Correspondence.

Press, Volume XIV, Issue 1844, 11 March 1869, Page 2

Correspondence.

NORTH RAILWAY.

TO THE EDITOE OF THE TRlgg. Sir,—ln tho " Evening Mail » on * T , appeared au articlo protesting n ™ • n %. saddling of the wiHSy pR *{• expense or even risk of loss, which m°L the incurred by making tho projected w, i» 8 * Christchurch to the W lft?> likely to cause the sale of any C' J? Jot of public land in any of thodglts 3?f the work would render more easvo ? L nication with Christchurch or LLhT®* agree with this view, but wi 9 h to'consi£L\v further statistics courteously ■upnliod ♦« ° by the Secretary for Public Work"£ J* ject is twofold. First, to see how fJJrt' may justly be thought to modify tho un q 2 fled condemnation of the project as a S one. Secondly, how far they would S£ the undertaking by private parties, U e £ with or without guarantee from the xS revenue of interest on the capital invested The population of the Kaiapoi, Ashley, an d Cheviot districts, whose immediate foUrS would be served, amounts to 7229. Ths toN number of acres under all grain oroi» t 20,881, estimated to yield 504,820 bik The Bheep depastured in the portion of Qm terbury north of White's bridge are reckoned to produce 3500 bales of wool annually • the wool grown in the Amuri district (Kelso! province), shipped at Canterbury ports 32t0 bales; making a total of 6700 bales which might come by the proposed railway from U to 35 miles, if that method of conveying it to the ship's side in Lyttelton should bo cheaper, as well as quicker, than the present shipment at Saltwater Creek and Kaiapoi— a supposition which the experience of tho pre. sent Southern railway scarcely justifies, ifha imports at Saltwater Creek during 1868 w«a 1400 tons—timber, coal, and station supplies. the exports, 4862 bales of wool, and 38 000 bushels of grain : the imports and exports of Kaiapoi during the same period are not to bo got at present. Tho traffic over White's bridge for the fortnight ending Bth January 1869, was—vehicles, 694; horses, 1662 j pas! sengers, 3021; shoep, 40; cattle, 110: that for the month ending 19th instant is now being taken. Now, even if the whole of this traffic, both goods and passengers, and allowing for Kaiapoi, were turned into the proposed rail» way line, it would be utterly insignificant in payment of even low interest on tho cost of the line —lesß than insignificant for also keep» ing it in repair, in consequence of the move* able nature of the beds and banks of tho mm Waimakariri and Ashley, at the °placoa where it is proposed to cross them. But much of thii traffic, I believe, would still take place on tho common road, or remain imports and exports of the two ports mentioned, on account of the greater cheapness of tho freight by sea for short distances as compared with that by railway for long ones.

i But, it will be said, the population and traffic would bo very much increased, as tho \ settlement and production of the country m opened out would be encouraged. No doubt it would to a considerable extent, But I j agree with the writer of the article in tho " Evening Mail," that very little land of r» character likely to be improved would be opened out by the line. Sheep-run by far the greater part of it is, and sheep-run it will certainly remain, unless mines on a large scale are discovered in that direction, «o that manufactures and dense population may. be thereby encouraged. It is therefore «iy humble opinion that a private company would for some time be liable to fully as great loss m the Southern line —although at more oxpenso iD both construction and repairs on account of bridges. It would as certainly require i very large sum to guarantee payment not only of that loss but of a rate of interest remunera< tive to capitalists. Even were it fair to bolster up private enterprise so as to command the investment of capital in a work barely dm° tageouß to any but private interests, it would be far more unjust and ruinous to the province to protect the private capitalists in tho contra" uance of the enterprise at a loss notwithstanding the guarantee. The sum offered-*----£3o,ooo—would surely only do thst. It would be totally insufficient to turn the lose into fair profit. No sound, substantial body of capitalists will ever accept the conditions. The sum may tempt a body of reckless adren* turers to begin the work somehow—get hold of the guarantee as Boon as possible —and theft fail, decamp, or perhaps even let the proyjaos in for a law-suit, such as it is likely soon to w engaged in with the constructors of those W& m ways we already possess.

Your obedient servant, E. J. WAXMBty Christchurch, 9th March, 1869.