THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 27, 31 July 1907, Page 3

THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.

- ;.'".. • SUMMARY OF SECTIONS. .;-. ... LOCAL INTERESTS AND THE TRUNK LINE. 'v .;' BULLER v. GREY. •• . ♦ OPPOSITION TO OTIRA TUNNEL. ■■ _. „ . ♦ — ,—, —

.' /■ (By -Our Special Ecportsr.) f , The stupendous task involved in linkj Ing Nelson and Christchurch with a rail- ' , way via the West Coast may be best realised by a glance at the accompanying map. Taking tho through railway route, Nelson - Inangahua - Still water - Christchurch — that is,' omitting lines or projected lines dropping off coastwards to - . Groymouth and Westport — the distance is. rpnghly 310 miles. Railway construction has been carried on in a desultory ' and fragmentary way, and its present position js shown on the map, and may 'be summed up as follows :—: — 1 , IfEOOK AND WEST COAST RAILWAYS. , . XEL3ON.3TILLWATEB. Section. ' Sliks. Nelantt to Innnprahua „ „ „ 114 ', Open Kolton to Tadmnr .. '„ .. 41i Fonnjttinn-oompleted to .. „ „ *4i „ W/irJt in hand t.i 48? r.Jfo, wori ifcne^ on r 65^ „ Approximate number cf men employed .. 45 . Approximate number emoloycd about tliiar '„■ . tift« last ye«r 140 1 ■ Section. Mili!«. . ' -Inaaeuhua to Siillw.itcr .. — . - 5# v.Qpeu Slil'irattr to ftt«fton .. _ ~ 39J „ Bailr laid to „ „ 43 "Formation in liand' to .. -, •• 43 ' " Bush felted to 10 '''So work done on 9 Apfn-oxlroate number of men employed .. 40 ... ■' Approximate number employed about tlil« "■' time l»*t y*ar El WESTPOBT BRASCH. Section. ■ Jliics. Westport to Inghß»hu» 26} Work in bapd to Kuha. about .. . A JTn work done on '.. '..■ .. .. £0£ Approximate number of-m«n employed . • 30 Approximate number employed about this timo ]azt yeat . . .. - .. „ ' £1 , • BAST AKD WEST COAST TRUXK. • ' Section. j Miles. . Greymouth to BcAley station. .. .. £8J .Open to Otir* SO Rails laid to 504 , Work , in. hand- to 52 vrctb done on. . .. . .. '■'-, (Including tunnel S miles 25 chains). Approximate numbr-r.ot men employed .. nil Approximate number curploycd about this .'tJwo last ;car 79 . Section. Mi!e«v Bealey station to Chmtcliurch . . „ 86£ Open Chn&teliureh to Broken River .. 56 • , Work in hand to Casa, about .. .. • 72$ -. X.< work done on .. .• 14 j Approximnte number of mirt employed .. liO Approximate number employed about thi* J ,' t time laei year 466 / , NELSON-INANGAHUA. Five and a quarter miles from Tadmor fo the projected ' station of Kiwi; 5^ miles further on is» Manu, after which tho route crosses tho Tadmor Saddle (1594 ft) and joins the present NelsonInanqahua coach road n^ar the junction of the Hope and Little Hope-- rivers, •bout 7 miles farther -on, or 17f mileo from Tadmor. IW convenience sake, ■ this part of the line may be known as ■ the Tadraor-Hope. If tho Tadmor- Hope •ection wore completed, the coach connection from Kohntu with the West Coast would be reduced by some twenty ■ odd miles, including the precipitous Hope Saddle, which is 700 ft or 800 ft higher than the Tadmor. The rise to tho latter is so gradual that one scarcely realises he has surmounted it; the principal intimation that he has crossed the watershed being that he leaves the Tadmor, which flows Nelson way, and strikes the Little Hope, which flows in ' tha opposite direction towards the Btil]ter.' Construction is therefore easy, and " it sufficient labour were employed at the Kiwi end the rails would soon bs down 10 the coach road. As things stand ntfw, formation from Tadmor up the .Valley has been completed over about Z\

miles, of which about half a mile is carrying the rails. Practically all the men arc concentrated on a- half a mile pises on the Nelson side oi Kiwi, on which 26^ chains of sidling road and railway are in the making. The railway is in many places taking tho place of the road, which has consequently to be remade by excavating higher up ,the hill ; in fact, at this point the cost of roadmakiug is as great as that of railway formation. This small piece of heavy work should be completed in about three months, and then there is no obstacle to the rails being laid right into Kiwi. For the rest, the road runs right through in close company with ths railway route, and is therefore well suited for service purposes. In places, as on the half-mile