THE ELECTRIFICATION OF THE WAINUI TUNNELS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 25 July 1913, Page 7

THE ELECTRIFICATION OF THE WAINUI TUNNELS.

(By Coleman Phillips.)

X would strongly urge upon Parliament a in old-fashioned methods of .railway construction, and a compliance by our surveyors with the new order of things, in the United States of America thoro are. nowelectrical traction en gin as drawing trains up to one thousand tons; and Mr J. D. Ritchie (in his late visit to Europe) tells us that it is as comfortable travelling now, in the long Italian in the open. We must hai?iess. our immense water power (now running to waste) in the Hutt, Tauherenikau, Waiohine and Otaki rivers, and work t"he West Coast, Central and East Coast Trunk lines (the latter, when constructed) between Wellington, Palmerston, Masterton, and Brancepeth, electrically. I have pointed out to the Wellington Chamber of Commerce that the Orongo Orongo and Waiorongamai streams can be harnessed for electrical service in the Wainui tunnels, or used' as an addition to Wellington's own water supply. The two Wainui tunnels, as surveyed', will not be found too long (one mile and miles). I extract-irom the "Australasian" the foUowißg; SIXTEEN MILE TUNNELS. ; "One of th emost striking develops meats of present-day engineering is the great expense which railway companies •do not hesitate to incur in building tunnels of unprecedented length with a view of decreasing their ; grades across mountain = summits. Tfee latent: announcement in; thie.-conr j nection „is ; Paci'.going• "to undertaken 'the. construction shortly of a, tunnel that will be far. the longest yet .constructed. ; It is to be built below the pass through the Bocky Mountains. It will jsixteen miles in length, and will cost'"l4,ooo,000 dollars. This is some four miles longer than the well-known Simplon Tunnel." By this it is evident that except for the heavy cost, it is quitJe feasible to tunnel from the back of Lowry Bay right through to the Wairarapa Lake; the. levels of Wellington 'harbour and t&e , lake being "practically the same. In the new .'survey' of . the Wainui route I would ask that an estimate be.:made of the length of such a tunnel, as it may prove useful in the future. ;

Tunnelling and electric traction is therefore the, new order of -things in' railway construction. As Wellington is situated, it would he absolute folly on our part not to "tunnel out" and harness our magnificent water Supply. Then, by laying an extra rail alongside the present narrow gauge lines, and increasing the gauge to 4ft. B£in., as far as the three places above-named, the running time for a daily pa&sesnger service would be easily two hours to Palmefston or Brancepeth, and one hour and a quarter to Featherston on Martinborough. To* effect this I have again to suggest the great desirability of dropping the word "Public" from our Public Works Act, and passing a "Works Act" this session, authorising the localities or private companies to harness, these " streams and construct the East Coast railway as far as Waipukuraii; Parliament, of course, to reserve a power of resumption' after 50 or 60 years. - ' ...J , ' Whilst lam writing, I must confess that, like ihe Hon. Mr Herries, I' am completely surprised at the late • from 'the Bay ofi Plenty objecting to the linking up

with Auckland of that section of the

East Coast railway, in order to make a good port at Taiiranga. X have always thought that the East Ooapt Trunk line (like the West Coast and Central Trunk lines) should link Wellington and Auckland. together, and the sooner that is done—(electrically, wherever that power can he economically he ■usedA —the better for North Island progress; But' of oourse Tauranga harbour or port should be impromed. ; Why cannot the Bay of Plenty -people take this work upon themselves? Surely the -expensive experience the Napier people have gone through should prove an admirable lesson for them to 'know "how not to do the thing." It is absolutely useless (in face of Labour troubles) expecting the Central v Government to carry out any public work economically now. As to the land question. Not a yard of railway should be construct-/ ■ed through native land without that land being first rated for the cost, of construction. I must .congratulate ' the Hon. Mr Eraser upon stopping these native land railways; the pet project- of otne of our late Ministries. Herein again aris^'the necessity for i throwing upon the localities interested the cost ofany future railway work. But the Wainui deviation, and the East Coast section to Waipukurau, run through settled districts, atid it is directly to everyone's interests to construct the line upon the security of a rate. I hope to have the draft Bill ready very shortly. The '.'Works Bill" for electrical motive power had better be drafted by the Law draftsman upon Canadian precedent, as I haven't those Acts to refer to. The question of Electrically lighting our townships should be included, as very nearly every Swiss village is electrically lighted, now from some neighbouring mountain stream i I understand the village communities there undertake their own works. |

With respect to the cross section (Featherston to Maryborough) about to he trust the engineers, in carrying it'off, will comply with the new electrical conditions of railway traction. To lay it off solely upon the old conditions would, in my mind, be a very non-progressive step. Similarly, I w<?uld advise our local bodies not to dream of deviating the Rimutaka line or construct the East Coast Trunk line until one of the electrical suppies above named has been harnessed. It is no use our placing the, cart before the horse. /We can surely do in New Zealand what Switzerland and Italy are doing,, viz., replacing coal by electrical traction on our railways, more particularly in the Wellington Province.