Public Works Statement.

Hastings Standard, Issue 502, 15 December 1897, Page 4

Public Works Statement.

A SUMMARY.

The Hon. Mr Hall-Jones delivered a lengthy Public Works Statement last night, from which we cull the following summary : At the beginning of the financial year, owing to moneys raised by loin, the balance brought forward, and £150,000 transferred from the consolidated fund, the sum available for public works was £1,303,074. The expenditure was £663,915, leaving a balance in hand of £639,159. It was proposed to supplement that with £300,000 transferred from revenue, and £250,030 to be specially borrowed for additions to open lines, and with sundry credits expected to come to hand the total available would be £1,194,159. The proposed expenditure was £1,021,570, of which £43,978 would be a charge against the Government Loans to Local Bodies account. Mr Hall-Jones then detailed the work done on the various lines during the past year, and what it was proposed to do this year. Of the North Island Trunk Railway, he said the Mokau and Poro-o-Toroa tunnel sections at the northern end, together making a length of 12 miles 43 chains, were completed and opened for traffic on the 21st December last, the traffic on the line being at present practically confined to the carrying of plant and supplies for the construction of works beyond. It had not been deemed advisable to hand these sections to the Railway Department, but by arrangement with the Public Works Department a weekly train was run as far as the south side of the Poro-o-Tarao tunnel. Work had been begun on the Ohinemoa section leading towards Kawakawa, where the Stratford-On garehe-road connected with the railway. The works on this section were proceeding fairly well, and would be pushed on vigorously until the line reached Kawakawa. At the southern end of the line a great deal of the work had been done between the end of the opened line at Mangaonoho and Ivaikoura, and the felling of the bush between Kaikoura, and Taibape had recently been authorised. The Mokohine viaduct, the non-erection of which had for so long barred further rail laying on this railway, was now well in hand. The extensive excavations for the foundation of the main pier on the eastern side of the Makohine creek had been completed, and the two large concrete blocks which comprised the base were being built, the work being well advanced. The excavations for the other main pier on the western, or Marton side of the creek would also have been completed if it had not been for the exceptionally wet weather causing the ground to slip, and reducing it to so soft a condition that it became unsafe for men to work there. With the improvement which took place in the weather as spring advanced the excavations were resumed, and were now proceeding actively. Nearly the whole of the cement required to complete the structure had already been delivered on the site, and the balance was under order, and a large part of the iron and steel material bad already arrived from England. An engineering workshop was about to be erected, so that the shaping, planing, drilling, &e., of the ironwork preparatory to its being erected in position might be taken in hand, and he hoped to be able to announce in next year's Statement that substantial progress' with the work had been made. The detailed survey of the portion of this line not already definitely located was still in hand. The expenditure on the trunkrailway last year amounted to £28,272, and liabilities existed at the close of the year to the amount of £17,042. A vote of £32,000 would be asked for this year. After referring to the opening of the Napier-Wellington line he said the expenditure on this line during the late financial year amounted to £19,865, and from the Ist April to the 30th November an additional amount of £16,638 was expended, while the liabilities at the latter date amounted to £12,889. A vote of £30,000 would be necessary this year, which would practically provide for the entire completion of the railway. The consequent diversion of the Welling-ton-Napier traffic to the Wairarapa would bring into great prominence the many inconveniences attendent upon the present journey over the Rimutaka range. W ; ith our present day experience the action of the authorities of the day in adopting the existing incline line over the Rimutaka mountains seemed to have been a shortsighted policy. A much shorter line could have been obtained by adhering more closely to the old coach road and putting in a tunnel of a mile and a half in length, to avoid the major part of the ascent and decent to and from the summit. Even now it would, he thought, be worth while to consider whether it would not be desirable to construct this line and abandon the incline. He proposed to have a survey made for the new line between Kaitoke and Featherston as soon as an experienced officer could be spared for the purpose. The total appropriations proposed for railway construction works, including surveys, permanent way, materials Ac., was £214,000 and £150,000 for additions to open lines. LIGHT RAILWAYS. On this subject Mr Hall-Jones said : —ln last year's Statement I promised that I would this season lay before hon. members seme further information on the subject of light railways. This has since been obtained from different parts of the world, and particularly from Tasmania, where a 2ft gauge line is already being constructed from Zeehan to Mount Dundas. This railway when finished will be about Minnies long. The first five miles are over undulating country, presenting no special engineering difficulties, but for the remainder of its length the line •

