The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. LIGHT RAILWAYS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 209, 4 September 1899, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

LIGHT RAILWAYS.

Tor the cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that needs resistance, Tor the futnro in the distance, And the good that -we can do.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1599,

In the course of the discussion in Parliament on the Loan Bill several members urged the claims of their districts to railway construction, but met with very little encouragement

from Ministers, who consider that until the main lines are completed branch railways must remain in. abeyance. We think it is well worthy of consideration, however, whether a portion of the large sums annually spent on roads might not more profitably be expended in conned ing thriving country settlements with the main trunk lines by means of light railways. The construction of light railways, as distinct from main line standards, has not found much favour in Great Britain in the past, hence we suppose the railway authorities here, taking- their cue from the Home country, throw cold water on any attemptto supply new "feeders" to our railway system by means of these economically constructed lines. Mr I. ft. Clieal has courteously furnished v* with some voluminous and interesting notes on this subject, from which we gather that nearly every continental nation has long' since found out the usefulness of light railways, and assistance from the public funds has been largely given towards their construction. Tn Belgium there are 700 miles of light railways, with a capital of nearly £2,000,000 sterling, llnn-

Gary has !2;!00 miles, with a gross revenue of £GG.'i.OOO per annum. Saxony, Switzerland, Italy and France have all their local railways and tramways; and in Germany they are so far developed that a light railway periodical has been in existence since 1874. Duringl the past year, however, a wave of opinion in favour of light railways has affected great Britain and the colonies, and from Ceylon, Australia. India and Africa the respective Governments have called for cheap means of communication with rural districts.

. It is very evident that in this colony the settlers living' in our outlying1 districts cannot compete with their fellow colonists having the advantage of

a railway system, such as it is, or those enabled to send their produce to the consumingl centres of population by water carriage. This is keenly felt in districts like those North of Auckland, where fruit commonly \» left to rot on the ground because it will not pay .in^SPTTd to Auckland, and settlers experience great difficulty and suffer considerable loss in sending' even their butter and eggs 1o market.

The President of the Hoard of Trade in Great Britain, the Ht. Hon. C. T. Ritchie, INLP., has brought in a Bill to facilitate the construction of light railways in Great Britan. The full text of this Bill is given in Mr J. C. Mackay's work on "Light Railways," and is well worthy the attention of this colony, where speed is not .so much a consideration as economy in transit, and payable returns on cost of construction. The Till] provides for eounly councils being' allowed to ad-

vance moneys for the construction of light railways, which may be laid and constructed along the main county roads. On the Continent the lines are run along the main roads and through the streets of the country towns. These lines are of different gauges from a small but successful line o" lft 3in gauge to 2ft, 2ft Gin up to tin1 metre gauge, or 3ft Oin in width. Of these the 2ft gauge seems to be the most used for "feeders" to main lines.

The Darjeeling Himalayan light railway in India stands unique in showing" the adaptability of light railways and railway locomotion in practically inaccessible places. This small railway is two feet gauge, running- a distance of 5.1 miles. For the first seven miles it is level, and then it begins to ascend the slopes of the Himalayas by gradients of 1 !n 23 and 1 in 28; curves 70ft radius. By describing spirals on spurs of the mountains and by five reversing station?!, it reaches a height of about 7000 ft iv 40 miles. The line has been coiistructed along a military road at a cost of £4000 per mile. The rails are 40lbs per yard; the locomotives 12 and 14 tons in weight, and one of these

takes up about 120 passengers in small, but very comfortable carriages, or a load of passengers and goods of 27 tons gross weight. Freight wag-

I go-ns weigh one ton; passenger carriages to carry six persons in urn) chairs, 900 lbs each; and closed carriages one ton weight. The revenue is £750 per mile per annum; travelling is limited to six miles per hour, np or down; but on the level IT mtlea per hour is x^ermittecl. The freights are very much heavier than on any other lines, nevertheless it competes against bullock Waggon travelling, and has driven the road traffic off the roads, for with thw heavy rates of freight, it is less than one half charged by bullock cart, and pays 3 per cent, dividends per annum.

