MR. DUNDAS'S REPORT.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 74, 18 November 1864, Page 2

MR. DUNDAS'S REPORT.

(From the Sottthi/AHd Times, 0cC27.)-. •' The Provincial Government Gazette of the 20th instant contains a_reportisy Mr. Dthtdas, the* consulting Engineer, on the present state" of the railways^in~pr6gress in Southland. "Whatever may have_J3een the instructions Mr. Ditndas received about the kind of information required, the report is unsatisfactory, and v incomplete. The public would nice to know "a great deal more about the " railways-i;han they cari ! learn- from, this: -document, and are disappointed that from a quarter, whence so much might reasonably be expected, SO, littl^ is forthcoming.^ We do not say that the labors" of Mr. Dusodas . are. valueless ; it is~6f course, very inte-resting-to learn how c much of such a cutting J has been j excavatedj and 1 how much of .such -an embankment has been constructed ; and & general report on the; progress of! the railways would necessarily! let ois into the .secret ; s but for.this - pur-i pose,; and "also for telling /lis tne depth of; water at ihe Gampbelltown and^MoJto-J moko jetties, varid the present price of cartage ;to ■ , the -Lake ma .Invercargill, the; services of. a consulting railway engineer were not necessary. All "of our readers must " have from time to 'time 'heard rumors against . the stability : of the embankments on. the- Bluff, and Inver-j cargill Kail way. . They must have heard it whispered- that, when completed according: , to ...specification, .some portions of these embankments are almost^ certain to be washed' away or considerably damaged by the action of the seal When Mr. Tabi/ton addressed the 'electors of; Invercargill the other night, Tat the Theatre Royal, his feelings "nearly overcame him as he expatiated on the waste of public 'money on the Bluffßailway. ; Independently of ; his opposition tothe idea of railways in Southland atpre--sent, on account of the unfortunate state of the Provincial Exchequer, Mr; Tablton, complained) of the manner in which, the Bluff Railway . is being, constructed. He said it was not the mere expenditure of the money that he objected to, but that the material— the carth — employed was the' worst that could he found. He; said that some of the embankments were being constructed of sand, where good firm soil was at hand, and being thrown away ; and, whilst he assured his audience that he wished to blame no one, he groaned aloud at the thought that the people should be so imposed on. We i took occason to remark on that portion of Mr. Tabi/ton's speech that it would, perhaps, have been better had he not expressed himself so strongly on the manner in which the railways were being made, seeing that, not being a professional- man, much weight could riot justly be given to his opinion ; his strictures may, nevertheless, have been quite correct, and the report of the consulting engineer should have either substantiated the charges or shown them to be unfounded. Perhaps it is intended to be understood by the silence of. the report on the subject that' everything is going on swimmingly — that both the plan and the execution is faultless, and that engineers and contractors have done their duty. If all this is to betaken for granted, it is not the usual practice. One short sentence, though even that would not have been • altogether satisfactory, might have done much to set the public mind at rest. All that we learn from Mr. Dttndas, on this part of ,his subject, is that sand has been used in several places for ballast, and that " where " this has been done, the contractor will " have to substitute gravel or other pro- " per ballasting material." To run briefly through Mr. Dttodas' report is all that is necessary, and many of our town readers are already acquainted with the principal facts it contains. We are told that vessels of perhaps 400 tons burden can come alongside the Mokomoko pier, in a depth of 15 feet, low water, spring tides ; and that the depth of water alongside the wharf at Bluff Harbor, is 12 feet, low water, spring tides. The report then touches on the present usual method of conveying goods from the Bluff to Invercargill — by lighters— and the price per ton is said to be 12s. We are next reminded of the importance of the railways as tending to place the Lake trade in the hands of Southland merchants. Of the guage employed ;Mr. Dihstdas says—" The Bluff line" is being " constructed of the standard English "*guageof 4 feet 8J- inches, with rails 72 " lbs. to the yard. . The G-reat Northern " Railway is being laid with . . wooden " rails in accordance with Mr. Davtes' " patent ; should the necessity arigey " a light iron rail may be laid /form- " ing a line of continuous bearing, " resting on a substantial sub-structure."; That portion of the Bluff Railway, from the Grreenhills to Campbelltown, a distance of five and a half miles, is being i constructed by Messrs; Ross and Aldricb:. The earth-works in this contract are approaching completion. There are; only' about, 140 yards of embankment, a of twelve or thirteen feet in height, to be finished ; a small portion of Hfo. 9 cutting ; to be brought to the formation level; -a; little more excavating in cutting" No. 8 / ! and about eighty yards of the G-reenhills , rock cutting, where a depth of four or five feet remains to come, away. The permanent way has been laid for about a third" of the length of his contract. On Mr. Davies' contract — from Grreenhills 'to Invercargill, and the Mokomoko branchy about fourteen and three-quarters miles — the bridges and culverts have been completed, with the exception of the (t deck i planking," and the earth-works are in a forward state. At the rock cutting at Grreenhills, in this contract, about ninety yards remain to be taken down to the formation level. Tour or five hundred yards of embankment of moderate height 3till have to be constructed. About four and a quarter miles on Mr. Dayees' conbract have been ballasted, and the remaining material can bo obtained from the sxcavationa necessary to complete £ the line. The permanent; way has t)een laid, m about one-third.bjf the contract, On feh,fi Jlluf %m { «» thf^ whole qf $&s\m%

V.

" the%loG&mqtive eiigmiesv- carnaffes^sna;S p " waggttnsjifare being pirtf itogetlief^jjiiid m " may in a^einy few iweeksibeiiicpiia|S6iiM ; "fbr^raffiigi t3ivJSHL.\ I '^jJm. i On pl^o|j^^ L portion OTthe earthwork lias fce^^conS^ L pleted, and all the Bridges and culverts, ■with the exception of deck-planking the former. The ballasting has been com- , mencedat both. Winton and.lnyercargifl. , Mt^Tablto^ alluded to the quality of the wooden sleepers used on this line ; Hut Mr. Dundas says nothings of them, either good or bad. , The fault, if any, of not , having the sort of timber originally contemplated; does not rest with the; contractor. In our opening remarks, we had no intention of expressing an opinion as to the manner in which the railway works are being carried out ; we only .drew attention to - Mr. ' Ditndas' omission, thinMng that, after what Mr. Tabltok 1 and others have said, it would Lave been better' had the consulting 'enginee* • expressed a definite opinion on- the subject. -« It must be a matter of deep regret to all who have the interest of the Province at heart, that the money is.not"at c present forthcoming to make these railways remunerative. The steady extension of the goldfields to the south ' of- Otago^mdre especially^'in the vicinity of the NoJcomai and the growing importance of the>pa»- --„ tural and agricultural interests, "give 'assurance that, when completed, our railways would soon become a source of income to the Province