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iJ. T. WALKER.

13. Is that the usual quantity that lies on the wharf for Maungakaramea .' —No, not always. 14. Was it, an extraordinary amount?—l expect it was. 15. Supposing I went in another fortnight, how much would 1 find, do you suppose?— There is always something there. 16. You made ;i statement as to the country on the west of the Tangihuas being hilly and steep : are there not many hundreds of acres of flats as you approach the Wairoa River and the Mangonui River also ? -•■■'When you get very close to the river that is so. but that land does not want a railway. 17. There are many hundreds of acres of flat land on the west of the Tangihuas?—No, not hundreds. 18. Mr. Sleadnian.] Why do you say that these flats by the river do not require a railway?— There is water communication right through to the flats. 19. The Chairman.] Has any ballast been taken from Maungakaramea Mountain? —Maungakaramea Mountain has never been opened up, but there arc scoria-pits all round, which are used for the roads. 20. There is no pit in the mountain '! —There is a slip in it which shows scoria ash.

McCaruoli.'s Gap, .Monday. Ist Mat, 1911. Robert McCakroll examined. (No. 59.) 1. The Chairman.] You reside at Mareretu? — l do. I am a farmer, holding 1,200 acres of freehold. I have resided in the north twenty-four years, and I know the whole of the district thoroughly well. 2. Will.you make a statement to the Commission giving your views on the various matters which the Commission is inquiring into? — With regard to the question of routes, my own personal idea is that the route for the Main Trunk should be as near the centre of the Island as possible, and for that reason I would be in favour of neither the eastern nor the western branch. Seeing, however, that a railway now exists from Whangarei practically to Kaikohe, another trunk line either oast or west would be in competition with it. 1 do not think that the north is sufficiently developed to run two lines of railway. 3. You advocate the Whangarei connection in preference to either the western or central route?— Yes, in the present state of the country's development. If that line from Whangarei northwards did not exist I certainly would not be in favour of it. As things are, however, it is only a matter of .£200,000 to connect the Whangarei line with the main line when the latter reaches here. It is only twenty-five miles of decent country to go through, and that would give a through line from Wellington to Hokimiga. There is no question that the western route goes through good land all the wa}-, and will eventually be the most continuously populated part of North Auckland. At present the surveyed routes east and west junction in the Kirikopuni Valley. If either of those lines were eventually made it would be a simple matter to connect the Kaihu line with either. The people south of that on the western line are already served, but not well served, by the Wairoa River. I have seen it suggested that a railway from Ruawai through to the Main Trunk in this neighbourhood would be a good line. That would certainly suit the people south of Kirikopuni better than a connection with the Kaihu line at Kirikopuni. Another short line that has been suggested, and which would please a lot of people on the eastern route, is a short line from Waipu to the vicinity of the Gap. That line could be got in a distance of little over eight miles, and two miles of that line would tap an inexhaustible supply of ballast on Crown land. i. What is the class of ballast? — Ihe present manager of permanent-way, Mr. Northcote, examined the outcrop, and said it was the best ballast he had ever seen. It would have to be quarried and crushed. 5. Mr. Coom.~\ You know the country on the western side, through Kirikopuni and away up the Mangakahia to Kaikohe? —Yes. 6. Do you consider that good country? —Excellent country. 7. It would carry a good population?— Yes. 8. Do you not think that that country will be opened up quicker and better by a line of railway than by being left in its present condition? —It has been suggested that electric power could be got from Wairua Falls, and if that power is ever developed all that country could be well and cheaply served by a railway to Whangarei, from which place the settlers get all their supplies now. 9. Would not Mangakahia Valley be served by the western route going through it?— Certainly. 10. And it is country worth opening up?— Certainly. There is no settlement there now practically, and a lot of the land is under Native ownership, whilst on the western route the land is held largely in big holdings. 11. Do you suggest that the power from Wairua Falls would be a cheaper method of the railway "than ordinary steam-power?—l am no authority on such matters, but from what I have rsad it seems to me that such power would be cheaper than steam. If the present line did not exist from Whangarei to Kaikohe no one would ever dream of taking the railway any way else than up the Mangakahia Valley.