In some instances, where a line inny be greatly shortened by doubling the

grades, it is found profitable to provide special engines for til at- section of the line. It is just possible that in connection with the proposed light railway from Gisborne to Eotorua the mountainous region in the Tuhua country could be thus traversed with advantage, and the saving in cost might make the difference between a payable and a non-payable line. The question of break of gauge between the feeder and the main line requires consideration. The transhipment may cost 3d per ton, and can be done wtihout damage by an arrangement for transhipment of perishable goods, such as fruit, vegetables, or. other produce that will not bear much handling, the bodies of the branch

rolling stock to be made as boxes, and

of such a size that two or four of them

can fill a main line truck. The farmer could load these boxes on his farm,

bring them to the station on his wag-

gon, load them by cranes on to the bianch truck. They would then be transferred to the main line truck, and finally, if advisable, from the main line truck to the delivery waggon at the receiving end, and by this method the perishable goods would go from tlu> farm to the market-place without being once handled. Where grain was sold direct by the farmer for gristing purposes in town,

the grain could be run from the threshing machines into boxes for carriage, and straight into the mill

without the trouble and expense of bagging the grain. Sir James Brunlees, President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, recently stated: —"His opinion was thut the gauge was a question of circumstances, and that where it would be wisdom in one case to lay a certain gauge,

it would be in another case the height of folly. As regarded metre gauge lines, he thought .'they should be

merely laid out as feeders to the railway system of the country, in fact, taking the places of the roads. The rails should not weigh more than 301b

to the yard, the engines S to 10 tons, and the waggons i{ tons empty, with a carrying capacity of three tons. Mr Cheal deserves credit for drawing public attention to this important question at the present juncture. It

is a subject which lias not received the attention it deserves from the New Zealand Government, and we hope the Minister of Public Works will procure the latest information that.can be obtained with reference to the working of light railways in India

and on.the Continent of Euprope, with a view to considering how far the system can be utilised in meeting the wants of our settlers who are at present cut off from" communication with

the railway system of the colony

Captain Edwin predicts strong westerly winds, poor tides and glass rise. The outward 'Frisco mail steamer Mariposa arrived from Sydney yesterday after_a smart passage across. She had a fair number of passengers for this port, and a good number of through pasengers, including several of the English football team, and Colonel Bell, American Consul at Sydney.

A good number of passengers joined the vessel here, and a considerable quantity of cargo was shipped, there being lines of hides, flax, etc. In her strong-room the liner has £180,000 in specie from, Australia. The Mariposa left for Apia, Honolulu, and San Francisco at 12.10 p.m. to-day, a large number of persons assembling on .the wl»arf to witness her departure. A good deal of discussion has taken place in New Zealand of late on the subject of the decrease in the birthrate. According to a volume of figures issued by Mr Hayes-Williams, the Registrar-General of New South Wales, that colony is in a' similar position with regard to the falling birth-rate. A Sydney paper, in reviewing the position, says:—"No one can regard the fact that in 1890 the births in New South Wales were 35.36 per thousand people, whereas in 1898 they were 27.14 per thousand, without a clear understanding what such a falling off- must exercise-upon our future. The decline has been steady throughout that period, and in 1898 the population was scarcely more than three-fourths as reproductive as it was eight years previously. Back in 1885 the births numbered JJ7.78 per thousand, while as far bade as 1870 they were 41) per thousand, and in 18G0 they were over 41 per thousand; so that the shrinkage has- gone on over a very long period indeed, and were it to be carried much ' further there could be small doubt that the growth of New South Wales in the future would be seriously handicapped. From 1860 to 1890 —thirty years—the drop in the birth rate was under 6 per thousand, while in the past eight years it has been upwards of 8 per thousand, or more than eight times as rapid. It is a matter for | regret that whereas the birth rate j in an old country like Great Britain last year was over 26 per thousand, ! here it was only 1 per thousand more, j

