The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1907. THE RAILWAY STATEMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 163, 10 July 1907, Page 4

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

WEDNESDAY, JULY 10, 1907. THE RAILWAY STATEMENT.

■ .. Tor the cause that lochs assistance. For the wrong that needs resistance,. For the future in the distance, . And the goad that we can do.

The report of the Kail-way Department for the past year gives satisfactory proof of the rapid progress and development of the country. The revenue amounted to £2,624,600, which, is an increase of £274,896 over the previous year. The expenditure for the same period was £1,812,482, which is larger than the previous year's record by £ 191,000. But it will be noted as an encouraging feature in the statement that our expenditure is not increasing so rapidly as our revenue. The net profit for last year also shows a considerable increase. The figures for the last two years are £728,465 and £812,118, and the rise in profits for last year was thus about £84,000. The increase is to .some extent accounted for by the fact that fifty miles of new line were opened for traffic during 1906-7. A further proof of progressive activity is to be found in the number of train miles run during the year, the total having risen from 6,413,573 to 6,753,354 miles. No doubt the Government has been open .to criticism for not pushing on our railway works with sufficient energy in the past. But during the last year or two a considerable improvement has been manifest, more especially in the North Island; and the figures we have quoted show that the country is reaping the benefit of the vigorous forward policy which the Railway Department is now carrying into effect. We may observe in passing that the capital cost -of lines open for traffic is now well over £23,000,000; and those who point to our heavy public debt must remember .that few other countries in the world are able to claim as a:set-off against their liabilities such valuable State assets as we possess in our railways.

An interesting section of the B_ilway Statement deals with the Main Trunk line., and the preparations for starting tr__c upon it'rh"-t_e'_e_r fut_f_ €t is*' not likely that many, of our readers realise that by the end of nest year they will in all probability be able to journey by rail from Auckland to Wellington within 20 hours. The Department, indeed, believes that the 426 miles can be covered in 18 hours when once the line is in proper working order. This would mean an average of nearly 24 miles an hour.; but if the Government takes over the Manawatu line, and makes the proposed Levin-Greatford deviation, the time might be Teduced to 17 hours. The de-. viation would cut out the heavy grades between Feilding and Marton, and would leave the line with no grade steeper and no curve sharper than can be found on the Christchurch-Dunedin line, except on the uphill climb from Wellington to Johnsonville. But in spite of this, there is heavy hauling to be done on the 91 miles between Taihape and Taumaranui; and for this purpose eight monster engines are being built, each weighing, with tender, over 90 tons, and each capable of hauling a train of 100 tons up .a grade of 1 in 50 at an average speed of 15 to 20 miles an hour. As it .is proposed to establish a 48-hsur service between Auckland and the Bhiff, it will be necessary to provide prpper accommodation for passengers; and sleeping cars of the newest type are to be specially constructed for the Main Tru_k line. With suitable provision for meals on board, the passengers by the mail train will thus be able to make the run from Auckland to Wellington in considerably less time than the West Coast sea trip now takes, and under Infinitely more comfortable conditions than have ever yet been possible.

It is hardly necessary' to point out that heavy expenditure will be required to provide rolling stock and material for the main trunk line in readiness for its completion. Everybody interested in railway traffic throughout tne colony will be relieved to learn that the Department is about to make a considerable increase to its rolling stock. Over 1200 waggons, with a carrying capacity of over 10,000 tons, will be put in hand promptly; and the railway workshops are already working overtime in the effort to cope -with the traffic require--ments. For the lack of proper transit facilities on our railway lines has been a most serious hindrance to trade during the past year, and has meant very serious loss to our producers. The figures quoted in the statement show that en the Auckland lines the traffic, both in goods and passengers, has increased largely. The chief traffic manager, in his report, states that in timber, coal and dairy produce the business of the year has been exceptionally heavy; and while the returns for goods have risen by £72,000, the ordinary passenger returns show a rise of over £ILOOO. Even on the Whangarei and Kawakawa iines, where the country is stUl relatively unsettled, the: increase- in the returns is most encouraging; and the figures that appear in the statement should be usetill arguments for our representatives

when' they are urging the more rapid construction of the long-delayed North Auckland railway. We have no wish- to raise the North v. South cry in a provincial or parochial spirit, and it is because we believe that the settlement of the North would benefit the whole colony as much as it would promote the interests of Auckland city and district that we advocate increased expenditure in this neglected and isolated quarter of the country. Settlement must wait for roads and railways, but when once the North is opened up, the North Auckland line will soon make good its claim to be regarded as one of the most remunerative investments yet made by the colony in the form of public works.