken to complete tlie section to YVhangamomona. The line is of considerable national importance; it is the main railway work under construction in the North Island —in fact, in the whole Dominion —hut it has never been regarded as such either by the present or the past Government. Tlie Liberal Government played with the work until a year or two before it went out or office, when it did tackle tlie work earnestly and determinedly. The prosent Government showed its appreciation of tlie importance of tlie work l>y reducing the. number of men engaged at this end, when the situation called for a material increase in the stall'. It is a disastrous policy to starve a work ot much national importance; it should be pushed to completion at all costs, whatever may be the fate of the relatively unimportant lines under construction in various parts of the Dominion. It would pay the country a hundred times over to do with this railway what was done with the other Main Trunk railway towards the finish—concentrate all energy and spare no expense upon its early completion. It will prove the cheapest policy in the long run. Up to now the line has cost nearly £600,000. Until it is completed the line cannot hope t) earn interest on this expenditure. Beyond Whangamomona, construction work is in hand for a distance of seven miles. From this point the country assumes a formidable nature, being tor some miles nothing but a succession of ridges and gullies, tlie Former of which will have to he cut or pierced and the latter filled, work which calls for increased expenditure if it is to be iinisiied within the next decade. Construction through tlie Ohura, however, will be comparatively easy work. The dillicult s part lies on this side of the Tangarakau Gorge, or rather in avoiding that impossible route. We trust the Government will see its way to place on the Kstiniates this year a substantial vote whereby justice can be done to the work and, in respect to tlie section opened yesterday, that it will not be long before a regular daily inward and outward service between Stratford and VVlmngamomona is established.

GER&JANY IN" THE PACIFIC. Germany's policy of colonial expansion which is being developed with great activity and lavish expenditure just now, includes the establishment of powerful naval and military stations at various strategic points widely separated from each other on the map. The Berlin correspondent of tlie London Daily News recently telegraphed an interesting announcement by Dr Solf, the German Colonial Secretary. Defending the Government expropriation of natives in the Duala territory, at the mouth of the Cameron river, West Coast of Africa, Dr Solf states that the expropriation was not merely for hygienic purposes, but also because "Duala is to be built out into the biggest harbor in Africa. All white colonists will some day mark the date of the expropriation with golden letters in the book of colonial history, remembering as they will that the German llag will float over the harbor." It was pointed out some time ago that the lagoon at the mouth of tile Cameroon or Duala river, with its enclosing promontories, is naturally adapted for development into a powerful naval as well as an admirably protected commercial port. A somewhat similar process has 'been going quietlv for some years past at Wilhcdmshafeii. the principal port in Gorman Papua. .Vol much is known about this Pacific outpost of Germany's, but it is a place of very great_ naval importance, as the ISritis'li race in Australasia may discover some day (comments the Cyttelton Times). Naturally. Germany desires to make the most of her few colonial possessions, and the possession of these fortified outstations will help to assure her in the great bid she is making at present for supremacy in commerce. The Papuan harbor is doul.lv valuable to the Kaiser's people because of the la.-k of good safe ■ ports in the German islands in the ' central Pacific. Apia is notoriously unreliable, and the Kaiser's Government has always regarded with longing eyes the commodious and heautifullv siiellered'hiirbor of Yavua. in the Friendly Islands. Indeed, it is said the (ieniians have planned lo make it their great naval station in the South Ken •;. Now, fortunately for P.rit'mh intereMs in the Pacific, (lie Friendlies are under a measure, of British suzerainty that is the next best thing to annexation, and Vavua may lie found very useful some day as an island naval port. .But, as in tin- ea-e of many other colonial possessions it is more !>y jrond luck tlian by good management on the part of the Imperial authorities that it happens to he saved from n foreign flag. Had it not been for Australasian protests, Vavua to-day might have 'been under the German eagle, a fortified haven for the Kaiser's ships.

DEVELOPING OUR OIL RESOURCES. There is no doubt that mineral oil of good quality exists in at least one fairly extensive field in this country. The one question still to be answered conclusively is whether thero is a large supply that would not be rapidly exhausted if systematically worked for industrial or naval purposes. The answer can be given only after a very considerable amount of capital is expended in thoroughly improving the field; and it is obviously difficult to induce British capital to migrate so far even for a very tempting prospect. However, the experience of Mr D'Arcy, who actually lost ,£250,000 in the Persian oilfields before he made .his venture a proved commercial success should encourage the hope that more attention will be paid by capitalists to the development of New Zealand's oil-field. There is no doubt about the quality of our product; and the situation and facilities for handling the output, the Taranaki wells are admirably adapted for economical management. It is true that the evidence of geologists and oil experts as to the probability of finding a large supply of oil in these formations is rather conflictive and indecisive. But the quantity of oil already obtained, its high quality, and the rate of its flow, are quite enough to justify the hope, if not the expectation, that, failing the importation of private capital, the Admiralty may be induced to consider the possible value of such a source of Taranaki may quite possibly The naval control of the Pacific milßFbe one of England's chief cares in thwfuture; and, a,s our warshipß are now 'being adaptecTfor oil fuel, it would manifestly be a great advantage to secure a stock of this indispensable fuel on this side of the world. Is not this a matter which our own Defence Department might well look into, with a view to communicating the result of its enquiries to the Admiralty later on.— Auckland Herald. '