AUCKLAND-TARANAKI RAILWAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 282, 7 May 1915, Page 7

AUCKLAND-TARANAKI RAILWAY.

THE OIIURA COUVTRV.. TIIKOUIiH TAXIiAftAKAL".. No. TIT. (Auckland Herald Sptfial Commissioner) . I started before six o'clock without breakfast on a. good Smidav morning for. the lung d!rive from J.iatiere to Wliansailiomcum.. A dense fog htm;.' o\er the valley and the air was raw ami cold. it was still sullicioiitly dark to render it impossible to know whether the foir would turn to rain or sunshine. Rain seemed most likely. it laid threatened rather pronouncedly, and i knew the diHieultics of tiie I'ararata Saddle and the Tangarakan Corjie under wet conditions. This was why 1 was; anxious to push on whilst the mads were comparatively dry. I was rather sorry not to make a longer stay at Matiere. It lias improved out of all knowledge since I waded my horse through its muddy tracks 10 years ago.

.Some of the homesteads there are as line as any in the Kin*? Country, and the farms look really well. Ten years ago* it was merely the visible sign of! a settlement, to-day it is a prosperous looking village. When trains «re running 011 the earthworks, visible now front its main boardinghouse, it will become a town. Matiere is the point e! distribution for a largo area of good country. Roads con verge int-t it fr.'») the north r.ud south, ami as soon as the locomotives connect it with tin- -Main Trunk the railway oflicials will be surprised at the amount of goods that will be consigned at that station, and, perhaps, still more surprised'at the amour.t of produce; that will be cai'ried from it. Tom Moore had provided an excellent pair of horses, and he took them along in good style, beguiling the way with vivid, and' sometimes lurid, reminiscences, but it seemed a long way lo Ohura and breakfast.

Ohura, or Mangaroa, as wis called when iirst I knew it, lias made greater progress than Jlatu-ro, and has r.o doubt a, greater future. it may easily become quite ah important Kins Country town.? Its geograpineal position is bound to 0 v(* it ''omuiand n\v;' a virrv extensive r.roa. Tho M'.uigtikava and Vvaitul'.cna Valleys form twhi7.il highways to the nortli and the Ohuv.i Valley taps a {.Teat district to the south. It is probable, too, that in the future a railway v.ili be constructed northwards from this place into the Mokau Valley, and it has other resources besides the hundreds of square miles of rich country surrounding it, for nearby are immense beds of coal, and a .<■ predicts that here is one of the likeliest spots in New Zealand l'or big supplies of petroleum.

OIIUKA TO WHAXGAIfOIK )XA. The Ion;; part of the journey is from Ohmvi to Whangamomona. l'or about li miles after loaviiol:nra the road 's good and the country on each side !S comparatively easy; the-! one has to climb to tl'.e Papavata Sadd'e, where the hills become steeper and the road rougner. I do not know why county councils or enmity engineers usually have the worst roads ill the worst places, but it is generally the case. Toward the top of the Paparata. range slips have made the road absolutely dangerous, and some of the bends in it would make a motorist gasp. Whether coming from the east or the west, travellers along this road will lind the hardest pinch after the longest climb. As Tom lloore bitterly says: "It isn't fair to the horses." One descends from the Paparata into the Tangarakau (Jorge, through forests untouched by the hand of man and wonderfully beautiful. The lace bark was in flower by the roadside, great tree ferns make (lothic arches, and the precipitous bills were masses of foliage, except where they were too steep even for New Zealand bush, and then they become bare dill's. The road follows the windings of this gorge for about twelve miles. It is beautiful in many places, it is majestic here and there, resembling the Duller somewhat, but not so grand. Sti'l, it is one of the finest gorges in the North, and one which will charm main' visitors when access becomes more easy." The river running at the bottom of the gorge is not attractive; it is dark and gloomy-looking, broken into roaring rapids in one leach, still and treacherous in another. The country above the gorge is too high and steep even for sheep-fanning, although 110 doubt grass would grow on the pajia wherever its roots could cling. It would be a shame to destroy the beauties of the place for the sake of the few sheep if would carry, and a crime to disturb the virgin bush, l'or the whole length o) the gorge the Tangarakau should be declared a scenic reserve; it is admirably fitted for that, and for little else. Fortunately it is not proposed now to bring the railway through this gorge, as it. was once intended. A much better route has been found for it up the, Eao, and one of the costliest, works on the route has bei'ii obviated.

