THE AUCKLAND AND DRURY RAILWAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 171, 31 May 1864, Page 4

THE AUCKLAND AND DRURY RAILWAY.

To the Editor of tlie NVw 7,t.<,t.,\vt) Kktjxt.ti. Silt,—Tn more than one nrficlc von have a'lrocafcfl the 11 sr. of w.wloT, rniU on the Auckland nnd Prury Rnihvav. There is notbins of novelty in their adoption, but much value iic/i rlliclrps. Tn .America 1 lie wooden mil* iir» extensively used, and even where the prsvTcnts nre ns much <is 1 in 40, found to work successful'-"-. T believe that in this e-n'nnv ivr> !-i™ ,unnv woods which voiild answer well for this purpose, und I do think (but the Committee of the "Railway wi'l act wisely if thev lav nut the public moncv its such a. wnv asonh- to half i-lfi-rt Ihe object, intended. Tli-v will 1.0 held rcspnn=iMe for Ihe 'cnrr V !» r r n,,t <,C ihn n-nrlc us wll as for the hone=t expenditure of the moii'M". T fear, however, flint they will p rsi=t in shutting their eyes to a fact well known, und not tn be contradicted, that in America wooden rails lire used i-xt.-iisiv.-lv. relying on the opinion of hnlfoduciited or litllr-cxpi-ri.'nced enn-incers, men over found ivsislin.T scbcnies imiovatiii<» on their own parliculnr department. The men they rolv on mnv imjirove but. ns a rule, they neither invent in the true s-nse of ths word, or depart much from the beaten track nn which thoy h:iveh.-en brought up, ami in which thev hr.v,. constantly walked. The very first railroad ever constructed w.ns well niffh hccomiiiLT the victim to (his fooling, when the proposals to make it were examined even bv eminent engineer?. Tbc=o latter cxiimiiu-d the plans, statements, nnd calbitions of tbo Xnrthnmberland collier, George nnd proved to their own satisfaction and that of many others that be was entirely in error, nnd his plans wen- till fntiln. l?nt nevertheless the uiiletlor.-.! strnngpr, bncked by afew stondfnst fronds, did wbnt these v.-rv lciinn-cl and scientific piigineei-s proved it impossible to do. The Americans consider cheap railways of such vast eousciiui'nce (hat thev do not even fence their railroads, but siniplv lav the iviils down unprotected. And what, is the result? the feeder of stock or the grower nf arnin on Ihe f'ir distant western prairie, has a railroad close fo bis door that satisfactorily answers bis purpose of cnrrvinir his produce, however small, at a cheap rate to a ready market, nnd of hriiminsr buck necessaries in return, lie can thus in his earlv (lavs of settlement realise some little capital to enable him to extend his operations, and annually add to his own wealth nnd to the wealth of the country at large. Tint what is the fact, in this Province of Auckland? So deficient is the rond accommodation that there arc patches of country close even to the city comparntivolv, thai, arc yet totally without any practicable rond worthy of the name. What, is the constant cry from set'fl'Ts on country lands, but that they are so completely isolated and shut out. from the outer world, that they cannot obtain that market for their produce which thev oiisiht to have, and which <■!,<•„), railroads would l.rinr; to their doors. It is neither just unr proper to place persons on a. block of land, tell them to cultivate it, and leave them to their own divisings for easy access to market«=. Did we lav down an inexpensive railway tlirouuh various parts of the country to connect the ditfercnt bodies of producers and consumers, there would not be so many people abandoning their land, after havinc sunk nirisl if not nil their capital upon it. and rottii-nintr (o town to seek employment nnd bread there. We ouL'b.t. so to aid these people that: many of them would he able to tide over the evil diiv. and remitiniiiL' °n their land, and evcntua'lv nicetiii.r with 11 fair share of success, fhev would iliMend oT w-itinsr letters home, rcfraiiiii"-!: from ltnring their friends to come out here, invite thorn to do so, and a thrivinir and contented population would thus constantly increase among us, and the best immiffratinu system that, possibly could bo devised would he in'constant and a dive'operation. A Xew Zi:.u..\ni> hi't ontk an , Ami-:r!caxSktti,i;h. Auckland, May .'Kit h, I SHI, To the lulitor of the Nkw Zi:ai..\si> llkkai.i>. Slit. — I see bv this day's Jlkiiald you arc still advocating the substitution of wooden in preference to iron rails for the Auckland and Drurv railway. 1 am sorrv to f.nd you doing so. It is perfectly true that wooden rails answer the purposes for which they are intended, but wooden rails recommended to be laid on sleepers on the permanent ffiiv on the Auckland and JJrury railway is out of all character. Jlv objections to' woode'n I r.iils for this line are ns follows, viz. :—7u the first place, these gradients varying from lin -K). Now, sir, various experiments have, been made to determine the angle of friction on railroads under the ordinary irircunistaiices of rravellinu, and diU'eivnt results have been arrived nt, but the ui'ost sal isfti.rtorv, nn.l iiul.-i-il the most ycncndly enU-rtiiineil, opinion "of celebrated men, amongst them, the late and ever to be lamentcil George Stcpbciwon, L'.K.. shews that the angles of friction varies from 1 in -fit) to 1 in 2!SO, or a rise of respectively I.S.S and 2(>.:{ ]i.-r mile. ISow, if tlie allele of friction . onin.cn.vs at cither of the above, what will bo the friction on an incline of 13:2 feet \w\mile, which is an inclination of lin -tl) ? Then tincurves on the line presents another and most decided objection to wooden rails. A curved track of railway presents several causes of retardation to the velocity of the cars ; the lirst arises from the successive shocks of tin- Hung.- of tlie exterior wb.vl » Kl iiiisl the exterior rail, caused by the tendency of the vehicle to continue its motion ill :i riiiht line, the second arises from tlie (Viiiiuit <■!' the llange agi'inst the same rail, occiisiciii'd by the action of the centrifugal force, which tends to throw the vehicle outward from the tnick. mxA (be third is occasioned bv the unequal distances which Ihe exterior and the interior wheels must pass over in the same lime, which causes the exterior wheel to be dragged over a portion of the exterior rail equal to the dillerence of the length b'tween the two rails. Tho very fact of an engine tender ami \b or 2O carritig.-s running at the rate of from 2tl In ISO miles per hour on wooden rails, with such gradients and curves (1 don't care how carefully the component gravity in the cross direction of the track nuiv be maintained), would actually set I Inwhole line on (ire. 1 "ill siy nothing of the lutlueuce of the weather, tbo contraction, or expansion, kv. 1 hope the Hailwav Commissioners will not he so unlorliniiitelv gidlablc as to think of wooden rails, did. they do 'so. J. am suiv their engineers have common sense (o advise otherwise. Yours very truly, Fin:i>. I'. 11. Aru.r'oi..Mso.\, C.K., M.1.C.K..M.K., Irish Academy. Frederick Villa, I'arnell, May an, IS.it-. ' , [Our corrcspondo-nt h.is fairly tried to bewilder us with tochniral terms, and we much fear that the railway committee have allowed themselves to he tatked'oi.l of co,,noon sense views <ind μ-uiui 1 practical measures by a stringing together of scientific t:-rms. which, because they may perhaps he beyond their coinpivlii.'nsioii. thev fancy I bom to be unau.-werable arguments. Does .Mr. Malcohnson mean to say thai, in "America, where wooden rails are in common use over thousands of miles of railway, that there are no curves so sharp, no gradients so steep as in the proposed Driiry and Auckland line? iMi-s he menu to assort that there is any necessity for, or any likelihood of travelling at the rate .if 30 miles an hour on tho proposed line? Will our correspondent state bow it is that the wooden rails in America, do not take lire from the. friction of the trains. We pity as well as blame ihe poor committee men.—Kn. N. Z. JI.J