and in victoria and South Australia it was less." The French steamer Jeanette, which I arrived at Noumea recently from: the Solomon Group and New Hebrides, 'brought a remarkable story of canni- j balisin. The unfortunate victim was ! it kanaka wjio acted as orderly to the! Immigration Department at Noumea,! and embarked on the outwa'rd^trip of the Jeanette, which was engaged in! the labour trade. About six months1 previous he married a native woman; of Aoba, in the New Hebrides, and on : passing that island he conceived the: idea of spending his honeymoon among his wife's tribe. He, however, j made the very great mistake of dis-! embarking among- the wrong tribe, and was promptly overpowered, killed, torn in pieces, roasted, and eaten; in ; •fact, according to the account, "was treated just as a sheep might have jbeen." His spouse, in the meantime, was provided with a second husband, j An inquest was held on Saturday j afternoon by Dr. Philson, tlie city ! coroner, at the Albion Hotel, touching, the death of John dimming, who committed suicide in Wellesley-street West on Saturday morning. After hearing the facts the jury returned a verdict of "Suicide while temporarily insane."

News from Fiji by the s.s. Upolu J to-day states that a fatal accident ofi fan appalling nature occurred in the I sugar mill at Nausori, Eewa, the other day. An Indian woman, passingthrough the mill with her husband's breakfast got involved in a belting near the magass boilers, and before assistance could reach her was thrown with awful force against the shafting overhead., Death must have been instaneous, for on being reached a moment or two later the unfortunate woman was quite dead and horribly mutilated. The meet of the Pakuranga Hounds was held last Saturday at Mr McLaughlin's residence, Papatoetoe, and was largely attended. Those present had excellent sport. The occasion was the farewell meet of Mr and Mrs T. McLaughlin, who are about to take up their residence in Dunedin. Miss Percival had a heavy fall during the afternoon but was not seriously hurt. I A private letter received from iTCalum, in the Bismarck Archipelago, states that the Caroline Islands and I the Ladrones Group—two of the latest I additions to the German possessions (in the Pacific—will be'attached to the Bismarck Archipelago. Mr Benningsen is the new Governor of the islands, and he arrived at New Britain | recently by the German mail steamer I Stettin. Of the Samoan Islands, the 'report current at the Bismarck Archipelago is that England will take over i the control of that group, America I retaining Tutuila, with Pago Pago Harbour as a coaling station. Cape papers received by the mail today report that several expeditions I [have set out from Durban to visit a-

bay on the Zululand coast, where a vessel named the Dorothy .was wrecked. This vessel left Delagoa Bay with a mysterious cargo, said to be gold,

hnd a search for this treasure trove, which is said to be worth £100,000, is believed to be the object. Another V,xpedition is reported to have gone overland.

Amongst the nine persons charged with drunkenness at the Police Court this morning were two recipients of old age pensions. The h'rst called was ■about to be let off with a caution as

a first offender, but Sub-Inspector Wilson asked that a conviction be recorded as the man was an old age pensioner, and he was instructed to

ask that in such cases conviction should be recorded. He thought it lOnly right that when a man got hi^ pension on the Ist and was arrested for drunkeness at G. 30 o'clock the next

morning conviction should be recorded, as such cases had to be reported. This man was an inmate of the Cost>!ey Home, and came out to get his pension. When arrested the next vnorning all his money was gone, and. no doubt he would now be a charge upon the community. The man stated

he had paid his money away. The Bench recorded conviction, and dismissed the man with a caution. Later on, when a second man appeared to answer the charge of drunkenness, Sub-Inspector Wilson said, "This is another old age pensioner. He was before the Court on Saturday morning and was convicted and discharged. At

5.30 o'clock on Saturday evening he was found drunk again." In this case the Bench inflicted a fine of 10/, or in default 48 hours' hard labour. It is very gratifying to note the exttmsion of local industry. Messrs

