RAILWAY VERSUS ROADS.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 20, 16 July 1864, Page 2

RAILWAY VERSUS ROADS.

(From the Southland Times, July 14.). : AlfX one acquainted with our expenditure on roads, and the results attained, and, having carefully perused the " Report on Roads, and their Construction," of the Otago XJominissioners, appointed specially to investigate this subject, must come to the conclusion that it is a duty we owe to the present generation as wen. as to posterity, to the Province of Southland as well"as tcf the Colony of New Zealand, to strain every nerve to develope throughout the Province the railway system already commenced: It is perfectly true , that nature has saved us all engineering diffi-culties-in the shape of precipitous hills to be surmounted, dangerous- rivers to be crossed j and in. tliis ..respect.. we are more favored _ than any other ..Province in New Zealand. In whichever direction^ we leave Invercargill, the • road passes over level country. Northwards, to the foot of the "Whakatipu Lake ;.. eastward, towards Dunedin to the boundary of the Province ; westward, to Riverton ; southward, to the Bluff, the even; surface-, of the country is unbroken. Everything, however, has its drawback ; and the absence of metal along the various lines, the expense of obtaining it 'ironi;the only quarry within miles of Invereargill, is the great difficulty we have to contend with, which can only be surmounted by the completion of the railway from Invercargill to the quarry at the Mokomoko. Although in summer our natural roads, with such appliances as are at our command, are sufficient for the requirements of the traffic to the diggings, not only of our own, but that of Otago ; yet, so soon as winter sets in, we realize the uselessness of the expenditure we have incurred. It is to be hoped that the experience of the past has convinced us of the folly of continuing to waste money in the vain endeavor to make some 150 miles of road, leading in various directions through the Province, from the centre, Invercargill, fit to . bear heavy traffic throughout the winter months. There are only two . methods of road making, which, had we the means, we should henceforth be justified in adopting — metal roads or plank roads. The gravel, fascines, and patching system must be given up. We have expended £140,000 on this system, and the result is not satisfactory. In a recent issue, we calculated that until we could obtain metal more cheaply than at present, the cost of constructing a properly macadamized road would amount to £4,000 per mile, the yearly maintenance of which would be £400 per mile. The experience of Otago bears us out in this calculation. We do not mean by a road, a narrow strip of metal along the centre of the roadway, such as has been laid down wherever we have accomplished anything in the macadamizing line, which will not admit of two drays passing one another, and, by necessitating traffic to keep in one rut, wears out the road much sooner than were room allowed for divergence ; but a roadway of fair width, properly pitched and metalled. "We have four roads branching from Invercargill, singularly enough in the direction of the four cardinal points of the compass. Each of these has an equal claim on the Government to be made permanently, and one as soon as the other. Taking for granted that justice is impartially meted out, and that, commencing from the Ist of Januaiy next, five miles of road is made in each direction, we have, taking even a lower estimate than what we should be justified by the circumstances in assuming to be correct — 5 miles macadamised on Dnnedin Road, at £3,500 per mile £17,500 5 do. do. on Great Xorth Road, do. 17,500 j 5 do. do. on Bluff Road, do 17,500 6 do. do. on Riverton, via Wallacetown, Road, do 17,500 £70,000 Expense of maintaining 20 miles of road, at £400 per mile 8,000 Total for year 1865 £78,000 Next year, or 1866, supposing we make five miles further on each road, we shall expend seventy thousand pounds more; but the cost of maintenance will be double. Thus we haye — 20 miles of road constructed, at £3,500 per mile £70,000 40 do. (including the 20 of 1565), maintained at £400 per do. ... 16,000 Total for 1866 £86,000 The question arises, where is the money to be obtained ? We cannot get a loan sanctioned for the construction of roads by the General Government ; for it is contrary to the principle recognised by the General Assembly. We have had enough of overdrafts for somt time to come ; for if the Government were ever so willing to draw, we question whether the Banks would look at it in a liberal point of view. If the money is to be expended, therefore, it must be out of the General Revenue of the Province. Taking for granted that we were out of our difficulties, had started with a clear bill ; and assuming, for argument's sake, that the financial year, ending 30th September, 1863, the most prosperous Southland has yet known, shows an average income, we shall be able to : arrive at the solution of the problem as to our, capacity for constructing durable roads<•—U -.. :. £ », d. The total income for year ending 30th Sep., 1863 103,942 0 7 £ c. d. EXTEKDITtrEB— Salaries 'arid departmental expenses ...44,376 15 5 Public works; (build- ' ings, jetties, &c)... 20,815 17 10 Steam 8ervice......... 1,408 10 0 Miscellaneous.. ...... 8,444 17 4 . £75,046 0 7 Balance ......... £28,896 . '0 0 This in a year of unanticipated prosperity, for the ■"Custdins' ~ Revenue largely ceiede'd' J the" "estimate, 1 v .and.V,tJbe..",X'and Revenue., yielded very i^fairly, .netting; £s££ti&] l9s^9d.^"jSupposing,, then ■•■ that thVyear 1865 yielded a like result^ and

