THE Wairarapa Mercury. MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1867, THE SURVEY OF THE TAUHERENIKAU VALLEY.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume I, Issue 49, 9 December 1867, Page 2

THE Wairarapa Mercury. MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1867, THE SURVEY OF THE TAUHERENIKAU VALLEY.

TOWN EDITION.

On Thursday Mr C. 0. Neill, Mr Baird the District Engineer, and his party (acting under instructions from the Superintendent), together with Mr Hirschberg left Greytown for the Pukuratahi for the purpose of starting from there the followingmorning through the proposed new line of road. This is a step in the right direction, for although Captain Smith gave a most favorable report of it, nevertheless a doubt has existed in the minds of many that this line of route was not so practicable for the purposes of a railway or tramway as reported. The public will anxiously look for the report of these gentlemen, and it is to be noped that it will be published early, now that public attention has been called to the question, so that if feasible the scheme now before the public may be proceeded with. Although we think ourselves there can be no doubt on the subject after what we have heard from those who have been the pioneers in exporing this new route viz:—Captain Smith and Mr Hirschberg. What must be the next step ? This line—nay, the whole route must be surveyed, and we are glad to find from a copy of the estimates before us that the Council has voted a sufficient sura for the carrying ont of such a survey viz:—£2000; half of which we believe at the most would he sufficient forthepurpose. To attain this object, apublic meeting should be called at Wellington, which should be attended by some of the leading settlers in this district, and such meeting should call on the Government to make such a survey, so that those who intend to take shares may have something tangible before them'as to cost. Mr C. , O’Neill has in every part of the district which he visited, received a hearty welcome, and the settlers have,, with a unanimity seldom witnessed in a community tike this, subscribed their names as : a provisional committee to act in conjunction with the very influential one formed in Wellington. They have felt that a project of this kind is one which has been .yearned and wished for—that any scheme which' opens up this rich i and fertile valley, must, and ought to receive the support of every .person residing in or having an interest in it. Bet such practical steps as we have indicated be but followed up, and the result will be advantageous and beneficial not only to this district, hut the whole Province.

We subjoin the following paragraph in reference to this subject from Wednesday’s “ Morning Post,

We db‘not-say that shares in a Tramway Company would not prove a profitable speculation, an|d we know that the goods andpas■senger traffic which now exists between Wei* dington and the Wairarapa furnishes np dats ■by which to judge of the amount of such traffic after a .tramway has been constructed; but what we do say is, that such an important enterpriseought.not .to be delayed, or endangered, by any such contingency. So soon as the line has been determined on, .an estimate can bo made of its probable cost, and whether it will or will not pay, its working expenses can then be pretty accurately ascertained. We have ourselves not the slightest doubt that, under judicious and economical management, the company would prove to the shareholders a successm a pecuniary sense; but whether it will do so or not is not the point ,we are now contending for. In any case, it will, in oar opinion, he the duty of the Provincial Council in its next session to guarantee a iminimum arete of interest to the shareholders, because no work that has ever before been -undertaken or contemplated was so likely to confer such numerous and important advantages on the city of Wellington as would the construction of a tramway between the port and the fertile flains of the Wairarapa and the West -Coast, t would, in effect, bring ihe r valley -of the Wairarapa, as close to Wellington as the valley of theHutt, and tend to promote the prosperity of the inhabitants, of each. Clearly such a work deserves every encouragement and success?’