Atkin Bros., proprietors of the Cousins and Atkin Carriage Factory, Elliott - street,' are erecting a large

two-storey building on their Alberts street frontage, with two large annexe.?', joining with their factory, which will give them every facility and convenience for manufacturing and with the addition of new machinery ordered will have a most modern plant. Owing to these improvements —rendered necessary by the expansion of their business—they are holding an unreserved sale of GO vehicles

(of every variety) at Messrs Hunter and Nolan's sale rooms on Thursday, 14th September. The vehicles are now on view on top floor, Durham-street, and we would draw the attention of. vehicle purchasers to this special sale. The display is considered superior to the show exhibits, and is well worthy of inspection. The public will have the opportunity of purchasing with, the firm's guarantee attached. Their reputation as first - class carriage builders is widely known and acknowledged. . ' Mr Henry Johnston, managing director of the Kauri Timber Company (Limited), is a. passenger to Sydney per Elingamite. Mr W. S. Meldrum, tailor, late of 28, Queen-street, notifies that he has commenced biisiness in Halliday's Buildings, Shortland-street. The annual public meeting of the Auckland Auxiliary. of the Brfitish and Foreign Bible. Society will be held on the 13th inst. in Pitt-street Wesleyan Church. The final performance of the "Georgia Magnet" was given in the Opera House on Saturday evenjng, when there was again a fair attendance. The various feats, as before described, were performed fairly satisfactorily, despite the fact that the committee was an especially suspicious one. A tour of the country districts and southern parts of the colony follows. Lodge Auckland, . No. 2, U.A.0.D., will celebrate their anniversary with a plain and fancy-dress ball,' to be I held in St. George's Hall. The Devonport Torpedo Naval Volunteers hold their annual social next Friday evening at St. Benedict's Hall. The committee have taken every precaution that the comforts of the guests will be well attended to. A good attendance is expected, only a I few tickets now being available.

In our advertising columns will be found the announcement of the V.M.C.A. Cricket Club's second annual meeting-, which takes place to-morrow (Tuesday) evening, at 7.30 p.m., at the V.M.C.A. Booms. Messrs Skeatea Bros., Jewellers, of Queen-street and Karangahape Road, have a business announcement in this issue. They have opened new premises in Karangahape.Jßoad and have a very comprehensive and valuable stock. The Newton address is opposite the Tabernacle, and near Buchanan's, baker. The firm give trading stamps with everything sold. Mr H. T. Garratt will address the Karangahape Ward electors on Wednesday evening in the Wesley Hal], Pitt-street. • "No License" meetings were held yesterday as usual. At Quay-street and Queen-street in the afternoon Mr Richardson addressed a large audience. In the evening, at the firebell, Messrs Richardson, Tomlins, Maedermott, Spedding and Pastor Bull gave addresses-. ■ '- ' ' ' :"'•

! The Albert Wanderers opened the touring season by a ride to Mercer. ill Gibson,.A. linker, H. Trendall, 15. 'Hart and P. A. Smith rode up on featurday, while C. Stewart, 11. H. Brook, F. Ewen and C. Waddell started early Sunday. After a most enjoyable time boatino- on the Waikato River, white bait fishing, visiting the old military entrenchments, etc., the whole party returned together on Sunday afternoon.

Geo. Fowlds is offering1 some very choice neckties, and all the latest shapes in collars; exceptional value. -(Ad.)

Geo. Fowlds is showing- splendid lines of Brief and Gladstone bags, trunks and portmanteaux. —(Ad.)

Geo. Fowlds is selling men's colonial tweed trousers from 4/11: flannel undershirts from 1/11.—(Ad.)

Geo. Fowlds invites inspection of his splentHii stock of white and fancy dressed shirts.—(Ad.)

Geo. Fowlds has a splendid assortment of worsted and tweed suitings. Fit guaranteed.—(Ad.)