the surplus was at our disposal, we have, as before stated,4— : ! Making and maintaining! 20 miles :,-.] ; of r0ad.;.;1;i.. ..:„./ £78,000 Balance of revenue for year to "■'meet this "..:........ 28,896 Deficit £49,104 At the very start, therefore* we are suddenly brought to a stand-still by want of funds. If we cannot make the twenty miles of road in 1865, how are we to manage an extension of it the following year?" In fact, the real reason of our present difficulties is made patent by a perusal of the accounts of the year ending : 30th September, IS63:— Expenditure d\rring the year onroads ...£61,538 7 11 Balance of revenue with which to construct Uicin £28,896 0 0 Excess of expenditure on * roads over revenue £32,6<1-2 7 11 This road expenditure in excess of revenue was continued into the present ! year ; hence our difficulties, without even the consolation of possessing passable roads. An approximation to the cost of constructing a really useful and permanent roadway may be arrived at by inquiring into the expense of those small attempts we have made in this direction. The piece of metalled road eastwards from the town — width of pitching, 16 ft. ; metal, 14 ft. ; depth of metal, 5 inches, cost — Formation, pitching, metalling, at the rate of per mile. ... £1,472 0 0 Bubble and metal, supplied from quarry at Mokomoko, and deposited at head of Jetty, do 1,179 13 0 Total per mile £2,G31 13 0 This narrow piece of road was made only a few weeks ago, when labor was cheap ; already it urgently calls for repair. The piece of road north from the Waihopai Bridge, 16 feet in width, cost — Formation pitching, and metalling, including material, per mile £2,768 0 0 In this instance, the metal was boated up the Waihopai, and deposited on the landing-stage at the bridge. The transit, therefore, was cheaper than ordinary. The contractor for the construction of the road, being also the contractor for the supply of metal from the quarry, was in a better position than any one else to undertake the work, and it is questionable whether it paid him. Neither of these pieces of road are sufficiently wide or deeply metalled to entitle them to be considered as good and permanent Trunk Roads ; to convert them into such would require a further expenditure of, at least, £1000 per mile, not including the yearly maintenance. If any road in the Province can be made cheaply, it is that which connects Invercargill with Campbelltown, more particularly the portion between the quarry at the Mokomoko and the latter place. With abundance of metal requiring no quarrying lying along side it, we might have expected that m.this direction, at any rate, we could point to a well-made Trunk Road. The total expenditure on this road since the separation of the Province, amounts to ... ... £31,763 1 5 Prior to separation, about ... 1,500 0 0 Total £33,263 1 5 Not more than seven miles is pitched and metalled, and with what results ? A large sum is required to be spent throughout the line at once, to bring it within the category of a passable road, capable of sustaining for the remainder of the winter months the comparatively light traffic it has to bear, Cobb and Co.\s coaches being about the heaviest it is subjected to. Part of this road, which has been pitched and metalled, possessing the advantages before alluded to as regards convenience of obtaining stone for its construction, yet cost within a fraction of £3,000 per mile for a width of 15 ft. pitched and 14 ft. metalled. As regards the construction of plank roads, the following calculation, which we think will be found correct as regards cost, will prove how futile it is, under present circumstances, to entertain the idea : — 1 Mile of Plank Road, 20-ft. wide, complete : Excavation and forming, say, 5,000 cubic yards, at Is. 6d. £375 0 0 5 -inch planking, delivered and laid complete, say, 475200 superficial feet, at 25s 5,940 0 0 Sleepers, including laying, &c, sayISOO'OO superficial feet, at" 12s 1,080 0 0 £7,395 0 0 About £2,400 a mile more than the Northern Railway costs, including rolling stock, stations, land, &c. "With such facts before us, with the experience of 1863 as a warning, the knowledge that we cannot borrow for the purpose of constructing roads, and with the miserable results of a large expenditure on them surrounding us, we cannot but conclude that aDy attempts to construct main trunk roads throughout the Province will be worse than useless — nay^ impossible. It is a duty to the present generation, as Avell as that which is to follow, to put a stop to the useless waste of revenue which has hitherto characterized our rOad expenditure. Every acre of land sold, the product of which is spent on works of an unremunerative character, is an injury inflicted on posterity, not only of the Province of Southland, but the Colony of New Zealand — a step nearer to taxation. Although it is but just that those who succeed us, and reap the benefit of our exertions, should contribute, and that largely, towards the cost of those benefits, let us make sure that what they are called upon to pay for is really an advantage ; in which category we cannot include our past road expenditure. There is a wide difference between a national debt, and one incurred for works of a remunerative character. Under the first head may be classed the half million loan of,. Otago; under the last, all loans for railways; ; ;,. • .;-. .■ .—■ - : ; .. ; / ..■.■■ ';. Our railways are Colonial,- not Provlneial,;works;; and as such, fairly chargeable on the whole Colony.