STRATFORD RAILWAY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 298, 26 May 1915, Page 8

STRATFORD RAILWAY.

PROGRESS OF THE WORK. A report on the progress of the Main Trunk-,'Stratford railway worv;s lias been furnished by the Honorary commissioner of the Auckland Railways League to the secretary, Mr. It. R. Hunt. The report is as follows: — "Thi s small corner of the King Country has shown a great deal of progress in recent months owing, no doubt, to the vigorous manner in which the construction of the railway has been pushed along. Tin; tunnel, ho,'.ever, which must be regarded as the 'open sesame' to tin commercial prosperity of the district, is somewhat lagging, owing to the hitch and tiie taking over of the contract by the bondsmen. 1 believe that the Public Works Department has insisted on the tunnel being heavily timbered, with the result that as far as straight ahead driving and the connection of the two headings are concerned, the effective work of piercing the hill has been rather small since t'ae end of February. Largo quantities of props and caps have been cut on the west An side of the Okahukura hill, and no doubt when work is begun in a systematic way the finishing of the hole through the hill will be an accomplished fact in a short time. "The cuttings and fillings and general formation from Okahukura to Matieri. as a contract are in a very forward .state , and promise to be completed before thb tunnel, tn some cases the large fillings are carried on by night, with the aid of acetylene lamps," which shed their light on the face by means of reflectors, and appear to act very; well. One small tunnel behind Salter and Co.'s mill is still nnpierced, but the breuking down of a near-by tunnel to the east is proceeding apace with a 'popper' plant, driven, by a 20-h.p. Tangye oil engine. At the Fourteen-mile the most dubious part of the road has been dressed with burnt papa for the new deviation, which should be a decided improvement on last iwinter, when the long bend was one of the worst parts of the road. The road from that point to Matiere threatens, however, to be very bad indeed under the enormously increased traffic."