THE GREY MOUTH AND KUMARA TRAMWAY.

Grey River Argus, Volume XXI, Issue 2715, 26 April 1877, Page 2

THE GREY MOUTH AND KUMARA TRAMWAY.

Although the tram way : bet ween, Greymouth.and the Kumara cannot be said to have, beer} coiq pleted-^-that 'portion between this terniunus and Baroa, a distance of five^miles, having to be reiaid, and' the wires across the Teremakau destined to convey the carriage^ across having to be stretched — sufficient has-been aecom-; plished to indicate what a great boon^the line will prove to Greymouth, Kumara, 'and the intervening settlements.' As the formal opening of |he tramway will not take place for abrae' 'weeks'" when it will. be. in, running order from end to" end, we reserve a complete description, together with a history of the spirited undertaking, until that time. Suffice to say at present that,- owing, in no small measure to the energy displayed by the managing director, Mr Joseph Kil»our, whoae efforts have been ably seconded by the overseer of the work, Mr Chiverton, I the rails, have been Jai'd from Paroa to the .-Teremakau, and thence to Kumara. Owing to vexatious obstructions, work was not fairly commenced until the latter part of last November, and even after operations had been entered upon an attempt- was made from a quarter whence it waa least to be expected to retard progress. SFot.withstanding all this the work of clearing the bush and laying the rail* was steadily carried on ; and now at the expenditure of the comparatively trifling sum of LSOOO the company is possessed of a line of tramway which, had its con struction been undertaken by Government " engineers" (whose ideas seem to be as jrude as their surveys are tortuous) would doubtless have cost ten times

the amount. Certainly, the expenditure of L2OOO more will be required to make what Americans describe 33 a " through connection ;" but even then the line will be dirt cheap at the price, and with the increasing trade been Greymouth and the Kumara the investment should prove a most remunerative one. On Tuesday, at the invitation of the directors, a number of gentlemen proceeded ;f rom Greymouth to-inspect that nportioa of the of the line which has been 'completed. Amongst those who availed „ tlj.emaelY.eg of ; the opport unity to spend a pleasant Holiday; were; the TIonT HTTEC Lahman, M.L.C.,' His. Worship the Mayor, the; Chairman of the "County Council, Mr Woolcock, M.H.R., 'Messrs W. Lahman, -Eerr^Dupre, Hunt, Arnott, S v Giluier, T. Kenrick, and other pro--niirient citizens. PaVoa, ■at'Wilicb. commodious station buildings are in course 6i erection, was the rendezvous ,• and. a ie\f miuut'es afterlO a.m., airthe guests haying assembled, a start, was made forithe Teremakau; Thejcarriage, drawn by one ■horse,.' is a most commodious one, capable of se.ating .comfortably twenty passengerk and the gradient is so slight that the horse can' with;? comparative, ease draw ja full load at the rateiof ;. between' five ; and six 1 miles ah-hour.'Oii Mr Kfrgour, who acted as Jehu for the occasion, tWk^his passengers through' to- the ;TereI malta'u in fifty minutesv "After cros'sidj the, ferry,,^another. carriage 01- aifnilar bbii- ' struction was'enteredV and rthe, Kdmars was reached shortly after one o'clock'. pWhat more especially strikes otic 'itf connection with this tramway is the ex!treW( I' straightfagas and Ifaveineas of the'linej paa . sing as it does through a mountain otji ' country which to the superficial eye pre 1 sents serious engineering difiiculties. M; Kiigour, liowevei',^has I'nianage;1 'nianage ; d ;i! tO mak|< the crooked paths straight, and the rougl placesi smooth ; and the result is a survej i which would do qredit to an engineer 0 greater merit than can be claimed by an 1 ] I to whom we are indebted for works of s cognate character on this^ coast. -In,- iii whole course thetramway passes by« v onlj two small bridges. >',{'. -*- ■-■>■■■.> Upon arrival at Kumara the director entertained their guests at dinner in thi hotelof Mr;GilbertSte_wart i ,.wlio had' pre pared a most : and renjoyabli repast: The proceedings: were 'of* an in formal character, only two toasts beinj • proposed— that ; of <c The; Queen-"/ 1 anc "Success to the' Tramwa y; Company,"- '. 'Mr Ktigour, previod3 to, proposing thj .toast of; "The; Qiieen," explaped . tna owing in>a ,'greajb./iheasure,.to the' m),g,yoid able absenoe.of one of. the. principal jiirec tors, -Mr MartinVKenne'dyj-it.wasi nob in tended tha.c. this, should .. l: b.ei. regarded' a the formal opening of the line. He wouli avail himself however, of the opportunit; of; saying' that he : was- certain the lin w r ould' pay. " ;The ; "carriage of tw articles : aWne' > ' would 'make' - 'it '■ pa : — Aie -referred ' t"o; r . timber and '' coal .Those present must "liave; bbserve'd' ihs - after;, leaving the- Teremakau/Jheyiha' passed through a .magnificently titnbere country. 'The^prjesent price of coal wai L3;.i2.3, : 6_d per ton, and he anticipate^ that the line would.be the means of sup plying it. not .only, to; Kumara and it suburbs, but to BLokitika at a very 1 muc lower rate. ' He was, 'in 'facfc, : cbnvincei that the carriage of timber and-coal aldn would yield a handsome, profitwithou calculating upon a poun.d ; pf .tea, •sugar, ,0 4our. (Applause.) ( AU that and .pas far as the tramway itself ;Was conceilnei it had been 1 , as' they miisVhave observed constructed in-a.most.sgbstantial ma^unet and would last Jorljjeven br'eigh'fc years, Mr by reminding thosi present that as they had just passet ,thrbugh several, miles pi- the -Queen'; ' forest, it Was only 'appropriate" that thtei should driuk Her-Majesty's health. '-• ■> :» . The toas ; t..wras, drunk, with full-honor 3.; His Worship the'Maypr of Ureymoutli, Mr F. Hamilton-,' after alluding-' to ■'■&( opposition- ■■ ■ w hich ■ c the, ■> pro jeot Jhad- .'; ; mci with from a quarter whence- it, was jeasi to have been expected, "Vaid" he felt satisfied ;that it would ; pro;ve> ;a),-payiqg concern ; and concluded' by|proposing "Success . to- the l Greymdiith 'andl Kumara Tramway Company."_ The toast wa> enthusiastically ' received.:; and after ii ka:d^been_sjay;ably^c^kn^ by JVlii KiLaoTTR, whose Tiamo had b"een-coupled with it, the^cotrip'any dispersed. , An. hour or two was spent in" paying visits to old friends in 'Kumara'; and at four o'clock; a start was, made for, town, which was reached shortly after seven o'clock. ..The day's .." outing" .was. on all hands.. voted, to have proved.* a. moist enjoyable one. .. \ iy - - r \ ..,..,,.:_,. ,■_.-. \