HOKITIKA AND GREYMOUWTH RAILWAY PROPOSED DEVIATION.

Kumara Times, Issue 1053, 14 February 1880, Page 2

HOKITIKA AND GREYMOUWTH RAILWAY PROPOSED DEVIATION.

From the minutes of the proceedings and evidence taken by the Select Com. mitten of the House of Representatives appointed to enquire and report to the House upon the expediency of divert* ing the proposed line of railway between Hokitika and Grey mouth, in order that it might pass through or be connected with Kumara, Goldsborough, and Stafford Town, we extract the fob lowing evidence given by Mr Wylde, the Borough Engineer, who it will be remembered attended Wellington specially to give evidence before the Committee relative to this subject i The Chairman.] Your name is Wylde 1 Yes. And you are engineer and clerk I—t am Engineer and Clerk for the Borough of Kuraai'a. Have you made aUy survey of the pro* posed line of railway? — l have made a slight survey of a detailed survey, but a reconnaissance survey of agreat por* tion of the line, atld 1 have made myself acquainted fully with all the levels of the Country. Are. there many engineering difficulties in this proposed detour ?—The one shown here on the map ? Yes.—This is a plan I have not seen, and I shall require to examine it a little more first. A portion of this corresponds with what I would have suggested myself, and a portion of it does not correspond. Over about two-thirds erf the line, there is no difficulty whatever. It is as easy country as I have seen anywhere on the coast for bush country. Do you know the distance of the pTe* seiit line I It is twelve miles all but 11 chains. . From where I— From Tereniakau River to the Arahura River. - / What additional-length Would ii make in making this deviation ?--It would make between eight and nine miles. And What would you -estimate roughly the cost per mile in constructing the. rail* way oyer such country as this ?—I. should put it at the lowest cost that Government railways are costing at the present time in flat bush country; and from what 1 know of the course of line, I should say that £SOOO a mile Would be ample pfovi* sion for it completed. lam aware of work being done, now at a cost very'much lower than it waS supposed Could be done. £SOOO a mile is ample, with an allowance of, £SOOO for a little extra work between Goldsborough and Stafford Town/.. The heavy part of the work is between Goldsborough and Stafford. Town 1 -*■ There is, no heavy .work anywheia in heavy cuttings or bridges, except the or* dinary cuttings pver small creeks ; and the only part where a littjle extra papenw would.. i>e incurred would, be between Goldsborough and. Stafford. Town ; and, if 1 did it, I wouldtake it down to Wal* mea Creek, which would make it slightly more expensive there: Assuiqing it to hie nine miles, which would be fully the extra length, 1 would consider an extra £60,000 would be ample. ;. ’’ Then, as. an engineer, you, consider that the line of raiTway/could .be constructed, at an additional cost, in this direction, of, some £45,000 or £50,000 over and above, the original estimate ?-*Yes } but we have to consider that if the original line is made it Was always understood there would be two branches. You might give some information about distances. / . Mr Sbddok.] Mr Wylde, Vcni/are ac* quainted with the Country between the proposed deviation and the original line. How long has that original line oeen sut* ' veyed ?—Well, I have nothing ’ at all to prove the survey of it, but I believe it is three or four years or more. 1 1 .could not give a definite answer to that.. It was surveyed before the present line of ddflntry we are speaking settled—dlwWo gold was discovered to the extent tfalft it is now. It was laid off before WO discovered Kumara Gold l^eld. Is there a range of .hills running front the township at Kumara to Flowery Creek ?—You could hardly call it a range. There is a cluster of hills between Tere* makau River and Arahura. It would be impossible; would it not, from the nature of the to put the tramways so as to carry timber from the Greenstone Road—the country on the eastern side of these hills—down to the sea-beach f—lt would be impossible to put railways or tramways, except by two particular lines, which are how occupied by the road and tramways.' You could not put' direct-lines through the bush. You have made ah actual' survey 'from the Greenstone Road ?—I have. Is there any timber along the beach that would be marketable ?—No;. the beach there'is no timber of at alb It is all stunted scrub and his** which is spoilt by the sea beefezes. ' Inland, between Christchurch. Rokd, Greenstone Road, and this, ban you tea us about what is the nature of the country ?—lt is fine flat bush, abounding .in splendid red pine, silver pine, and .rata. There are very large pieces of bush containing very large quantities of silver pine and rata. The former is the most valuable wood we have. This would be practically shut' out, would it not, if the line was along the beach?—lf the line was along the bneb it would not ha opened in any way ever. Where are the supplies principally brought from to Kumara—the stores andso on?— They are from both Hokitika and Greyraouth. They are brought from Hokitika by road, and Greymouth by tramway.

