A HETEROGENOUS RAILWAY SYSTEM.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XII, Issue 3626, 12 November 1920, Page 4

A HETEROGENOUS RAILWAY SYSTEM.

Another aspect of railway construction that is going to become a very great source of trouble if persisted in is the promiscuous laying down of narrow gauge lines. ' What may prove of utility as mere tramways may prove the reverse as railways linked up with the State railway system. They are cheaper in first cost, but the percentage of cost in wear and tear for ever afterwards is so much greater as to i have rendered it cheaper to have put down the standard" gauge" from the first. Mr. R. W. Smith strongly urged j the Government to- have nothing to do with narrow-gauge line ■ construction; he gave expression to his experience in the use and working of such lines, and he was firmly opposed to money being spent upon them. He pointed out that in addition to the first cost not being by any means the last cost, there was the annoying fact that there would be considerable delays and; much expenditure involved' in the incessant unloading and reloading from thfi narrow-gauge lines on to the standard-gauge railways of the State system. A totally different design of engines and rolling ntoc,k would be required—in fact, all the great advantages of interchangeability would be lost. The cost and danger to human I life in endless shunting is something that no Government should view lightly. Rolling stock once on a light line must remain there, whether it is sub- - t soquently required there or not, and no matter how urgently; additional roll- ! ing stock is required elsewhere. When men cry for a toy railway, it is no more advisable for a paternal Government to give it to them merely to stop their crying than it is for a father to grant some ridiculous request of his child. There is the experience that men will agitate for new railways even though they already have standard-gauge railways. What may be expected when it is discovered that the narrow-gauge toys are totally unfitted for the work for which they were granted? Widespread, persistent agitation will arise; agitators will importune the Government to give them a new wide-gauge railway in place of the useless, annoying, costly toy they have. agitation would not' matter if it did not menace the rights of other parts of the Dominion, which are still without any railway at all. Experience of narrowgauge lines to feed a State system of a wider gauge is dead against them, and no old private company will touch them so long as the nature of the country permits of the standard-gauge line being laid down. While being opposed to a heterogenous railway system, we do strongly urge that electric tramways, wherever water-power for generating electricity is available, and where railways are not practicable, should be encouraged. Such a tramway would enormously develop a. tourist traffic, and encourage thousands to visit the thermal regions who cannot spare the time involved, in present means of travelling, if constructed between Taihape and Tokaanu. It is not improbable a private company would take up the construction of such a tramway if empowering legislation permitted it. But a multiple system of railway gauges will prove, as elsewhere, an abomination.