THE RAILWAY QUESTION.

Southland Times, Issue 696, 15 July 1867, Page 2

THE RAILWAY QUESTION.

(TO THE EDITOB O-P THE'SOTJTHIii.ND TEVCES).' -' Sib, — -It is highly encouraging to see the electors of Southland at last exhibit some interest in measures for the advancement of the Province, as they have heretofore evinced too much apathy on questions affecting their -welfare. In 1863, when a vast, influx >of population and. capital took place, "the. privilege of the franchise rested entirely "with the fewold residents,' men who, however estimable in their -private capacity, were, from political inexperience and- exclusive proclivities, totally Tmfitted to' cop~^~with the" growing necessities >- of- an "important community '• such as Southland then was. The Council, elected by a privileged minority, and under the misrule' of a (Superintendent, (the sol Msanie natural chief : had large resources at its and J while giving them every credit : f or doing the best for -the Province ~according~to their light, - -it -must be ' admitted that they .miserably failed, and.what'in. more . efficient hands, would have been a great: benefit, became in time a positive injury, and is now only evidence of reckless legislation and ruinous expenditure. At that time the walls of_the G-oyern-_ ment'buildmgs"ywere daily covered with notices., calling for tenders for various public' works, and the vast power handed over by the Executive to its energetic unscrupulous engineers, enabled the successful contractors in many instances to '. realise extensively, thereby draining the life-blood of the Province. When the supineness of the Government, coupled with the connivance of its .employees, is taken into' consideration, wejm.ay well'b'e astounded^ _at_.the_ moderation; exhibited^ by i the contractors .in their Taking the _ effete actions of past execu- i tives as a beacon" towarnus off the" shores and quicksands amongst which they foundered, we cannot do better than accept the experience of -our fellow feolonists, in Canada and -Australia, on the question of railways versus roads, -as a mdans of opening up the waate land of a nejsv country for settlement, and contributing to its permanent , wealth. , The construction" ancl maintenance " of main lines of metal road became ; suchca: jtax upbn the revenues of these. countries, that little • foresight was needed to predict the^timp when the ~ bulk of. their revenues would have been expended for this one purpose. No winder therefore : that their respective G-overnments were led to entertain the idea of railways,' and to hand over the maintenance of existing roads and the construction of new ones to the various local boards and municipalities, and the result has' been a high per-centage on the money invested in the construction of railways, besides the addition -of many miles of metal roads, the rdsult of local enterprise, as feeders to the railways. Sir, having these facts before tis, we now come to the question of what will be "the best description of main trunk road for Southland. The amount- of public mopey spent on roads alone in this Province during 1863-64 may be set down in round numbers at £150,000, for which we have now to show certainly not more than : twenty miles of serviceable made roads, giving an average of £7,500 per mile for; construction, without any allowance being made for maintenance, and some of these roads, where wood has been the basis, present a most dilapidated appearance, owing to the want of public funds wherewith, to repair them. A metal road to the Mataura would involve , an expenditure of £105,000, at £3,500 per mile, which, I have reason; to believe, is a low estimate of what the expense would- be. To this must be added interest on capital expended.at.6per • cent., amounting to £6,300 per annum, and a yearly expenditure for maintenance of £6000 to make the road I at all available for practical purposes, and to : prevent it from becoming another monument. of the folly of our attempting the construction of main . trunk lines of macadamised roads. There are three systems of railway construction, from which, to make our selection— namely j the narrow, light-horse tramway, the light American locomotive rail, and the broad guage locomotive rail. The difference of cost of. cbnstructioii, relative .convenience, and general adapt?-, bility. of each, .has .now to be considered ia correction with our present and prospective railway system.- With reference to thefirst pfthese-—theß,wrQwb.orß©tranx«« way-^abou.t system" volumes have.

