The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, MAY 31, 1866.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 74, 31 May 1866, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. THURSDAY, MAY 31, 1866.

The season is now fast approaching when nearly every steamer, from the West Coast may be expected to bring intelligence of some shipping disaster having taken place there. The almost total immunity from loss on the coast by shipwreck which has been experienced during the past eight or nine months cannot he expected to continue. Although, as the entrances to the various ports are now better known to mariners than they were last wintei*, and as a large number of masters have been trained during the whole of the summer to take the bars, it may be expected that the loss by shipwreck there will not be proportionally so heavy as it was during last winter ; yet, unless the ensuing season be unusually mild, and unless heavy rains are frequent in the interior, the bars at the entrances to the various rivers will silt up, and it will entail great risk to attempt to cross them. These considerations bring before us the resolutions which were passed by the Provincial Oouucil the early part of this month, to authorise the Superintendent to contract for the construction of a light line of railway from kelson to Greymonth, to be paid for by a grant of land. The probability of this work being carried out on the terms proposed is a matter of the utmost importance to this city, which this line would render one of the largest in the colony. Parties who are likely to embark in the undertaking will look at it from two points of view. First, the nature and cost of the work to be performed ; and second, the value of the remuneration offered. In the first place let us deal with the cost of the proposed railway. Those who have examined the interior of this province all concur in saying that the country offers no formidable difficulties for the construction of a work o this nature. The highest hills to be surmounted are, lirst, the Rainy river saddle, and second, the Inangahua saddle. Both of these could be got over with a gradient of one ir 40. There would be a large amount of side cuttings, but the small expenditure incurred in constructing the Dun Mountain line proves that for a single line of narrow guage the side cuttings can be executed at a moderate cost. There will be several large rivers to be bridged, and this would form the most expensive portion of *the work ; but the largest of them, the Buller, could be crossed with a 100-feet span. Of the value of the land belonging to the province in the valleys of the rivers, which would be traversed by the line of railway, and to which the choice of the constructors would be confined, in accordance with the terms of the resolutions, it is much more difficult to speak with any degree of certainty, as the value of that laud depends largely upon its richness in minerals ; the quantity fit for agricultural and grazing purposes is known not to exceed 300,000 acres. A good deal of money could be made by the sale of town allotments at the various stations on the line, but the value of these would also depend upon the extent of mineral country up by the railway ; both coal and gold have been found in various places in the immense region between here and the Grey ; but little is known aB to whether those minerals exist over any extent of country in payable quantities. " We are not aware of what steps the Super-

intendent purposes taking to bring the scheme hefore the pnblic, if the General Government consent to the appropriation of the lands of the province for that purpose. If it is expected that, if presented in its present bare form without information as to the nature of the country to be traversed, its levels, &c, capitalists will be inclined to look upon it with favor, we are bound to say that we believe such expectations will be disappointed ; a considerable expenditure for surveys will be necessary to bring it fairly hefore the public; the resolutions are silent as to granting the company the use of the line for any time; but, doubtless, it will be necessary to offer this inducement to cause the scheme to be looked upon with favor.