The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1879.

Patea Mail, Volume V, Issue 461, 24 September 1879, Page 2

The Patea Mail. (Published Wednesdays and Saturdays.) WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1879.

Sir George Grey is determined not to forfeit his well earned position as the prince of promise makers. When in Christchurch, ho entered into some of the most stupendous engagements that he has ever yet made to tickle the fancy ot electors. The chief among these was the long-talked-of West Coast Railway. We cannot blame the citizens ot Christchurch for electing the man who promised this railway. It would be a grand thing for that city, as it would make a good many thousands of people practically dependent on it for supplies, which they now obtain by means of their own very defective harbours. But as Christchurch, or Canterbury, will not have the exclusive privilege of paying for this Quixotic line, it is possible that other parts of the colony may take sufficient interest in if to prevent it becoming more than a dream for another generation, or so. A slight knowledge of the two ends of the proposed line, and of the proposed line itself, is enough to show that it would be commercial idiocy and political robbery to undertake the gigantic task. At the Canterbury end we have a country already immensely better off for railways than any other part of the colony, and with vast additions proposed in the immediate future, apart from the sky scraping line in question. It is also a country of almost perfect roads, the ground being level, and excellent metal abundant. It has a splendid harbour, which has been greatly improved at public expense, and has also railway communication with the neighbouring and wealthy Province of Otago. It has a line to tap the forest at Oxford, and another to tap the coal mines at Malvern. On the east there is the sea, on the south there is a railway, extending to the extremity of the Island, on the North there is availway reaching to the limits of Canterbury settlement, and on the west there sire two lines reaching almost to the utmost limits of civilisation on the cast side of the Southern Alps, if, then, we take a bird’s-eye view of the colony, can we allow the claim of this favoured country to further advantages ? Canterbury is not satisfied with having her own resources developed at public expense, but she wants to be helped to the resources of others also at public expense. Passing over to the other side of the Island, wo find some of the most broken country under the sun, and some of the most unmanageable rivers that flow into the sea. The country is covered with a dense growth of timber, chiefly pine, with impenetrable underwood. Naturally, there is not fifty acres of land free from this heavy forest in the whole of Westland. There has, ef course, been a great deal of laud cleared by the diggers, but it is likely to remain clear until men become wicked enough to secure another deluge; for it is cleared and turned over to the depth of twelve or fifteen feet, with the stones on top. A digger with a head of water, will clear about half-an-aere a year in this thorough maimer. There are thousands of men thus engaged in Westland, and they get what they

call “ tucker” in return —in other words, they get considerably less, on on average, than a farm labourer would get in Patoa. Hundreds of them are too poor to get away, and thousands of them can only raise about one “spree” in twelvemonths. A wise and paternal Government has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds in bringing water to these men, to help them to flourish in the manner described, and to improve the lace of nature more effectually than before. We do not hesitate to say that there is not a single practical digger, who has been ten years on the Westland goldfields, who would not be able to truly say that every ounce of gold lie has got has cost him an honest six or seven pounds worth of labour; and yet he sells his ounce for £d 16s. It would be better for the colony, and for the men themselves, if the toiling thousands of Westland were otherwise employed ; and better for the colony, and for the men, if the half-million spent in water-races wore also otherwise emyloyed. Yet it is for the sake of giving Christchurch railway communication with this promising country, that Sir George Grey will seek to pledge the colony to the greatest piece of work yet attempted in the Southern Hemisphere. The proposed line, or rather lines, are worthy of study. We shall draw a few facts from the Engineer’s report. Several routes have been suggested, but each one seems to exceed all the rest in difficulty. The distance between Christchnrth and Brunnerton, by the different routes, varies from 151 to 142 miles, and the length of lino to be made varies from 119 to 105. The height to be scaled varies from 3,230 feet to 2,560 feet. Each route requires numerous tunnels, the length of which range from upwards of three miles, down to short holes through spurs. The spurs are, however, of loose boulders, and consequently very difficult to tunnel. Let our readers imagine, as a sample, five miles, in which the “ line crosses thirteen broad ravines, five of them being from 50 to 90 feet deep, and eight of them from 90 to 160 feet. Further on, the same section has four banks from 50 to 70 feet deep, and four from 90 to 160 feet. The cuttings arc on the same gigantic scale, several being from 60 to 80 feet deep, and a quarter ot a mile long.” As to the gradient obtainable, the report says, after a lot of detail: “We are therefore forced to make a selection between gradients of 1 in 33, worked by very heavy locomotives, 1 in 15, with a central rail, and 1 in 7, with stationary engines.” On the first ot these “ a 40-ton locomotive would only draw 75 tons of paying load—far too little tor a mineral traffic. Yet on the west side of the mountains there would be 16 miles otThis grade. The Engineer, after concluding that Arthur’s Pass route, with a tunnel of more than three miles, an elevation of 3,014, and a grade of I in 7, with a stationary engine, is the most practicable, recommends that the whole scheme bo abandoned. He certainly deserves promotion for making such a recommendation; for even if the line were made without cost, it would be a very expensive white elephant. Owing to landslips, floods, heavy snows, and the shifting of rivers, it is with great difficulty that a coach road is kept open. How a heavy traffic line, whose business would be to carry coal, timber, flour, and the like, would prosper, it requires no great experience to tell. Row, the Engineer’s report and recommendation were circulated through the colony belorc the dissolution took place; yet Sir' George promised that condemned line to the Christchurch people. Over in Westland, the Government candidates, wanting some help, telegraphed to Mr Macandrew, asking if the long projected lino had been abandoned. The astute {Scot immediately authorised them to tell the electors that the line was not to be abandoned, and that the Government, if restored to power, would favour it. Un both sides of the Island it proved true that a railway is the best policy, and is also an excellent contrivance for carrying men to the head of the poll.