nial wants — has in every instance failed y in its so Jaibas supplying the cjjtonist ;'witliv;a., \jhea|)>;knd convenient mdde of transit ; we may therefore dismiss 'the subject of horse tramways from bur consideration, oh the grounds of their total nnfithess ..for thej requirements of the Province. "'-'•'>'' r -v{ The facility offered by the country be* tween Invercargill and Mataura for tfie construction of: a line of railway of the same guage as the Bluff line, is in inverse ratio to the advantage it presents for the formation of a macadamised road. The cdsi of such a_ rail way, even with a " compound rail," 'running through this tract "bficoun&yjvhere so few engineering difficulties; present themselvesj ■ should not exceed £7,500. per: mile, sallowing the earthworks and sleepers to cost two fifths of -this sum; The light rail — not that description of light rail suggested last session to the Council by the Provincial JZngmeeT, which, would weigh nearly double that of the permanent rail now in use-r— is; used: almost exclusively on •American lines, of railway, and found amply sufficient ior the enormous traffic they have to bear. The same description of rail is now "being used largely in England for short lines, and feeders to main -trunk, lines. This description of rail . should be laid down on the permanent way of -the. Mataura line at a cost of £3000 per mile. Estimating the length of the proposed 'line to the Mataura as . 30 i miles, this gives us-^ \

Thus giving us a substantial and reproductive public work, forming the nucleus of a main trunk line of railway, at : an annual charge only of £300" over the yearly cost of a macadamised road. There is no doubt, . Sir, that the line thus now sketched out, combining the light American rail with substantial earth works, is the one suitable to the wants of this young colony as a means of internal communication. Those who now argue the inadyisability of expend- . ing such a sum on railways in the present state of the province, I would advise to consider the immense advantage such an expenditure of : public money would be-to Jfche present generation, who would materially reap tttejadvantage of construction, while our posterity, as, the country advances in wealth 1 and prosperity,, would have the yearly increasing benefits accraiug! from the working-receipts of the line and tlie enhanced value of the contiguous land^' -■•-■■■ ! "- j '-• '-- -■''-■*■■ '■■■■ : ■''/-■" ■ - •' . Sir, I apprehend that after a- careful perusal of the ..foregoing facts, no one having the prosperity of the Province at heart will for a moment hesitate in giving his support to railways as main trunk lines. Apart from the fact of our railways becoming" a valuable asset to the credit of the Provincial estate, the agricultural and pastoral interests, without whose prosperity no country can become truly great, languish, and a vast amount of capital is locked up in the Eastern district for the main part of the- year, for want of cheap and convenient transit to market. The pastoral interest, in the natural course of events, must give way to the agricultural, and lands which are now •inhabited by the wild duck and plover, and. useless to the Province except as shefep-runs, will then resound to the jcciind voice of the reaper, while the fruits of the teeming farm, are .rapidly transmitted ; to- an : emporium where the farmer will meet with a better remuneration for his labor. Any reader of the foregoing ... will; naturally i: conclude- - that I strongly advocate the- acceptance of the highly liberal . offer of the GKeneral Government — namely, the allocation or gift of. land for the construction of railway works in the Province, under the express condition that the Greneral Grovermnent takes the direct supervision of the surveys and works, for the purpose of avoiding the blunders t and peculations that have taken place in previous cases chiefly owing to the inexperience and incapability of former Executives, and as a guarantee of the due appliance of the land to the specified purpose..; Souths land will tlien occupy a position in_ adyance of the other provinces, "in the event of the consolidation of provincial, debts] -;a'nd the sweeping away of Provinciality, which, I have every reason to believe, is-not far distant. Believing that this will be the initiation of a main trunk ■. line traversing the _ Middle Island from'southto north, bur policy should be liberal and progressive, as there is no doubt that national prosperity will be the natural sequence of an extended railway system. " Measures, not men," must now be the battle cry, and I^hope the electors generally .will only give their votes to ;such candidates i as pledge themselves,, to accept the, offer .of ,: .theland by the Greneral Groyernment, and to promote the immediate formation of the majin trunk line, which /will, conduce so muohtooup future welfare,-«-I am, sir,

Cost of construction, ..." £180,000 0 0 Interest at 6 per cent. .:. ■ 10,800 0' . 0 Annual maintenance ... 1,800 0 0 : "■^'■■* "'' " J ' ■"'" * £192,600 0 0