skirts high and precipitous hills, presenting a very forbidding appearance from a railway engineer's point of view. The gradients adopted are in some cases very severe, and in orler to reduce the earthworks and bridging to a minimum very sharp curves have beeu used. To so large an exten; have curves been adopted that a straight run of 100 yards is seldom obtainable. The are 300 carves on the line, and over half the total length is on curves, the total of degrees turned being about 17,000. The ruling gradient, allowing for curvature, is 1 in 22, and the sharpest curves are only chains radius. The sharpest curves on any of our New Zealand railways are 5 chains radius, and the steepest gradients (exclusion of the three-rail incline on the Wairarapa side of the Rimutaka range) are lin 81. Even these grades arid curves only occur on exceptional lines, such as on the Wellington side of the Rimutaka range, and on the Lawrence branch line. It will readily be seen, therefore, how very steep and tortuous this Tasmanian light railway really is. Perhaps the most interesting feature of the line to us just now is its cost, which was very low for a railway traversing such very rough country. The General Manager of the Tasmanian Government Railways reports that the cost, including surveys and equipment, was only £1725 per mile, but states that a little more expenditure in rolling stock and traffic requirements will be necessary, thus bringing up the cost to say £2OOO per mile. Even this rate, however, would be too low a standard to take for the construction of similar lines in New Zealand, as nothing is allowed in this amount for compensation to landowners for the land occupied by the railway, as the whole line is constructed on Crown reserves. The rails also only cost £3 3s per ton, second-hand rails being used, whereas new rails of, say, 401b to the yard would cost about double this amount landed at our principal ports, and the cost of transporting them to where they would require to be used might cost another £1 or £2 per ton. The Tasmanian line, moreover, is not fenced, and the bridges only cost from 7s 6d to 18s Gd per 100 superficial feet, and the sleepers under Is each, adzed and bored ready for laying. These rates would be largely exceeded in this colony. Several applications for the construction of light railways have been made to the Government. During the recess the relative merits and necessity for these several lines will be carefully considered, and information as to their probable cost and the revenue returns they may be expected to yield will be laid before Parliament next session. The Minister dealt at length with the question of the break of guage, reading some correspondence on the subject to show that it was not so serious a difficulty in working as some railway managers made out, and expressed the opinion that owing to the cheapness of constructing and working, the time was close at hand when country hitherto unoccupied in many parts of Australasia would be opened up by narrow guage railways. The Minister also quoted extensively from reports on the working of light railways in India to show that the cost of working them wag only about half the coat of the broad gauge lines where the traffic was not great. When traffic was large the broad guage line was the most economical, but it did not pay to run heavy trains with light roads. OUR MINERAL WEALTH. Mr'Hall-Jones expressed great confidence in the development of the goldfielus, looking for a largely increased yield this year, while other minerals were being prospected for, including silver, copper, cinnabar, manganese, and other ores. Mining for opals was also receiving some attention, and already nine leases, covering an area of 233 acres in the Mount Peel district of Canterbury, had been issue for this purpose. It had also been reported that opals of a valuable kind had been discovered at Tairua, in the Hauraki district. The deep level shaft at the Thames was being constructed as fast as circumstances would permit, and the pumping machinery was being erected as it arrived from the manufacturers in England. PURCHASE OF NATAVE LANDS Last year 335,000 acres of native lands were acpuired, a considerable portion of which was within the King Country territory, adjacent to the trunk railway, and this land would be thrown open for settlement early next year. The expenditure under this head was £129,000, including £88,787 for roads and surveys. This year a vote of £60,500 would be asked for. From this time forward the land purchase officers would be instructed not to purchase land from any native unless he had more than sufficient land left to provide for his maintenance. MISCELLANEOUS. The Minister next went into details referring to telegraph extensions, public buildings, lighthouses, harbor works, harbor defences, &c. It was explained that the vote of £20,000 to assist local bodies in the North Island to repair the daijiage done by recent floods would be paid in the form of a subsidy at the rate of not less than £1 for £1 contributed by the local bodies. It was estimated that the sum of £64,037 would be required to build lost bridges and other works, of which sum £24,437 was required for roads in charge of the Government and £39,600 for roads under the control of local bodies.