WOODEN TRAMWAYS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume VII, Issue 8, 9 January 1872, Page 2

WOODEN TRAMWAYS.

To The Editok ov the Nelson Evening Mail. Sik — It is exceedingly gratifying to note the prominence given by yourself and the Examiner to the subject of communication with the out-districts by tramways, showing, as it does, that the colonising spirit still exists amongst us. Not only is it. desirable and necessary to connect the South-west Goldfields with Iho settled districts of the province, but its practicability is fully established by experience. I have travelled myself with considerable pleasure on the tramway from Greymouth to the Saltwater, and from Hokitika to Stafford town, a distance

of about 8 mil< j s ou each line, made by private enterprise, aud in one case the proprietor contemplated running a small locomotive as the trade increased, substituting an iron rail as the wood rails decayed. There is do dout>t that the failure of the wooden rail in Mr. Brownlee's case, when using a locomotive, is attributable to its weight of several tons. Mr. Brogden informed n gentleman in Wellington that in some parts of Englund, locomotives were in use ou short Hues weighing only 30 cwt. To my mind one great advantage in the construction of this sort of line is that nearly the whole of the money would be spent in the colony; the class of labor is available for the work, as persons inclined to settle upon small blocks of land along the line of country might be employed month about, so as to raise a home, aad prospect for gold aud minerals in the at pressnt unsettled districts of ihe province. There is one special advantage in our case, namely, that, the whole of the rolling stock available for 100 miles of tramway can at once be procured in the province at a very low price, and of the best description; there i 3 also the probability of tci miles of rails being purchased at an early dale from the Dun Mountain Company. As regards the urgent necessity for the immediate prosecution of works of this | kind — I use the word "immediate" in contradistinction to the dreamy telegram sentence with regard to the Eoxhill railway, viz., "to be proceeded with leisurely" — I only received during the last week a letter from the Upper Buller district in which the following sentences occur: — " You would be surprised to see the number of families steadily settling in tb is district; small clearings and new huts meet the eye continually as one moves about the country." * * * I This district is far richer, and a better I portion of the province, eDJoying far more ample resources and possessing greater advantages than the settled districts, but it cannot flourish under the present imposition of bad roads and no roads at all. It is the height of folly for a government to neglect this district, and the miserable mode of carrying goods on pack horses for such a loDg journey enhances their cost tc a frightful degree. I wanted a few pounds of nails the other day, it cost me £2, including six shilliugs for ferries, in going from store to store to get them, and then at a co3t of one shilling per pound ; the breakage of au auger, or loss of a saw or file iuvolvee days of delay. Flour costs 50s. per hundred pounds ; butter, 25.; carriage on articles 6d. per pouud, or £50 a ton, for eighty miles." Districts like the Inangahua, Matakitaki. &c, are opening up, and the former, I am informed, is likely to be peopled by thousands of citizens expending large sums on machinery. Surely, from the above facts it is the first duty of a Government to follow up private enterprise by the most practicable means. Is this state of things to exist while a railway is being made alongside one of the finest roads in the colony — to be completed in three years, which may mean five ? Would it not be better to divert the money, involving as it will, say £100,000, to connect us with a couutry that will maintain a town if necessary. The Waimea with its 2,000 inhabitants, including women and children, with nearly all their available land in pasture, will not maintain a railway. This railway, I fear, wil! be like raising a quartz crushing company and absorbing the calls in expeuses when there is no payable quartz to crush ; to erect a 10 stamper battery without water power to drive it, or quartz of a payable character to crush. To go to the Assembly and ask them to extend the line 3 or possibly 5 years hence another 20 miles when it is not paying its working expenses will be like making the calls in our bubble companys wheu the directors should be paying dividends. Surely it is time to reconsider our position and to make and suffer any sacrifice so as to give immediate prosperity to town and country. The interests of property aud labor demand it. I am, &c, M. LIGHTBAND.