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THE Evening Star. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1869.

Notwithstanding the experience of every country and district in which railways have been formed, there are those who cannot be brought to see the advantage to be derived from the formation of the Port Chalmers line. They have seen them in operation elsewhere, they have heard of the benefits that have resulted from railway communication in saving labor, time, and money wherever they have been adopted; and yet their judgments are unconvinced, and they shake their heads and say, “ We really cannot see “ how it is to be made to pay.” Precisely the same was said of railways in Victoria, and with much greater reason. The Government of that Colony were not the best managers in the world. They took enormous pains to invcsti-

gate the question. Yolumes of evidence were taken ; the best engineering opinions were obtained as to route, guage, construction, gradients, weight of rails, and every minutiae connected with railways; they had advantageous offers made by English firms to form the lines at cheap rates, and yet they carried them out at extravagant cost and on such a scale as to anticipate the necessities of the Colony by fifty years. There can be no doubt that the main lines of railway in Victoria could have been constructed for half a million of money less than they actually cost. Even on the scale adopted, and had the real requirements of the Colony been taken as the basis of what was to be done, double that amount, or even more than that,' would have been saved. But Demos rules in Victozia, and under such government the public revenue is never economised. Local interests, and local prejudices, when estimated in pounds, shillings, and pence, are invariably costly affairs. The question was not settled upon the data of getting the largest amount of work done for the smallest amount of money. It was made one of Victoria verms England, and an outcry was raised against any but colonial contractors being permitted to have any hand in it. The result is well known. The railways were made. The contractor had to be nursed and helped in every variety of way. Lawyers, money lenders, and bankers, reaped a rich harvest, and yet there was a large surplus for the legatees of the contractor. All these expenses must be added to the cost of the Victorian railways, but the advantages have proved so great that the system is to be extended and ultimately there will not be a district unconnected with the seaboard by means of branch lines running into the main roads. Had the Victorian railways been formed by private companies, the extravagance we speak of would in all probability have been avoided. They would have gone the cheapest instead of the dearest way to work, nor would they have laid out money in constructing works more costly and more cumbrous than the probable traffic rendered necessary. Instead of heavy engines and the consequent increased weight of rails, they would have adopted light engines with their accompanying lighter expenditure. Instead of double lines they would probably have contrived to make single lines do, and instead of calculating upon travelling at high x’ates of speed, they would have been content with what is proved by experience to be safe, and sufficient for colonial requirements. We are not prepared to say that a single line between Port Chalmers and Dunedin would be safe or advisable. In a short line like that, with the amount of goods and passenger traffic that will in all probability follow its completion, we think it highly probable that a single line will will be found inconvenient, and perhaps dangerous. No doubt this will be carefully considered before the final adoption of any plan. We are not in a position to offer an opinion on that point. What we want to shew is that the doubts of those who fail to see the benefit derivable from the railway are, at any rate, impounded so far as the gain to the community is concerned, and as to their wavering, if it merely concerns the shareholders, that is surely nonsense. There can be no doubt that in addition to the indirect advantages consequent upon its construction, they will receive the positive and direct benefit of 8 per cent on their investment, and that this interest will be paid to them for fifteen years. Even were the Province to depend upon the slow and gradual increase of population from natural causes, settlement in the interior would so increase the |trade of the Port, that in a fair and reasonable calculation, that rate of dividend might be reasonably expected to be derived from it beyond that period. But this would be taking only a very narrow view of the matter. Fifteen years ago Otago was only a very insignificant Province, now it is the richest and most prosperous one in New Zealand. In fifteen years more its resources will have become much more fully developed. There will be thriving townships in the interior, and large populations to be supplied. Instead of fifteen or twenty large vessels from the United Kingdom or foreign ports annually, then the number will certainly be much increased. How must it be folly to speculate upon. Science, that has done so much to reduce the cost of transit between the old world and these southern lands, will have progressed so as to render inter-communication cheap. The Maori war, if not the Maories, will have died out, and New Zealand must become a favorite land with emigrants. Under these circumstances, what can present a better permanent investment than the Port Chalmers Railway? That it will pay the investor, there can be no doubt, for he is guaranteed—that it will pay the Province to construct that and other lines into the in-

terior, there can be as little. It is one of the necessities of the day, and should not be postponed.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD18690917.2.5

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1987, 17 September 1869, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
996

THE Evening Star. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1869. Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1987, 17 September 1869, Page 2

THE Evening Star. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1869. Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1987, 17 September 1869, Page 2

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