Railway Essential to Full Development.

In the light of the evidence presented to the Commission on the water communications, evidence of small cargo capacities and heavy freights, of silt and snags, of delayed passages and uncertain deliveries, it is difficult to understand the attitude of the Commission. Such communications might have served the then settlement, but it certainly gave no aid or impetus to the development of the rich tracts of land between Grahamstown and Te Aroha. This could only come from the completion of the railway. The matter of railway construction was, therefore, not allowed to rest by interested men. This young country was finding that as iron in the blood stream is to the human body, so the iron road was to the body politic. Wherever it went it energised and developed. In these early developmental days, however, difficulties of finance faced the Government at every turn, and wise discretion was needed in dealing with the many calls for railways throughout the country. Each had to get its due share of the available money, and no one project could give a criterion of the policy of the Government.

The progress with this Thames railway was slow. By 1884 the permanent way to Kopu, a distance of 4½ miles, was completed, but there were no buildings or fences. Formation work was then in hand on an additional section of 8 1/4 miles to Hikutaia. This was completed in 1888, and a further length of six miles, called the Ohinemuri section, was put in hand.

From then on progress lagged, and only necessary drainage works were carried out. The goldmining industry, however, was calling for adequate transportation, and in 1892, with the Hon. R. J. Seddon as Minister of Public Works, the construction of the line from Te Aroha towards Paeroa was given considerable impetus, and twelve miles of formation was completed. The main obstacle in this section of the line was the large bridge required over the Ohinemuri River. By 1895 all works were completed, and Paeroa was brought into rail connection with Auckland. With this accomplished, attention was directed to the completion of the railway to Grahamstown, where the works already constructed had suffered from the elements and required a considerable amount of restoration.

It was not until the end of 1898 that the long cherished idea of a railway from Thames to Auckland via the Waikato became an accomplished fact.