THE BEST RAILWAY LINE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 15, 6 May 1871, Page 11

THE BEST RAILWAY LINE.

The principle which should be adopted in determining the best line to be taken for any proposed railway, and the mode by which compensation when it runs through private property should be awarded, are both questions possessing much interest, demanding alike the attention of the Provincial Council and of the public. Before the particular direction of a railway line through private property is finally determined on, its economic no less than its engineering merits require to be considered. An engineer can decide which line would cost the least in constructing, but he is not equally as well qualified to decide whether that line is in all other respects' the best. It is not necessary that a railway line should be as straight and rigid as railway iron. It has to bend to avoid natural difficulties, and . there is no reason why it should to secure economic edvantages. The shortest cuts do not always prove the best even for pedestrians, and they seldom do so in the case of railway traffic. It is the traffic between one station and another, and not that between the two extremities of the line which is found to pay best in America. Of two roads the coachman or the carrier will take that by which he can secure the most ©ustom.

The particular direction the railway will take is, however, of less consequence to land owners and the public, than the position the stations will occupy. In a new country it may prove a great public benefit for these to determine tho sites of future towns, than for the present so-called towns to determine the sites of the stations. This being the case, in order that the greatest possible benefit may be derived from the circumstance, and that the public revenue may participate directly in the advantages which these public works will confer on private property, would it not be well for the Government to be empowered to buy up, at its present value, the whole of the land in the vicinity of the proposed stations, and then resell it at the enhanced value the railway and the station would confer upon it ? It was only last week W 6 heard that the landowners of a certain district in Otago had offered to make a free gift of the _ land required for the railway, for a distance of fifteen miles, on the understanding that it was proceeded with at once. They appear to better understand the advantages conferred by railways, and the steps they should take in order to secure them, than the landowners of this province. It is now demonstrated that railways well suited to our preseno requirements can be made at a cost little exceeding that of a good macadamized road ; but it docs not follow that they will be made on such low terms if landowners, contractors, speculators, and jobbers are not restricted from reaping a harvest out of them at the public cost. Nor does it follow because large profits have been realized by railways, which have been prudently and economically made and worked,

which have not competed with ot ner lines, which have had no water-way-competition, and which have commanded or created sufficient traffic, that these profits will be realized if these conditions are disregarded. The railway line should take that direction which will immediately or eventually command the greatest amount of traffic, which has the fewest engineering difficulties to contend with, and which will open the widest extent of country for settlement. If these three conditions are fulfilled, whether it is straight or crooked is a matter of minor consequence.