MATIERE RAILWAY.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 June 1922, Page 3

MATIERE RAILWAY.

GROWTH OF KING COUNTRY. A REMARKABLE DISTRICT The most striking fact in connection with the growth of settlement and of the development of the King Country is the swiftness of the march of progress. Undoubtedly the key that unlocked the door of this rich and important district was the Main Trunk railway. . Less than fifteen years have passed since the first through trains ran between Wellingtop and Auckland. Sixteen years ago the railheads were at Raurimu and Waiouru respectively, and between the two there seemed a great gulf to be connected. The hard work of the following two years, however, saw the last of the natural difficulties overcome, and the great undertaking became an accomplishment of which New Zealand was justly proud. SETTLERS’ HARDSHIPS. The completion of the Main Trunk line coincided with the commencement of settlement in the Ohura County and the southern portion of Waitomo County in earnest. The main roads into the two districts, the Ohura and the Te Kuiti, to Awakino Road were made as 12ft. and 14ft. roads, but the network of district and access roads mostly existed on the Lands Department maps. Within a few years the large areas of Crown land in the Aria, Paraheka, Waitewhena, Waikaka, Otangiwai, Tokirima, and Tatu districts were settled, and, no roads existing, the first urgent need was for access of some sort as quickly as possible. For several years the work carried out by the Public Works Department was largely the construction of 6ft. tracks. Since then the widening of these tracks to dray roads, and the bridging of the streams and rivers has-been steadily progressing. Some are now wellmetalled roads, but still there is a vast amount of work to be done. Some of the roads have not a yard of metal on them, and in parts the difficulty of obtaining metal has been a severe handicap. This is notably the case with the road between Okahukura and Ohura. During the winter months this road is nothing more nor less than a quagmire, and a journey between these two towns is a veritable nightmare. Vehicles sink axle-deep in the soft clay and papa, and on occasion it takes a team of bullocks to extricate them. These are the conditions which settlers in the regions of Ohura and Matiere have had to contend with during the last twenty years. The importance to them, therefore, of the new railway line—a line which runs side by side with the Okahukura-Matiere-Ohura Road— cannot be over-estimated. Reading metal will roll into Mahirakau, Tuhua, and Matiere in truck loads, and within a few years a vast improvement in the condition of the roads will be seen. The town of Matiere itself will undergo a transformation, and the sea of mud which now forms its main street will at long last take concrete shape. Never again will the inhabitants of this important little town suffer the oft-heard reproach that they “never clean their boots." THE FIRST SURVEY.

The Main Trunk to Stratford connection was first surveyed about thirty-two years ago, under the supervision of Mr. R. jy- Hanies, late Engineer-in-Chief of the Public Works Department, at a time when the controversy over the Central versus Taranaki route for the Main Trunk lino was looming large. There the matter remained, as far as the Main Trunk end was concerned till 1911, when detailed survey operations resulted in the junction being fixed at Okahukura, seven miles north of Taumarunui. At the Taranaki end of this railway, work has been in hand for many years, and construction has been completed as far as Tahora, 47 miles from Stratford and about 31 miles by raliway route from Matiere. THE MATIERE STRETCH. The first township of any size reached after leaving the Main Trunk line at Okahukura is Matiere, a distance of 10 miles from the junction, and the Department has concentrated its efforts on the completion of this stretch. The heavy nature of the work of course rendered progress slow. The cuttings on this section were exceptionally numerous and unusually deep. The pion<eer work in connection with these cuttings was one of the chief difficulties encountered. Besides the Okahukura tunnel, 76 chains long, through the dividing range between Ongarue and Ohura valleys there are four other tunnels on this section of a total length of 24 chains. Three of these tunnels were lined with bricks produced at the Department’s brickworks at Tuhua r* distance of three miles from Matiere These bricks were made from a mixture of papa and clay by the “semi-dry" process and burned in a small twelve-chamber continuous kiln. ‘ THE OKAHUKURA TUNNEL. The building of the large tunnel was begun by a contractor but was completed by the Public Works Department under the co-operative system. Good progress was made in the face of considerable difficulties, the chief of which was the acute shortage of labor, owing to the absorption of such a large proportion of the able manhood of the Dominion on military duty during the war. After the war, however, progress became a little more rapid, and the tunnel was finally completed in December, 1920. BRIDGING DIFFICULTIES. The bridging on the Matiere section consisted of one crossing of the Ongarue River and four crossings of the Ohura River. The Ongarue River bridge is combined road and railway bridge, the roadway being carried on the bottom chords and the railway on the top chords. The piers, which are of reinforced concrete, were constructed by the Department, and the superstructure is of steel. The task of completing the five bridges between Okahukura and Matiere presented many obstacles. Difficulty was experienced in obtaining the steel work and also in getting it manufactured at a reasonable figure. The manufacture of the steel work for the four smaller bridges has actually been completed at the Public Works Department’s own shops at Tauranga. Unfortunately the erection of the steel work has been held up by other factors too, notably the delay in the arrival of hardwopd; timber for some of the permanent piers. The transport difficulties peculiar to the district have also had a hampering effect on the work. Owing to the dearth of metal roads only a small part of the year in these parts is suitable for the transport of shingle and cement for the concrete piers. Therefore it was felt that, if the Matiere district was to be given any relief during the forthcoming winter it would be essential to erect temporary bridges over the-four remaining crossings. The Department has its own gang of bridge carpenthm preyipwiy were

gaged on the Whangamomona section of the Stratford Main Trunk railway, where they erected 14 bridges over the Whangamomona stream and its tributaries. These men have a very praisworthy performance to their credit on the Matiere-Okahukura line. They commenced work on the first of the temporary bridges for taking the engine at the beginning of February, and at the end of March had completed the last bridge. They are now pushing ahead rapidly with the permanent bridges, which, in the course of time, will take the place of the temporary structures erected alongside them.