INTERIOR RAILWAY.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 436, 23 August 1877, Page 3

INTERIOR RAILWAY.

Mr. Blair's report, which has long been anxi'-.rcily looked for, is appended to the Public Works Statement. The report is a masterly document, aud contain* but little witli which we can find fault. Seven routes have boon enquired into. Of these tho only ohph of 'Merest to our readers ni . o —j\fo. 3, Lawrence to Cromwell, via Dunkeld (Beaumont) and Clutha Valley ; No. 4, North Taieri to Cromwell, via Strathtaieri. Maniototo Plain, Idaburn Valley, Manuherikia Valley and Clyde ; No. 5, Palmerstou to Cromwell, via Macraes, &c; No. <>, Palmerstou to Cromwell, via Shag Valley ; No. 7, Duntroon to Cromwell, via tho Kyeburn Pass. From the table of distances we note, by fjtrathtaieri to near Na.seby, sixty-seven miles have to be constructed , from Duntroon to Na.seby, forty-one miles. Tho distance- from Dunedin to Naseby is given as seventy-four miles ; from Oamaru to Nassby, via Duntroon,' or via Teaneraki, fifty-eight miles. The Lawrence extension, No. 3, is dismissed shortly tiius : —" Tho chief advantage claimed for this route is, that it brings tho Dunstan district into communication with Dunedin by the construction of a less length of railway than required by any other. The principal objection to it, and one which, in my opinion, is fatal, is that it does not, en route, open up country for settlement. According to the Chief Surveyor, there is only 6700 acres of good agricultural land in the whole Clutha Valley, between Dunkeld and Alexandra, and most of what ex-

ists is already broken up." The view oxpressed in tliis paper as to the roughness Hie country between Mullochy Gully a v T!!!l ,,r /h<; iSuLtori is amply borno out, although, fortunately, Mr. Blair holds out a reasonable hope of being able to overcome the greatest difficulties, not being obliged, ia all cases, to work up to his gradients. " The Taieri Kiver runs between steep hills and rocky gorges, from the Mullochy to the Nenlhorne, a distance of seventeen miles, and, in a less degree, all the way to the Sutton, five miles further. It is here that all the real h'avy works between Dunedin and Cromwell are mot with, the ground for eight miles being particularly rough aud precipitous. There is, however, one thing greatly in its favor, the flatness of the average gradients, which is only about lin i'OO. With tbia to work from, almost any obstacle can bo avoided, —gullies can be dropped into, and bluffs surmounted to the extent of 100 feet in a mile. This is an advantage that never occurred in any part of the rough country on the railways already made. Wo have always had to work to the ruling gradients, consequently every valley had to bo filled up and every spur cut through." And, again : —" Although . the average gradient on. the first thirty miles of this Tine is so low, the roughness of the ground will necessitate the adoption of short inclines up to 1 in 00, or 1 in 50, and the curves will be sharp, perhaps 5 or 6 chains radius, but beyond Blairtaiori the ruling gradient need scarcely exceed 1 in 100, and the minimum •curve is proportionately increased." Mr. Blair tells us what our readers have already learnt: —" Beyond accommodating the settlors at North Taieri, and the few miners that find employment at Mullochy Gully and Hindon, there is little to call for a railway on the first twenty-five miles of this route, but from that point right to the terminus every mile opens up country fit for settlement, aud calculated to support a large population. The Chief Surveyor has kindly given me the following areas of the various blocks of agricultural land still in the hands of the Crown:— Acres. Strathtuieri (including Moonlight Flat) 110,000 Maniototo Plain 180,000 Idaburn 70,000 Manuherikia Valley 12C.000 480,000

There is here fair ground to quarrel with Mr. Blair, for he has followed up this statement uf.arca of Crown lands opened up by the Taieri line with a strong condemnation of the Duntroon line, because it, forsooth, for twenty-five miles does not open agricultural lands, and from Kyeburn Diggings takes an orbit to the moon, certainly not opening Maniototo, Ida Valley, and Manunerikia. This is the more unfortunate for Mr. Blair's reputation, as ho had admitted earlier the Taieri line for twenty-five miles opons no country. The truth is,-both lines for thoir first twenty miles are comparatively valueless in themselves, the Pass line having the preference for its rich minerals. Mr. Blair need not, in his anxiety not to be bounced into seeing merits in the Pass line, have disguised this. After the unprofitable barrier has been broken through both lines stand or fall alike, as openers of Crown lands, in, proportion to their niileago. Tho matter of difficulty now appa--1 rent in tho Pass route is the heavy sustained gradient and tunnel. If Mr. Blair is correct, and the tunnel would go through clay slate for its whole length, it is to be feared that the enterprise must be abandoned. Yet we hardly like to saddle the engineer's judgment too readily, remembering thnt such matters are not to bo solved in a ride of a few hours across the Pass without stoppaee. One other quarrel must be picked with the engineer. Ho has gone out of his way to condemn Oamaru as a shipping port, and has assumed that no advantage would accrue to the interior from direct communication with the North across the "Waitaki. On both of these points many persons will venture to disagree In our issue of next week we will endeavor to print Mr. Blair's concise and pointed summing up of the merits and demerits of tho various routes. It is only fair to say that the grasp of the whole interior railway question the roport displays is most creditable to him.