The Nelson Evening Mails. SATURDAY,AUGUST 21, 1880.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XV, Issue 199, 21 August 1880, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mails. SATURDAY, AUGUST 21, 1880.

■ll ...I ,--,-■ -■... 1.!.....,.— 1-1..1.1H-.. .l.lf — Attached to the Public Works Statement is the report of Mr Conyers on the working railways in the Middle Island, of the general information contained in which the following is a summary : — The number of miles of line open on the 31st March was 808 ; the train miles run were 1,481,225, and the gross earnings £450,102 j the working expenses were £338,844, and the net earnings £111,257, the working expenses being 7528 per cent of the receipts ; the earnings per average mile of line open were £557, and the actual earnings per train mile 6s Id ; the total expenses per mile have been £419, and 4s 7d per train mile ; the total cost of constructing the lines open for traffic haß been £6,066,402$ the net earnings being equal to 244 per cent on such coat ; the number of passengers carried was 1,697,565, and the amount of goods 658,616 tons ; the total amount paid for claims for loss or damage has been £871 3 the rolling stock consisted of 124 locomotives, 284 passenger carriages, and 4089 goods vehicles ; the amount pail for wages was £223,477, and the number of employ cis was 2383. Of the Nelson section Mr Conyers says :— " The traffic on this section is light, the earnings being at the rate of £382 per mile per annum and the percentage of working expenses to receipts 78 22. The passenger receipts show an increase of about £100, and the revenue for the carriage of goods has increased £259 as compared with the corresponding niue months of the previous year. 63,193 passengers and 8128 tons of goods hare been carried. * * * * The workshop tools have been usefully employed, the heavy portion of the Picton work, such as the turning of wheels, &c, being done in Nelson." The statement is supplemented by numerous reports from the various officers, and tables giving every requisite information with regard to the finances and amount of description of work done by the department, and is illustrated by several well executed maps. The expenditure upon miscellaneous works in the Nelson district during the nine tnonths ended, 31st March last, is given as follows : — Road, Takaka to Motueka, and approaches to wharf at Waitapu, £1178 ; bridge over Wairoa and Waimea district, £1941 ; Rai Road £250, and a further amount of £400 on this road in the Marlborough district ; Road, Nelson to Top House and Tarndale £906 ; bridge over Ahaura river, £6802 ; bridge over Nelsou Creek £3824 ; Road, Westport to Lyell £2172 ; Road, Nelson to; Westport and Greyroouth £2628 5 bridge over Buller river on Nelson to Reefton road £1500. Mr Conyers in his report on the public works of the Middle Island refers, at considerable length, to the Nelson to Roundell section of the railway, in consequence, as he says, of there having been a considerable agitation with reference to the route. Although there is little probability of the line being pro • ceeded with for some considerable time at all events, still what Mr Conyers has to say on the subject is not without interest. While five or six different Hues have been examined there are only two between which there is anything like competition. These are, the Hope or Rochfort's line, and. the Blue Glen line. In a comparative statement of the leading features of these lines it is shown that from Foxhill to the Hope junction via the Hope route is 32 miles, with 77 chains of tunnelling in two tunnels, and a ruling gradient of 1 in 33. Between the same points via Blue Glen is 42 miles, with 84 chains of tunnelling in four tunnels, and a railway gradient of 1 in 50. Thus the distance is in favor of the Hope route, and the cost, Mr Conyers thinks, would probably be less ; but even were the Blue Glen line much longer, more expensive, aud further away from good country, he is of opinion that, on account of the gradient, the balance of advantages would be on its Bide, while, under present circumstances, it is infinitely the better of the two. He refers to two other routes that had been spoken of. The first went through Spooner's Range by Rochfort's line, then up the Motupiko to a junction with the Blue Glen line. This would be nine miles longer than the present Blue Glen line, would cost a quarter of a million more, and would necessitate a tunnel 2£ miles long, nearly a mile longer than the Lyttelton tunnel, the longest in New Zealand. Another route was by way of Pretty Bridge Creek and Brown's Gully. This with a gradient of 1 in 50 would require a tunnel 2f miles long, or with lin3s a tunnel of 1£ miles. Altogether, Mr Conyers considers this the least feasible of the many routes that have been proposed. " The setting out of the railway line between Foxhill and Roundell," he says, v has been one of the most difficult works of its kind in this Island, and the local engineers deserve great credit for the satisfactory results arrived at."