New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1875.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4437, 9 June 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 9, 1875.

We have of late heard a great deal about the progress of railway construction in. the South, and more especially in Otago. Whilst we are aware that much has been done, and is being done, in this direction, we fear that tho work has not been, nor is likely to be, of a satisfactory character as regards permanence. For some time past we have noticed articles in the Dunedin papers giving a most decidedly unsatisfactory account of tho manner in which the construction of branch lines under tho Provincial Government is being carried out, and the report of Mr. Oonyers, general manager of Otago railways, is by no moans favorable as respects the lines hitherto constructed by the Provincial Government. On tho subject of the Port Chalmers line, for which both Provincial and General Governments paid a very pretty penny, the manager is very clear. The rails had been as it were slopped down on the sleepers without any portion of tho latter being cut away so as to adapt the lino for the passage of trains round the sharp curves with which it abounds. As a consequence, the rails had to be literally relaid. A good deal had also to be tlono to secure a certain permanency to other portions of tho work, and much remains to be dona to make the line what it ought

to be, if it is to serve the purpose for which it is intended. The Green Island branch railway, which is also open for traffic, will require some expenditure in order to prevent its being a merely evanescent work. Of the branch lines in course of construction, the authorities have pronounced the Awamoko railway as nearly ready for the conveyance of goods ; but a correspondent of the Bruce Herald, a paper "specially devoted to country interests and remarkable for the accuracy of its information in regard to them, gives a very different account of this line, and seems to think that it will be twelve months before traffic can be carried on properly over the line. The railway, we find, runs through a very favorable country a distance of twentyone miles thirty chains. It is now unfenced, and the cost of remedying this would be £5130 ; and of finishing the sleepers, which the authorities evidently consider require finishing, £946. It is plain from these matters that the newspaper correspondent is more correct in his facts than are the members of the Provincial Executive. The only branch line of which a really favorable official report is given, and concerning which little or nothing has appeared in print of an unfavorable nature, is the Waiareka line, and the completion of this is promised in October next. Getting to the other side of the province, however, we approach a very different state of affairs. Of the Riverton and Otalatau line it is said that the earthworks will be completed shortly, but it is plain that the contractor and the engineer have been at loggerheads. The Dunedin 'Evening Star in an article on this question notices this fact, and the report shows the difficulty to have occurred in reference to the driving of piles in timber openings. The engineer’s report says :— 44 Instead of being driven to “suit the ground, they were driven to “ suit the formation level, contrary to 44 the terms of the specification, and thus 44 many of the piles yielded four and five 4 4 inches at the last blow of the ram. A “ complete register kept by the local ‘ 1 inspector who (in the face of such 44 opposition) was simply instructed to 44 note carefully the result of the driving, “ proves thework to be utterlyinadequate “ to future requirements, stability, and ‘ 4 safety. Of course, these unsatia- “ factory openings will have to be “ removed and replaced. The contractor “ had indeed been notified he would “ have to remove them ; but so far from “ doing so he proceeded to form the “ embankments to formation level, and “ close up to the back of the sheathing, “ causing the earthwork (in the absence “of wings) to meet in the creeks between 44 the piles, and thus dam the water back. “ . . . The replacing of these open- “ ings will prove both troublesome and 44 costly, as the embankments are in “ some cases of great height. I both “ telegraphed and wrote to the contractor “to at once cease the backing of these “ openings, but to no purpose.” In justice to the contractor the Star notices that the wings alluded to were not specified in the contracts. Prom the same papers’condensation of the engineer’s report we find that “fencing was included in 4 4 the contract for this line, but it has not 44 yet been commenced, causing incon--44 venience and disputes among the ocou- “ piers of land through which the line “ passes, more particularly through culti- “ vated enclosures. The Otautau line, “ to meet- the Invercargill and Winton, “ line, is said to be progressing slowly, “•the earthwork not being as yet half “ done. On this line the timber open- “ ings are said to be in a satisfactory state. “ The main bridges have not yet been “ commenced on those two portions of “ railway. The. Orepuki railway is re- “ ported to bo in a most unsatisfactory “ state, and since December last the “ earthworks are, until recently, said to “ have been quite abandoned. 4 From the “ 4 first two miles from Riverton, no two 44 4 consecutive chains appear to be com--44 4 plete.’ The bush clearings, culverts, 44 and openings are all reported as being 44 unsatisfactory, while, as regards fencing 44 through private property, nothing has 44 been done. On this state of things the Star says plainly that it is very difficult to arrive at anything like an accurate idea of the state of the railways, and no possible conception can be reached by the most imaginative as to when the lines should be, or are likely to be, opened for traffic ; and the Otago Daily Times is even more explicit, for in reference to the difficulties in connection with the Southland lines, it says;— 44 Some explanation of this very extraor--44 dinary state of things should be vouch--44 safed in the Provincial Council without 44 further delay, and if no such explana--44 tion is volunteered on the next sitting 44 day by the head of the Public Works 44 Department, we trust that some mem--44 her will give notice of a motion which 44 will elicit from tho Government the 44 fullest possible statement regarding tho 44 mess which is being made in the con--44 struction of these lines.” It will be seen then that when we spoke of the work on branch railways under provincial auspices as being of an unsatisfactory character, we by no means exaggerated. Our statements in reference to that matter, as will be seen, are extracted from official documents, and the comments of the Dunedin papers are quite as strong as anything we could say upon "the subject. '' •.