•• ‘ ‘' are running tri l£t(tfiara ?—There is a little alteration, but there were three a day "each way. - v*, Dp /ybU. know how many wagons?— There is not much road traffic from Grey- . . mouth, but an immense traffic from Hokitika.. , I wish to get at the number of horses employed in bringing stuff from Kumara by tram, and then we shall take those bringing from Hokitika. In addition, to the three trams running from Kumara to : Greymonth, how many luggage trams are - there daily ?—I think there about two. It is a subject I am not prepared to give ' much evidence upon. There are also a ;good many carts on the road. There is a '• road from Greymouth to Kumara as well . -affa tramway, but it is over a very high Irange, and goods are not carried to a great extent by it. Do you know how many coaches are ¥unnirig from Hokitika to Kumara daily, passing through Waimea and Stafford Town?—l think there are four coaches daily, each way. Do you know how many waggons are •on the toad ?—There is Keech and Mai* ’ loy’s, Cameron's, Grey's, Smith’s, and •/ Several others. • ’ ' How long does it take them to go from Kumara to Hokitika and back T—They . tome one day and go back the next. x ’ What tonnage would you estimate they ' Would take each time ?—The waggons are Calculated lo carry seven tons each time ; but it fc a matter I am not well up in. Well, an average?—At the lowest I Would put the average at four tons each. They carry seven occasionly. They are • Aeveir-horse teams. That Would be forty-eight tons per week drawn py waggons from Hokitika ?—Yes. Are there drops as Well ?—Yes. What would you consider to be the dumber of passengers travelling by these Coaches ? What are they licensed to cany ?—They vary—about fourteen pas* Aengers each, 1 think. At present I would tout down a hundred daily for the two lines, seven hundred a Week. The fares are vety expensive, and it la bad travel* .. Urig. Is the population likely to be A perma* nent one at Kumara?—From what I know of it it is the most permanent gold field ; we have in New Zealand. It hat every Appearance of it. Within the last three ’ or four weeks there has been a considerAble extension of gold field, and when the ‘ Government sludge-channel and other • similar works are in full play, there will ba a Very large number of works to be 'done, and country opened up. The whole ' ■'country appears to ne auriferous, and it *’ -w a riiere matter of time to open it all op.' f V ', ' y Has there been ah Additional popula- ’ ywbb airiefe 1878 'settled down at the norrthern Side of tho Teremakau Itiyer ?—At r Cape Terraco rush ? Yes.—YeSj‘Considerable during the last wbtil^ybu of the Greoristorie District at ? It is set "y .down ifi 1878 At 50& persons, what would '7 put it At rfow ?—Well tbe mAh mo ■ erigagW ' now driving to tb'eir claims, so fhey are employing .few han<k,.but T 'Would 'put them-down at 200 in that ~ locality. That track has just been made ‘V- fiy'thb country Authorities. IhAve been ]!_' Along it and found men driving all along the terrace. * i , Are the works of a .permanent nature *'■"pni the Westbrook side?—Yes. There is A large r water-race called the Frin-go- ‘ bragh Wiich must be five of six mUes long. What is the carrying capacity Of that Vace J— l should think thirty heads, pef-'..-liitps: * ASfe/there Any engineering difficulties ; An this loop?—In the deviation? No; *y there'are no engineering difficulties whatever.' I may safely say that. I have already sjbated so, I think. If the railway , had been carried by the present line of road there would be very great engineering difficulties to be encountered, because the present road is taken over this cluster . of hills, but by going round the duster, instead of going over it, it would hot be ao difficult. What would be the length of the branch line from Whitcbmhe to Kumara.—seven ■miles. , , Well, Mr Wylde, you are an engineer .. by profession ?—Yes. If you'were an engineer fof a private company, and it was contemplated to lay a line between Hokitika and Greymouth for the carriage of passengers and goods, ■ end if you. were asked a question as to the most, favorable route of the country, what would you advise under ther circumstances ? Where would you advise the lilies to be laid, arid your reasons why 1., ~ /Well, as an engineer, I, should always consider it my duty to lay out a line that would best supply the wants of the county* One drawing traffic from both sides J® double the advantage of another drawing traffic, from one ride only, and, when the two alternatives present themselves, an engineer yis bound to choose one that . would bring in the largest amount of traffic. , That would .apply to this case ; ‘ A Kne along the‘beach would only draw from one side, and a -line through the 'country would draw, a traffic from both rides;' Tpisisthe'more.serious, because a line along the beach passes along an ‘Utterly unsettled and valueless country. , I would reject it at once as being utterly useless. I have gone carefully into the . an d cannot see that the line along w#'® beach would be of the slightest use to country. It would never pay for .running an engine along it unless these branches are made. If the branches are made they require and additional length of fourteen miles. M|Leak.] The two branches?— xes; and then they would not supply the country fairly. For instance, Kumara is

far the largest centre for mining operations and settlement. Yon would have to go from Hokitika to Teremakau, and then back again up the branch line to Kumara, so that every ton of goods from that port would be handicapped, if I can so express it, very heavily. In that , case the total length of line to be made would be twelve miles ' along the beach and fourteen miles-—twenty-six miles. By striking out the useless part of the line along the beach, and joining the two branches, we have a line twenty-one miles long, and . a saving of between five and six miles. Mr Seddon.] Do you know what woidd be the cost of plant necessary to work these two branches—trucks, arid so forth 1 It would depend entirely upon how the lines were worked.. The main lines being useless, it could be considered only as a portion of the branches. I think you would want an extra engine on one of. the branches, and extra trucks. I suppose it would take from £7OOO to £BOOO, more or less. Well, there would be additional expense, would there not, -for each of these branch lines, assuming there are two locomotives ?—Yes; there would be additional labour required for the enginedriver, stoker, guards, men at the points at each place. It would probably entail, at least an additional ten men to work it. Would £6O a mile be a fair charge for a survey of that country right through 1 — Fifty pounds a mile for the deviation ? Yes.—Fifty pounds a mile would be far more than is ever paid now. I consider that would be an extreme price to pay. There is one portion of the line so well known—two-thirds of it so easy—that there is very little more to do than cut the line. An engineer could give the bearings at once. The lines could be cut, levels taken, and the thing done very cheaply. There is little else to be done. I should say that an average of £3O per mile for that would be ample. [To be concluded in our next.]