mentioned, it may -have to be deviated to allow ths railway to take its place ; but there is no really difficult work between Tadmor and the coach road. The reason is that the river terraces rise so t'ently and regularly that the railway can run continuously on easy grades — just the very thint; that cannot be done ai Broken River, where the terraces are so" high and so interrupted that thfc line has to be carried along sidlings or hewn out of the solid. The remark applies to only one side of. the Tadmor valley, for on "che left bank of (hat stream the land rises abruptly with steep banks. Proba,bly ths heaviest work ahead is a cutting about a mile beyond Manu, some 21 ehai::s in length, with a depth running to 21 feet. The bridges over the (>tde creeks are small, and deviations from existing plans may further redure tho work ; a couple of creek diversion? having already in this way been avoided. It will have beon gathered from the foregoing that tho open easy-lying land is on the right bank of the Tadmor. The country, however, opens up on both sides at and beyond Manu, and a fair number of settlers have more or less established themselves all the way through, in advance of tho railway. They are burning off by degrees, and a considerable acreaga has already been BOwn, and is carrying sheep and cattle. One man through whose property the iron horse will pasn has been sitting astride tho route for thirty years. Such ail advance to tho confines of civilisation deserves its reward, and the railway should also bring into the valley new settlers and more capital. The land carries heavy bush, largely birch, but with a proportion of marketable pines. When cleared it will all carry grass, and the better class of river flats make good hopgardens ; in fact, last year Tadmor hops brought top prico in the Nelson market. Tho new Crown settlement in the neighbouring valley of the Wangapeka is served by the Tadmor railway. INANGAHUA-STILLWATER." Proceeding northward from lieefton, the rails are laid to a point across the Wnitahu bridge, some three miles from that town. The township of Cronadun is two miles farther north, but in that space about eight culverts and a small bridge remain to be completed. As roost oi the culverts are of concrete pipe construction, they should not take long to put in ; the pipes setting in mucn less time than an open culvert requires. Thero is no reason why tho rails should not be laid into Cronadun by November. There remains a distance of 13 miles 'to Inangahua Junction, but a most important wort in this portion, tho "Landing" bridge over the Inangahua river, is completed. It is now serving tho purpose of a traffic bridge, and will also carry the rails when they arrive. A flood 'has shifted the base of one of the concreto pifrs sufficiently to make a marked kink in the bridgo — a defect which strikes the eye unfavourably, but which is eaid to be neither incurable nor

serious. North of Cronaidun two fairsized bridges (wooden piles .with steel girders) have to be erected over Larry's and Boatman's Creeks ; both are contract works, and »h& former is well in hand. Three heavy earthworks stand out — a six-chain cutting Ihree miles north of Cronadun, greatest depth 27ft, average 25ft ; a , 15-chain cutting just south of the Landing bridge, greatest depth 57ft, average 40ft ; and a road deviation, probably seven or eight chains, on the picturesque rocky bluff which abuts the river north of the bridge. The bluff runs so close to the water that 1 the railway will take up all available room, and tho road will nave to be hewn out of tho solid rock at a higher level unlcsa it can in some way be carried back behind the bluff. The ridge through which the 57ft cutting will run is now traversed by a gullet, probably tho narrowest place on the whole of the coach road — so cramped that ths crossing of two vehicles is impossible. The presence of two or three difficult places on the route is more than offset by the the general easy character of the country. The Inangahua Valley, unlike the Buller, gives a settler elbow room, and the felling of bush and drainage of swamps would add greatly to the already considerable area of pasturage.. To avoid the 57ft cutting and the rocky bluff, there has been talk of deviating the line by continuing it on