RAILWAY AND ROADS.

Gisborne Times, Volume VIII, Issue 475, 16 July 1902, Page 1

RAILWAY AND ROADS.

(To the Editor of the Times). Sir—Most people will by this time have ' realised what expensive tilings railway construction and wurkmg are and there arc perhaps hut few who will not he 'taken aback at the huge ■liabilities already incurred by our local line A published return shows that up to March 31st last the cost o£ construction. amounted to very nearly £OO,OOO. Since then a considerable number of men have been employed, and the engine and carriages, with a quantity of other rolling stock have been procured, and of course chaiged for. Altogether the cost to date is probably about £65,000. For this we have to show 13 miles of line, fen of which arc now open for traffic Judgin'* from this it is not too much to estimate that by the time tho line lias reached To Knraka there will be very little change left out of £IOO,OOO. Now, what chance has this line of over paying its way ? People say, “ Oh, you cannot expect the lino to Ormon 1 to pay, wait until it gets further on.” It is just as well not to expect payable results, but let us see what the amount of loss will be for tho next three years or so. To pay interest, working expenses, and to allow for depreciation of plant, the line would have to earn about eight per cent on the cost of construction. Eight per cent on £60,000 £4,800 a year—over £9O per week. The Ormond line is perhaps earning about £3O, so that there is a deficiency of £6O per week, and someone has to pay this oven although it does not come directly out of tho pockets of the people of this district. Will the line be any bettor when it reaches Te Karaka ? To pay expenses it will then, besides being up to its neck in debt, have to earn £B,OOO a year. Can anyone see a reasonable prospect of its making half that amount ? Nor will it be necessary to wait until the line reaches Te Karaka to find itself in debt. Where has the £65,000 already spent come from ? Only £33,000 has been voted by Parliament. There can be little doubt that a part at least of the balance has been made good by the cancelling of road votes. And that is just where the railway is going to bo a curse to the district. As long as the railway construction cost and a huge annual deficit have to be deducted from the total sum allocated to the district for public works, people will have to be content to do without the roads which are 30 much needed to give back-block settlers a chance of succeeding in opening up tho country. It can already be seen that this surmise is correct. The new department of roads is apparently suffering from some form of paralysis, while the County Council is in the pitiable position of being indebted to the public spirit of a single member for the means of keeping its surface-men at work. It is hardly worth whilo to consider the prospects of any extension of tho railway beyond Te Karaka.

It is now admitted that any extension of a standard gauge line beyond that point would cost from ,£12,000 to ,£14,000 per mile, which entirely does away with any possibility of its ever reaching that elusive “ paying point.” It must be remembered that although the whole district suffers from the want of roads, only a very small part derives any benefit whatever from the railway. What good is the line to Waimata, Patutahi, Ngatapa, or To Arai ? What good is it to any back settlers ? Yet every one of these settlers will have to pay to make good the loss incurred. The .£IOO,OOO spent on tho To Karaka line may be perhaps regarded as spilt milk, over which it is hardly worth while to cry, but it is not so with respect to the ,£5,000 to £O,OOO a year which will have to be provided to meet tho deficiency. 115,000 a year! Enough to keep fifty mon constantly at work on road-making. For tho last three years I have tried to show tho superiority of atwe-feet gauge to meet tho wants of this district. It was therefore with some satisfaction that I was lately told by an officer high up in the Publio Works Department that in his opinion Gisborne was the one place in New Zealand in which the narrow gauge should have been used, and that for the reason that there was no probability of any connection being made with a standard gauge system within the next forty years, by which time the light line would have carried (the cost of its conversion to the wider gauge. Let us see what could have been done with this £IOO,OOO. A line usiug the present roads and bridges could have been laid for at least sixty miles. That would cover the distance from Gisborne to Wbatatutu, with a branch to Poututu, another branch from Makaraka to Ngatapa, another to Te Arai, and a connecting line from Patutahi to Ormond. Sixty miles relieved of all heavy trnfne, and cost of maintenance reduced 75 per cent, nearly every settler deriving direct and immediate advantage, and the County Counoil being relieved of the burden which now crushes it, enablod to do something adequate towards the maintenance of those back country roads which have cost so much to make, and which are now "oiim to destruction.—l am, etc.,- ° ° Traveller.