ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

Southland Times, Issue 573, 3 October 1866, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

WE DO DO HOT IDENTIFY OXTB3ELVE3 Itf ANT WAY "WITH THE OPINIONS EXBBS3ED BY OTTA CORRESPONDENTS. " KOADS." (TO THE EDITOB OF THE SOtrTHIiAWD TIMES.) Sib, — None of the correspondence" and reports of speeches at public meetings which have lately been published in your paper in relation to the above subject appear to deal with the question in a sufficiently practical manner. It is gratifying to find so much interest manifested on the part of the public, and highly desirable that our legislators be incited to address themselves immediately and earnestly to its serious consideration, at same time all persons interested in the welfare of the Province should endeavor, as far as in them lies, to strengthen their hands by advice, and the suggestion of any feasible scheme that may occur to them. Neither metal, fascines and gravel, or corduroy and gravel roads (if made upon the | principles hitherto pursued) accord with the means at present at command. i G-ood and permanent roads may be made k quickly, and at a comparatively moderate cost upon the following plan, viz. : — The G-overnment to lay down tramways, or as a prudential step in first instance, say as , much as will reach from the east end of Tay-street to the cemetery, of the description first adopted at the Duke of Norfolk's colliery near Sheffield, and ! which is still extensively used in mining districts in Britain ; it consists of a cast ■or malleable iron plate rail with an upright flange, fixed upon cross sleepers of timber like those employed to support wooden rails, cast with holes for spike nails, and laid down, so that both the flanges may be towards the middle of the ! track, or visa versa, either plan being sufficient to prerent carriages running off. The plate rails may be four ineheß, and their flanges three inches wide. Bails to be laid at the same distance apart, aa the length of the axle trees of ordinary road drays and waggons, so that settlers vehicles of any kind, if of similar guage, may run upon them. The construction of turn-outs where necessary, with this description of rail is at once easy and efficient. Such tramways or trackways possess the following accommodations, viz. : — Ist. — All ordinary vehicles in use on common roads may travel upon them with convenience and safety, there? by avoiding the Jabor and detention in shifting loads &c. 2nd. — It would facilitate the construction of permanent roads, as metal and other roadmakrug material may be transported thereover, and deposited where required at minimum expense, and when the Toad is completed sa far, the tramway may easily be taken up and laid down in continuation, or elsewhere to serve the same purpose. 3rd. — Its use will economise motive power, according to experiments made by Mr Alexander 'Gordon, for a Committee of the House of Commons on

Turnpike Trusts and Tolls," the tractive power (of horse) to move one ton on a level road, is on gravel or broken stone road 1401bs and upwards ; on macadamized road in best condition 431b3, never less ; on edge railway, lOlbs. The friction on such a tramway as I have described being greater than on an edge railway, the tractive power may be fairly assumed not to exceed twenty pounds, and, as according to the laws of motion, the traction or force which a horse can exert at a speed of 3-| miles per hour is 104<lbs, it follows that one horse will easily draw five tons at that rate of speed, and of course a greater weight at a lesser speed. 4tl£ — It would not (as in the case of railways) involve any outlay for rolling stock or plant of any description, beyond a few tools and minor appliances to keep permanent way in repair, or any cost of management beyond the services of an inspector to enforce regulations as to turnouts, sidings &c. - sth. — It may bs cheaply constructed, indeed it may almost be said to be selfconstructing, as every yard laid down would accelerate its continuation. It is an easy matter to calculate the exact cost of such works per mile, details of which can be readily prepared, should there be evidence of approval of the scheme. Should the system be entertained and tried upon a small scale and found successful, an excellent double tramway to the Lake may be easily made on the unfinished Oreti Bailway, which will amply suffice till population and capital increase. "While on the subject of roads it may not be amiss to add that in any lease of the Bluff Harbor and Imercargill Bailway which may be granted, it is of the first importance that the Provincial Government do not neglect the insertion of a covenant on the part of the lessees that metal from Mokomoko and Bluff Hill, and all other road making material, be conveyed over any part of the line at a minimum mileage or tonnage rate, otherwise we may have to select one of two disagreeable alternatives, either relinquish the prospect entirely of making metal roads or encourage railway monoply. I am &c. H. A. G-illee. Kensington, "Waikivi Plains, Ist Oct., P.S. — As it is possible that in consequence of the wooden trackway laid down on the great Jforth Boad in the Waikivi bush some time since, having proved so useless, the public may be apprehensive that an iron trackway may result in a similar failure, I would add that tramways as above described are at this present time extensively used by many of the most practical and intelligent companies in England, while the wooden trackway was a rude invention in the year 1765 first brought into operation for the purpose of diminishing labor in drawing coals from the pits to the places of shipment in the neighborhood of IS r ewcastle-upon-Tyne. H. A. G-.