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Marlborough Press, Volume I, Issue 1, 6 January 1860, Page 3

To the Editor of the Marlborough Press. Sir —The construction of a railway between Wairau and Pieton has zealous, if not numerous supporters, and to the consideration of a subject of such great importance to the province a space in the first number of the Marlborough Press may not be inappropriately assigned. I won!d gladly have, left to some abler pen the task of provoking that discussion which can alone elicit truth and explode those fallacies which, in my estimation, have not even the merit of plausibility. But all that has been written hitherto has been on one side, and lest the theory of to-day, however extravagant, become the fact of to-morrow, it is time that an effort, however feeble, should be made to suggest more correct views of the subject than the crude notions that at present exist. My connection with railways terminated eighteen years ago; but, whatever improvements have since been effected in railway construction, I believe the material elements of cost remain unchanged. Whether my opinions be entitled to any weight I leave others to determine, and content myself with affirming that they are offered in no captious spirit of opposition, but in perfect good faith. It will, I presume, be admitted by all that the work should be executed with a view to permanence and stability, and with completeness and efficiency in all its parts — to propose less than this would be virtually to condemn the project altogether. It is a mistake to suppose, as many do, that the construction of a railway will supersede the necessity of a road for ordinary traffic. So far from that being the case, it would render the latter indispensable. So inseparable are they, that an estimate of the cost of the former is inconclusive unless accompanied by an estimate of the cost of the latter. If my premises be correct, the road must be ballasted throughout, say for a width of twelve feet

for the railway, and twenty-four feet for the other road, and to a depth of nine inches. I estimate the cost of getting and filling ballast, at 3s. per yard, and of haulage at least at an equal sum. It is said that some of the read will not require ballasting, but this, I apprehend, is true of only an inconsiderable portion, and much of the ballast will have to be conveyed a considerable distance. My estimate of cost per mile will stand thus: — £ 5250 yards ballast, @ 6s. . . 1581 55 tons 351 b. rails, @£lo . 550 22 tons 71b. chairs, dp £lO . 220 Bolls . . ... 22 1700 sawn hard wood sleepers. @ 2s 176 Laying 160 £27.12 Other Expenses—--25 waggons, (a) £lO . . . 1000 Billings, brandies, sheds, &c. . 1000 Without personal inspection, I cannot offer an opinion as to the probable cost of forming the road. Some of it is said, and I believe with truth, to be ready for the reception of ballast; but life state of much of the road may be inferred from the following extract from “A Glance at the Province of Marlborough”:—

Whatever may bo there gained in the picturesque is at the sacrifice of utility, the road being so narrow, and the angles so abrupt and numerous, as to make it highly dangerous to take a team of six or eight bullocks over it; for, should a drav he thrown over (lie bank, it is doubtful whether it would not disappear altogether in the swamp below. It is, however, idle to talk of this portion of the road as fit for dray traffic. It is far too narrow. Supposing the whole width to he solid, there is barely sufficient, room for two drays to pass each other, and in places they certainly could not do so; but as about one-third ot the road is made of the loose stuff out out of the hill-side and thrown into the swamp, this, in a wet season, will part company with the solid parts of the road, as it is not supported on the outside by any kind of breastwork: for when the swamp becomes a lake, and the water rises to within a few inches of the surface of the road, it requires no great foresight to predict what will happen to so much of it as has no better basis than loose clay. Now that the contracts for making the road are completed, the best that can be said of it is, that it makes a good bridle-road in summer; but, at the end of a wet winter, it is doubtful whether it will be passable in places for horses.

The general accuracy of my views is corroborated in a report of Mr. AY rey’s, dated March 29tli, 1855, referring to the contemplated railway from Nelson to the Dun Mountain: —

There is no engineering difficulty whatever, or anything likely to entail serious expense. The distance of the mine from Nelson harbour is about ten miles, of which four miles require little beyond laying down the sleepers, rails, &e., and the whole line may be constructed at a cost not exceeding £;3,000 per mile.

llow the transit of the river is to be effected we arc not told : whether the railway waggons are to be punted across, or goods transferred to drays—either mode will involve considerable expense and delay. I will conclude this part of my subject with observing, that as my sole object is the elimination of truth, I wish to be corrected if I have formed false premises or deduced false conclusions. I will now advert to the facilities for traffic afforded by our rivers, which will be best illustrated by the subjoined table of the trips performed by the barge Hope last year, worked by two men, between Beaverton and Port Underwood, which Avill enable your readers to institute a comparison between the two modes of conveyance:—

Account of Wool taken from the Beaver Store by the barge Hope, from December oOlh , 185 S, to. March 28th, 1859. December 80th . 28 bales. January 4th . . 31 January 11th . . 30 ~ January 2 A Ui . '. 45 January 31 t . . 37 ~ February 3rd . .36 ~ February 9th . . 39 February loth . 40A ~ February 2Gth . 39 ~ March 7th . . 31 „ March 14th . . 40 „ March 28th . .40 „ 4361 She was subject to frequent detentions for the want of wool, and I have sufficient grounds for stating that she could have done half as much again, and that two such barges would have taken all the wool away as fast as it could be stowed on board the ship. Nelson considers us in a state of littlcboyism, and is solicitous about our pocketmoney, and is apprehensive that, like Moses Primrose, we shall yield to seductions of green spectacles; but let Nelson be reassured —we shall doubtless follow her example in spending our money as fast as we can raise it, and do not despair of attaining in time to the dignity of a public debt of very respectable dimensions. So long as we have a demonstrative “Wellwisher to the Province ” to organize a system of finance, we shall not be ignorant how to spend half-a-crown out of nothing a day, and while a “ Settler ” will enlighten us as to our true position, we shall doubtless be able to make both ends meet in the “ centre.” I am, &c., W. Budge. Beaverton, January 4