THE Evening Star. MONDAY, AUGUST 23, 1869.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1965, 23 August 1869, Page 2

THE Evening Star. MONDAY, AUGUST 23, 1869.

What is the obstacle to the construction of the Port Chalmers Railway 1 Is it apathy, or ignorance of its advantages, or self-interest 1 The plans are ready; the security for the payment of interest good; the line can be constructed for a very trifling outlay of capital; and the revenue from it will be great: the inducement for a company to take it in hand is therefore ample. What is in the way 1 There are people in the world who venture to insinuate that certain firms, who imagine their interests immediately involved in maintaining things as they are, have sufficient influence to prevent its construction, and that they exert it. They even go farther and mention names -hut as we believe that every mercantile firm in the place would derive greater profit from opening up the resources of the Province than by maintaining a temporary monopoly, we give them credit for too much clear-sighted-ness to imagine them capable of such

obstruct! veness. But were it so, every tradesman in Dunedin is so deeply interested in the construction of the line, that the natural conclusion is that they have not realised to themselves the true position ot affairs, or long ago a company would have been formed to carry it through. In these days it seems hardly necessary to go into any elaborate argument to prove the superiority of railways to any other mode of conveyance, nor would it be were everyone fully acquainted with their advantages. Were these known and acknowledged, in less than a week, we venture to say, the necessary steps would be taken for the construction of one between Dunedin and the Port. In the present state of knowledge of railway construction, and with the assistance the Government is prepared to vivo, the line would be finished, in all probability, at less cost than any i ailway over made in the Colonies. The heaviest work is across Polichet Bay, where an embankment is required which we believe it is proposed to make by prison labor. This could be for med in less than two years, by which time every other part of the line, if prosecuted with spirit and energy, would be ready for work. Notwithstanding that plans have been prepared, the proposed details of width of gauge, weight of rails, and rate of travelling, all of which enter minutely into railway expendiditure, need not necessarily be adopted; and the experience of Victoria, Queensland, India and other Colonies and dependencies, may bo very profitably consulted for warning and instruction, so that errors may be avoided, and the most efficient and economical plans pursued. Too close imitation of English precedents is the fault of the Colonial railways, forgetful that the traffic for the next hundred years will not equal that of lines similarly circumstanced there. Of course, there are sceptics as, to the payable revenue likely to be derived from the Port Chalmers line. It would not be difficult to give them statistics to prove that it must necessarily be ample, although this is rendered unnecessary by the guarantee of eight per cent, for a period not exceeding fifteen ymrsj long within which time it will, if well managed, have repaid principal and interest. Acm soi y glance at the probable traffic, arrived at in a very rough way, will serve to prove this. The Census returns for 1867 show that the value imports into Dunedin were £1,576,2+7, and the exports from Dunedin and Oanranr £1,082,313. In the calulation the Oamaru shipment may bo neglected, from the comparatively small amount, and the whole may be considered as shipped at Port Chalmers. The two sums, therefore, amount to £2,658,560, and assuming that £658,560 would still be transported by lighter, at half per cent, on the remainder, a revenue of 10 per cent, would be available for interest on the highest amount proposed to be raised £100,000; while in all probability little more than half or two-thirds of that amount would be needed. This, it must be remembered, is altogether irrespective of passenger traffic, which on all railways, if not the most important source of revenue, is at any rate the most profitable. A comparison between this small per centage with the present cost of transport between the two places, can easily be made by every person who has imported goods. It will show that a very cheap scale of traffic rates will prove remunerative, while to the merchant the saving of interest on the time now occupied in transit between Dunedin and the Port would nearly equal the revenue guaranteed. With these facts before us, the question may be fairly asked, What and where is the obstacle to its being proceeded with 1