New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 1877.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5008, 12 April 1877, Page 2

New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, APRIL 12, 1877.

A report on the railways of New South Wales, prepared by the Commissioner for Railways of that colony, Mr. John Rae, A.M., has just been presented to Parliament, and a copy of it is to hand. It would appear as if the course followed here in respect to the presentation of an annual report to Parliamentisnot imitated in New South Wales; at any rate we have seen no such document, and the present report deals with a period extending from 1872 to 1875 inclusive. The progress the colony has made in railway construction has been exceedingly slow, when we take into consideration the plethoric condition of the Treasury, and the vast extent of rich country in New South Wales that needs only opening up to yield a very rich return. Prior to the end of the year 1871, we learn, there was a total length of opened railways of 358 miles, and at the end of 1875 there were 437 miles open. The smallness of the increase, only 78 miles, is accounted for by the unfavorable state of the labor market, and the difficulty of keeping contractors to time—excuses perfectly invalid, seeing that New Zealand, under the same conditions, within the same period added between 300 and 400 miles to her running railways. The average cost per mile of railways during the period was as follows :

But the cost of construction varied widely on the different sections. Thus, taking the last year of the series, the cost per mile shows as follows : Darling Harbor branch .. ~ £86t»352 Blacktown to Richmond . . 5,261 There is scarcely any ground of comparison between the relative cost of New Zealand and New South Wales lines, because of the wide divergence in gauge and rolling-stock. Neither can we compare the cost of land in this colony with that in. New South Wales, as the public works statements contain very little data on the point. In New South Wales, however, it may be stated that the sums claimed for compensation for land amounted to £518,571, while the total amount allowed by the valuers reached only £271,218, so that the services of the valuers effected a saving to the colony of £247,353, or 48 per cent, on the amount claimed. The average rates paid were £392 per mile and £24 per acre, and when it is considered these include severance, damage to buildings and fences, legal expenses, and cost of conveyancing and arbitration, it must be conceded that the rates are not unreasonable. The rolling-stock and machinery in the colony, at the end of 1875, is stated as follows : —Locomotives, 100 ; passenger stock, 344 ; goods stock, 1610. At the end of 1876 New Zealand stood as follows :—-Locomotives, 92 ; passenger stock, 275 ; goods stock, 1806. These figures are exceedingly suggestive in connection with the complaints frequently made that insufficient goods rolling stock was ordered by New Zealand, the more so when it is mentioned that at the end of the financial year 1876 there were ordered 2508 trucks and carriages, the balance between 1806 and 2508 being at that time still to arrive. Mr. Rae appears to think the cost of the rolling stock has been high, and regrets that colonial manufacturers do not come to the fore. As they will not tender on reasonable terms there is no alternative but to import the necessary stock from England, or manufacture it in the Government workshops. He favors the latter idea, and cites the example of most of the English and continental railway companies who, according to Dr. Lardner in his work on railway economy, “are not merely proprietors of railways and carriers upon them, but are also engine builders and carriage and waggon builders upon a scale of almost unparalleled magnitude.” By this means clearly the price of their rolling stock has been considerably reduced, as it includes only the actual cost incurred by the companies, without the profits that must otherwise be paid to the manufacturers. Mr. Rae then gives a remarkable instance of the difference in the cost of colonial and English manufactured rolling stock, which may be quoted ; —“ To remedy the existing deficiency in engine power tenders were invited in the colonies in November last (1875) for the supply of eighteen passenger and six goods engines ; and Messrs. Beyer, Peacock, and. Co., of Manchester, were concurrently invited by cablegram to state at what price and within what time they could supply the former. For these no tenders were received in the colony; but two were obtained for the goods engines- - one from Mr. Shaw, of Ballarat, at £3995, and one from Mom’s Engineering Company at £4050 each, delivered at Sydney. Mr. Shaw named no time for delivery. The time required by Messrs. Mort and Co. was seventeen months after acceptance for the first, and twentyfour months for the whole six. Messrs. Beyer, Peacock, and Co. tendered to supply the passenger engines for £2650 each, free on board, and agreed to commence delivery within six months from acceptance of tender. On Hie recommendation of the Engineer-in-Chief their tender was accepted, and they were asked to name a price for the goods engines.

They stipulated for an increase of £l7O each on their price for the passenger engines, to cover the increased cost for steel-cranked axles, additional size of boilers, and other extras. Their claim for extras was ultimately reduced to £135, and their tender accepted at £2785 for the goods engines. By adding £350 for freight, insurance, and erecting, the cost will be £3135 each, or £IB,BIO for the whole six, while at the sums named in the tenders of the colonial manufacturers, the six would have cost £23,970 and £24,300 respectively; and with every desire to deal liberally with colonial manufacturers, the Government could not ignore the principles of free trade so far as to accept a colonial tender at so great an advance on English prices.” While it is to be regretted that the colonial manufacturers cannot compete with the English, it cannot be doubted that the Sydney Government took the wise view of the matter in contradistinction to the course followed by the Victorian Government, who in the interest of native industry considerately hand over the difference between the imported and locally-manufactured article to a Ballarat firm—in other Words, rob the public of £2OOO or £3OOO an engine, for the sake of fostering a native industry which the recent report of the Locomotive Inquiry Board shows to be as incapable of competing with England in point of quality as it is in price. The point dealt with by Mr. Bae is that of working expenses. The rate in 1872 was 48 - 92, and in 1875 48 18, thus showing a slight decrease. These rates compare favorably with the results on other lines, amongst which are mentioned the United Kingdom, 55 per cent. ; India, 53'70 ; United States, 63'6; Victoria, 52'36. We have not handy the rate in New Zealand, but doubtless it is high, owing to the prevalence of light lines. The report closes with the following summary of the results of railway progress in the colony up to the end of 1875 :

A total length of 437 miles has been opened for traffic, and an additional length of 251 miles is in progress. On the lines open, including rolling stock, machinery, workshops, station and oilier buildings, an expenditure has been incurred of £7,245,379, or an average of £10,579 per mile. The rolling stock on hand consists of 1(K) locomotives, 344 passenger carriages, and 1010 goods waggons : and there are now under construction 24 locomotives and 1100 waggons and trucks. Our railways give employment to 2064 officers and servants, and the wages in the locomotive, permanent way, and traffic branches amounted in 1875 to £203,072 10s. 19d. Daring the last four years 174 vessels have been employed in the transport of railway materials, for which the freight and English charges were £54,303. The number of passengers who travelled on our railways during 1875 amounted to 1,288,225, besides 4076 season ticket holders. In merchandise traffic there were 374,864 live stock, 118.815 bales of wool, and 1,171,354 tons of merchandise. For the trainage of this traffic over 1,472,201 miles of railway were received, of which £296,174, or 48T8 per cent, o! the earnings, were expended in maintenance and working, leaving a profit of £318.474, equal to £4 7s. lid. per cent, interest on the capital expended. For every mile of railway open,- the earnings were £1499 ; the expenditure was £722, and the net earnings were £777. For each train mile run, the average earnings were Bs. 4d., the average expenditure was 45., and the average profit 4s. 4d.

Exclusive rolling stock Incl. rolling stock 1872 .. £14,635 £16,052 1873 16,216 10,724 1871 15,277 16,984 1875 14,821 16,579