The Evening Star. MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 1870.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 193, 22 August 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star. MONDAY, AUGUST 22, 1870.

Of all the important intelligence just to hand from Wellington, nothing will be so full of interest to residents in Auckland as that relating to the local railways projected. That the Public Works Bill, which has received the approval of the House, will usher in the dawn of prosperity to New Zealand is beyond a doubt; and the completion of the works of the Auckland and Drury railway, and the making of the railway connecting the waters of the Kaipara with those of the Waitemata will not only infuse fresh vitality into our commercial affairs, but insure a lasting prosperity to Auckland. The former of these works, now lying in an unfinished and profitless condition, naturally attracts the first notice of a Government empowered to construct great public works; and accordingly a proposition is at once submitted to have this work completed, by offering a guarantee of 5J per cent, on an outlay of £3,500 per mile, for a period of 35 years. Proposed by a Ministry to a House which has already so freely sanctioned the initiation of large borrowing and extensive reproductive works, tUere is an almost absolute certainty that we shall soon see life again among the ruius of the Drury rail-vay. The effect of such a work in the pacification of the province, and facilitating the transmission of goods between the magnificent valleys and plains of the Waikato and the capital of the province, should, so far as -this part of tho colony is concerned, go far to overcome the repugnance with which some have viewed the Public Works Bill of the Government; and a3 is the Drury railway to Auckland, so will roads and railways be to every other portion of the colony. Next in importance -to our interests, if really secondary, is the railway from Kaipara to Riverhead. The claims of this work to connect two inland seas have been laid by deputation before the Ministry, and been conceded. The commercial advantages of this city, placed, Corinth-like, between the seas, have been hitherto neutralised by its isolation from extensive back country. The completion of these two works will give to tho city those advantages by land which nature has afforded by sea, and seems the one thing wanting to give us the command of our magnificent resources.

In these, as in all the railways projected for the colony, it appears settled that the narrow gauge railway, from the comparative inexpensiveness of the earth works* rails and rolling stock, and the facility it affords for effecting sharp curves, is the system to be adopted; but if so, it is to be desired that a searching enquiry be made into its working elsewhere. A very fatal mistake can be made by trusting to the ipse dixit of great names, and especially if those great names have their own wares to sell. Mr. Charles Fox may almost be called father of the narrow guage, from the persistency with which he has urged its^adoption everywhere; but we would recommend before his theories, already before the Ministry, are adopted, that enquiry should be made into the history of the connection of his firm with the Queensland railways. The narrow gnage railway of Queensland was made at his suggestion, his firm being an extensive supplier of narrow guage railway material. In tho sharp curves so much lauded, it is known to all travellers on Queensland railways that an actual "shaving" was taken off the rail by every jpassing train and that the necessity has been absolute for the substitution of Bessemer steel ; while the '.bogie engines suitable to the light rails, have been found utterly unable for the steep gradients and rapid curves of the Toowoomba ranges; and the bounding motion in the carriages so peculiar to tho Queensland Railways, is known to arise from the springing of the rails between the points of support. Enquiry might also be advantageously made regarding the rolling stock sent out by the firm of Fox and Co., and the expenses of the Ipswich workshops in altering and putting together the engines and carriages after arrival ; and most of all, regarding the wide margin between the estimates of mileage cost as originally stated, and that which was discovered when the railway was complete. These of coarse are minor matters of detail, but

they should be an element in consideration' of any advice tended by that enterprising narrow gauge firm. The light and narrow gauge railway is the best suited for New Zealand's physical features, and her means and requirements; but we should be taught by the blunders of sister colonies.