the nght bank of the Inangahua. • That, would mean losing the use of the Landing bridge, as far as the railway is- concerned-; but tho advocates of deviation arctic that if- £he line were continued down the right bank, it 'could cross to tha left on the same bridge &s is destined to carry the Buller Gorge line from Nelson. The latter work is, however, very much in fuluro ; and settlers on the left bank of the Inangahua would not be likely to accept the deviation without a fight. WESTPORT-INANGAHUA,. This line divides naturally into two parts — about 6 miles of easy construction over the "pakihi" (swamp) flats from Westpoit to the Buller river, and about 204 miles of gorge line up the Buller. The gorga portion traverses the steep right bank oi tho .Buller for the greater part of tho distance, then crosses to the left bank, which from this point to Inangahua, is more flat and upon. These flats would to an extent be served by a railway from Roef ton to Inangahua, and .there is no other land that can be tapped in the precipitous river channel between Inangahua and Westport unless it be ip the valley of the Macklev, the coal and 'timber possibilities of which have lately claimod much , attention. The Mackley is a tributary of the Buller on the right-hand 'side, and it hao been suggested that the railway route 'should be deviated by proceeding farther up the rightbank of the Buller, so as to sorve Mackley before passing to Inangahua on tho left bank. Tho six of line from Westport across the " "pakihi" flats to the Bullor is 6o easy and so w'oll in hand that its v oarly completion may be looked for.' With the oxcoption of two small culverts and a wooden viaduct the formation is complete. The viaduct, 2000 ft long, buUt in 20ft spans at an average height of 18ft, is necessitated in order to preserve a channel which in food time acts as a Bafety valve to the Buller. A contract has beon let for the supply of £3000 worth of ironbark, and the work of erection should soon be in hand. Tho twenty miles of gorge is another story' altogether. The cost has been variously estimated at £10,000 to £15,000 a mile, tho rock cuttings being very heavy. No work has been done, and this part oF tho lino would tako Lime an woll ao money*

THROUGH TRAFFIC. The remaining claimant upon the Public Works Fund is the East and West Coast connection via the Otira tunnel. Judging these' undertakings from the separate standpoints of through traffic (as on a trunk sy«tern) and of resources immediately tapped (as on a local or branch line), it is clear that the Otira line has no substantial merits unless as a trunk. The high sheep country between Broken River und Otira would not in itself be worth addisig nearly v. million to the money already spent. On the other hand, the Buller portion of the .Nelson-West Coast line, from the junction of the Tadm-or railway with the coach road right down to Inangahua, has, for tho present no trunk importance, nor any value us far us practical purposes is concerned. The time is not ripo for a tlucugh railway from Nelson to the West Coast; there could be no great volume of freight either wa}". As to tourists and other through passenger tr.oißc, the present needs could probably , be' met by tho completion of the Tadmor-Hope and tho Reofton-Inangahua sections,, which would greatly reduce the coachinjj disI tanco between Nelson and tho coast. By this means it is feasible that, with train ftr.d coach time-tablen running to suit, tho journey from Christchurch to Nelson via the West Coast "might, during suinisier, be reduced to two days, instead of three, as now. The distance fiom Christchurch to Nelson is roughly 310 miles, tho half-way point in which would fall on the Stiilwnter-Recfton railway. On the Chrktchurch half 'there is about fifty miles, of coachinj over the precipitous Arthur's Pass; on the Nelson half there would be about sixty miles' of coaching in the Buller Borgs. A one-day journey of 155 miles, including cither* of those coach stages, does not compaie unfavourably with the present trip Christ<~hurch to Greymoath (145 i miles, including Arthur's Pass) which is accomplished in » single day. Christchurch to Nelson ntwo days overland, with the Otira and Buller gorges at their best, is therefor^ nearer realisation than many people think, and