VISIT OF THE HONORABLE JAMES MACANDREW TO WAIKATO.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 938, 27 June 1878, Page 2

VISIT OF THE HONORABLE JAMES MACANDREW TO WAIKATO.

On Tuesday it was reported at Hamilton, that the Minister for Pnblic Works was on a visit to Waikate and that a special train was bringing him on to Hamilton, several telegrams then lying waiting for him at one of the Hamilton hotels. Prepations were made to interview him on arrival, an enjoyment which he missed by simply keeping to the railway line, the train proceeding to Ohaupo and returning the same day. Yesterday's ' Herald' contains some account the of trip from which wo take the following' : — A special train left Auckland station yesterday morning at half -past seve& o'clock, carrying the Honorable the Public "Works Minister, with Messrs Swanson, Dignan, and Macfarlane (members of the Housa of Representatives), Messrs Conyers and Lawson, Mr A. V. Macdonald, Mr .Stewart, 0.E., and a number of other gentlemen, on a visit to Ohaupo. The train reached that place (91 miles distant) about noon, and after a stoppage of an hour, began the return journey at one o'clock, reaching Auckland station at six in the evening. Making allowance for stoppages, the double journey, of 188--miles, was accomplished in 8£ hours, the average speed being fully 22 miles an hour. The day was dismal and dreaiy, the rain incessant, and but little of the country could be seen in such weather, and that little was presented to the stranger in a mo3t unfavorable aspect. A short stoppage on the way up took place at Newcastle, where Mr Macandrew inspected the railway wharf on the Waipa, on which structure some improvements are proposed. We believe that orders either have been or are to be issued for removing the Newcastle station from its present position about a mile from the bridge, to the immediate neighbourhood of the junction of the two rivers, which is considered by the authorities as being a change necessary to suit the convenient of the population. On the way back, the party stopped at the principal coalmine on the Waikato — the Taupiri mine — and examined the most of the drives, where the coal exists in great abundance and in vast, solid masses, extending to the thickness of eighteen feet. Most of the recommendations made by the Railway Commission, of which Messrs Reader Wood, Swanson, and Macfarlane were members, either have been or are about to be adopted. The freight charges on flax have already, we understand, been reduced, and the present rate charged on coal, which is either 10s Id or 10s 2d per ton from the mine to Auckland (a distance of some 60 miles), is immediately to undergo a large reduction. Not less, we believed, than 40 per cent., and perhaps more, will he taken off. the present rate.