Beyond the Tangarakau the country is high. and somewhat broken, but it makes good pasture, and is apparently well stocked with sheep. The frontages to the road are by 110 means in the best :<tate, because the land was originally taken lip in small holdings, which in isome eases were not properly subdivided, and not fully stocked; consequently the fern is showing rather too much. Further back there are numerous good holdings, and it is only question of time- v.'lk'ii nil Hit l land here will reach a more productive There is little arable land, and consequently between Tanpirakau and Whau<:auioniona there wili lie no very close settlement, and, U course, no intensive cultivation. ]t is pastoral country pure and simple, but pjod pastoral country. TTIE STKATWKT) SIDE. At \VhaiiL*amomona \ took to the ra;iwav and wenl on to Stratford. T.ioii mile that one journeys toward Stratford the country jjrows easier in char iacter, and more closely settied. The liiu'li, somewhat bold-looking nil is .uive place to low rounded downs, all clad in wva.irc At I'oko, eiulit miles t "*>i< Si :\i! ford. out: enters typical dairvcountry, verdant with bush pasture il'd cr-mparativelv level. The lojjts and ■ iMil! doti'mi-: Hi" ground show "ii'W receiulv t!i country has been won Ire.r.i the wilderness, and they also show it, will be some ibne before •iisiriets reach their full productiveness, Ir-eniw the Mumps »t:d le;is prevent < si!i:v;i 1 ioir, and aUlioii;:!], as one can mv.

]> :• ;i:!tiiniHv sjili ;h!M .urnis;-; !;iud, it; v, i'i Ci.r'.'y :i mm-li j-ojni!:itton mnt 1 i r; i( i i :sT r,'!h:i|( ]y vvoall !| v/ls'-n S a IV HMVM 1" :-'»UJ)|»U*ii i.' ]>!' iw-\ i'r.un the V.stiu ;-j.fi »<;' il:-r (Minify 1;> I't-' Sti'iiv t «:;i. Ti;r Trrnl: riu] i > riill

largely in the wilderness stage. Even 1 the score of miles or so ol : the Ohura coKtfUy is only beginning its primary gratl# stage. Tile roads are bad, the homesteads are not numerous, while here on the Stratford side nearly every acre of country is turned to use; the roads are excellent, the homesteads are dotted thickly over the landscape. The difference lies more in man's faults than in Nature. On the Alain Trunk side settlement has not been active, the lands have not been freely opened, and more than anything else the absence of good; roads has proved a tremendous handicap j to progress. In giving a brief review I of the country along the route of the Main Trunk-Taraiiaki line, I should pot it something like this.; From Okahukura j fur a few miles, poor; then from that: narrow belt of poor land through Jlati-1 ere, Mahgaroa, Tatu, good papa country; j sheep country alternating with fine dairying land; then in the Tangarakau district, a stretch of 12 miles or so of high broken country, lit only for sheep, and from Tangarakau to a little beyond Whanganiomoiia, the same thing, and thence to Stratford, say 31) miles, the bulk of it tine dairying country, which, when the stumps have been cleared, will make as iiife a class of agricultural country as one can wish to see. I

THK IMPORTANCE OF THE RAILWAY. This Main Trunk-Taranaki line is of great importance to botli the people of Taranaki and Auckland, both provinces will benefit by it, as will, of course, the. whole of New Zealand. At present Taranaki is only connected witli Auckland by rail via Marton, a circuitous route marly 200 miles longer than tho route by the new line—a fact which precludes any practical communication. The road connection between the two provinces is poor, for the roads are still unmetalled and largely unbridged. Both Taranaki and Auckland have many interests in common,, and would have a very large interchange of trade if they had good road and railway connection. The Taranaki people recognise their rolatioiishin with Auckhinders, and would like to trade with them, but there cannot be trade unless there is good communication, and unless the Government give larger grants for this Auokland-Tara-naki line it will be a long while before, communication is possible. The position !s something like this: The railway was started at the Stratford end, and is now completed as far as Whangamompna, a distance of :iS miles. It is under construction for about six miles be-1 yci:d Whangamomona. Two or three' years ago, after much persuasion, the i.'ovi rnmcnt started building the railway at Okahukura, on the Main Trunk, und it is under construction as far in Maticrc, a distance of about 14 miles. ' This makes a length of miles either i constructed or under construction, and j leaves a gup of about 50 miles still u:i-j touched. Roughly speaking, about half the work has been done. Un the ,Strut- j ."ord side the railway for some years' has been pushed right through the good: land; on the Auckland side the rails are not yet laid; on the Taranaki side the: railway is supplemented by good road<; on the Auckland side the roads are bad, consequently the arguments in favor of l ushing on the line vigorously from the Auckland end are overwhelming. I do not argue that extra energy should be shown to push the line right through whilst war makes money scarce, but 1 do contend that nothing should stop tlm ■'Government using every effort to complete the line to Mangaroa, and some distance beyond, because by doing so it will help closer settlement and increase the production over a very wide' stretch of good country. The tunnel at Okahukura should be completed as soon as possible, and then rails could be laid j quickly as far as Matiere, and this see-! tion of the line would begin to pay a< soon as it was opened, , and would, ;>f j course, help the country' beyond. ' j