without entering into the expensive gorge-construction of the Buller. - The night now spent at Longford, near Murchison, would in that case bfc> eliminatct] LAND SETTLEMENT. Judged on their -local resources, the Tadmor-Hope and tho Reefton-Inanga-hua sections have other claims which cannot be advanced for tho Buller Gorge proposition. Looking at the prospects of settlement, the essential difference between a gorge and a valley is obvious. To what has been already said about grazing possibilities ,in the Tadmor and Tnangahua valleys, it may be added that the latter, from the Buller up to near Rpofton. contains an average width of somo miles of flat land, a proportion of which is. already in, grass, and much of the balance could undoubtedly be dovotcd to pasturage if timber were cleared and «waraps drained. The settler has to contend with two evils common to the West Coast — excessive dampness and the blackberry. The notorious rainfall militates against 'snecessful burns, and, when the ground has been laboriously cleared, brings up rushes. But the rush, as a pest, fades into insignificance before the blackberry, which, bad enough -on the Nelson side, assumes gigantic proportions ns one travels down the Buller to the Wost Coast. Acres upon acres are abandoned to the luxuriant thorn, and the settler has to be continually at work on his' cleared lands, cutting back the offshoots which sprout every few weeks from the unconquerable roots. Herds of goats are kept merely for the purpose of keeping down the blackberry. They have gorse down the coast, too, but boside , its thorny neighbour it is searcelv noticeable. ' The railway, however, is waking up Cronadun, and will no doubt, as, it advances down towards Inangahua, •perform' a similar service for the rest of: the, valley. The backwardness of dairying on the West Coast is wellknowu, but it is satisfactory to note that the dairy factory at Cvpnadun, after a lengthy rest, promises to be put again into operation next summer, and the monthly cheque should give the farmers something to get ahead with. The railway should develop what marketable value thero is in the timber, ' and • the clearing of the land will provide room enough and grass enough for many dairy herds along tho Inangahua, notwithstanding pests, wet seasons, 1 <md tho other drawbacks of the co>ast — not the least of which is that the heart of the people is in their mineral resources rather than in their pastures. WESTPORT'S LINE. The Westpdrt-Inangahua section, the cost of which is estimated at £260,000 to £300,000, occupies a position of its own. Judged as a part of the East to West Coast trunk system, it appears to fail in one all-important particular— it is not likely to contribute to tho coal and timber freight which the trunk line will depend, on to pay working oxpenses. The arguments of people in tho Grey Valley, as to the probability of their coal and timber going through the hill to Canterbury instead of by sea, are based on icasonable calculations, which will be detailed in a subsequent article. But Westport will be about 80 miles further by rail from Christchurch than Greymouth will be (the disparity js still greater if you calculate average distance as from the Grey Valley mills), and it is hard to see how the Northern port can send coal' or timber through tho Otira tunnel cheaper than by sea. Westport's arguments are stronger when it tomes to passenger traffic. They are based on tne inferiority of Greymouth as a port, and on the probability that, with a Reef ton-Inangahua- Westport railway (about 45 miles in all), passengers would come round and ship at westport sooner than be bothered with the Grey bar. When that bar is unworkable such would no doubt be the case — in fact, people 'frequently go to the trouble of driving over tho 45 miles in order to reach the open port — but no one will claim that this passenger traffic is going to make the trunk line pny. In the present stage of the district's development Westport-Inangahua must therefore be looked on as a local line, or at best as complementary to the trunk system ; ntid as such it basc3 its claims mainly on the timber and coal of the lower Buller, particularly of the aforementioned Mackley Valley. In a general way the whole country is coal-bear-ing, from the Upper Maruia and ' the Grey Valley to the Buller and the Tadmor, and further north to unknown limits. The Bnller dredges are supplied from local seams, outcrops of household coal are abundant, and Mackley is said to be a particularly fine proposition. But the lack oi' development work i>revdnts the .case being made out in a more specific wity, and fiom the coal point of view the railway would be largely a pioneering venture. Thp bush is un asset that can be more readily appraised, and here again estimates dilfer as to its milling value. Scope for land settlement is severely limited. A coal area, claimed to be semi-anthracito in quality, exists on the Westport side of the gorge, but this will ' be sorved by the easily-constructed line along the fiat, completion of which is pending. RIVAL CLAIMS. The conclusion to which the writer is forced is that ' a railway in tho upper part of the Buller Gorge, between the point where the Tadmor railway joins the coach' road and Inangahiia, is not to be thought 1 of in present times ; and that tho twenty miles of gorge lino on the lo'vor Bullet- below Inangahua, should nol bo given the preference which ie claimed for it In justice to tht I rwt of toe colony, the West Coast cau- :

not expect to nave a railway put through the Big Divide, and up the; lower Buller within the same space of time. As compared with WestportInangahua, tho case for tho TadmorHope" and the Reefton-Inangahua sections rests on the shortening of the Nelson- West Coast journey, prospects of settlement, and comparatively cheap and rapid construction. Also, the Buller Valley country above tho Lyell — that in, Murchison, and tho valleys of tho Maruia, Matakitaki, Mangles, and Matiri, in which the Crown is settling large blocks — draws its supplies not from Westport but from Nelson and the Murchison peopta hojx> that the elimination of the Hope Saddle j will reduce present freight (about £3 10s per ton) by £1 10s. Were it an integral part of the Christchurch trunk line, with freight possibilities the Westport-Inangahua section would no doubt have a different class of claim upon tho Public Works Fund. As things are, it is wanted mostly by j Westport, by the Buller people up to Lyell, by a number of Reefton resii dents, and by passengers who are disgusted with the Grey bar. If thu Lewis Saddle route (via Reefton) had been taken by the East and Wost Coast trunk line, making Westpoit and Greymouth about equi-distant from Christchurch, then probably Westport. having the better harbour and immense coal supplies, would nave becomo th«s principal western terminus. A trend in this direction is shown by the fact that, only a few days before tho Financial Statement announced the acceptance of a tender for the putting through of the Otira tunnel at a cost of nearly £600,000,' a public meeting at Heefton passed a resolution hostile t«. the tunnel, the feeling being clearly in favour of a connection with Culverden and with Westport, and against the present route. But the tunnel contract apparently commits the country to the trunk lino via Otira, — which means probably an expenditure of £950,000 distributed over the next six years — and it therefore consigns the Lewis Saddle route to futurity. And as Westport does not claim to be able to send freight to Canterbury via the tunnel, the railway to Inangahua becomes, as indicated, a local line, designed mainly to secure the traffic of the hinterland, to develop trade in the Buller, and to compete with Greymouth where possible ; a line, moreover, handicapped with a cost of construction considerably in excess of Tad-mor-Hopo and Reefton Inangahua, and without any better (if an equal) claim upon the Public Works Fund. The competition between Westport and Greymouth is no doubt exhilarating, but the colony cannot be expected -to promote it to. tho tune of. nearly £300,000, especially when the Government has committed itself to a further £600,000 to be suulc in tho East and West Coast trunk. So much for tho Kelson and West Coast railways. The pros an*' rons of the East and West Coast truflk line via Otira, its rival via the Lowis Saddle (the route of which is approximately shown by the dotted line between Reefton and Culverden), the big tunnel, and oth' % r phases of the Midland Railway^nderlaking will be dealt with in further articles.