SOLDI KKS" RATIONS.

To llu- Editor of the Xnw Zkalaxh liickalp. Sut,—llavinj; tin- pleasure of an . almost daily perusal of the' well-written articles published m your valuable.journal, 1 have ventured to peu a few "lines on asubject, which, although it may not. bo interesting to'tho mass ol'your civilian readers, may be considered with iideivst by winif of the mom thoughtful of the coiiiimniily ;—besides, Jlr, Editor, you will ohligo sonic of your soldier subscribers, if 'not tbo army at large, by the publication of the same. 'J he soldiers arc called upon to pay lid. per day per niicn for what is called a " vegetable ration," which •■ vegetable rat ion ' consists of-Jo/., of bad rice, with the addition of I-.'12 of a common bottle of pickles per man (and even (his is nol regularly served tip. iNoiv, sir. the soldiers do not umlw-stnml why 1 hoy should be. called upon to pay more for tins "ration" than it. actually costs. They reason something in this fashion :—;\ company of CI- men at. the rate charged would contribute Bs., and the two bottles of pickles (which is their allowance), would cost., say Is. i)d. ; tin- rice (which is selling at JC'-iS per ton), as allowed, IGlbs., would cost about 2s. lid. The whole cost to the Commissariat of this "vegetable ration" amounts to say 4s. >Sd., which leaves that department to derive a profit of soiuewliere about lis. 'Id. oil' every sixly-four men served witli this ration ! Truly," it is «' inlying business. A"VoiCK l-'UOJI Till! IxA>"KB. Camp Mimngntuiuri, *Oth liny, ISO-J, I

To the Editor, of the Km- Zealand Herald. Pit?,—Mr. Thatcher pretends to say that tin's Province stands alone in reference to the Chief of Police having also a seat upon the Bench. Xow. T am desirous of aslcinsr him if ho novor saw Mr. Littleton, J. P., who wr.s also Superintendent of Police, at fv.ndliinst, "\ r ic(oria, in I,n-t I—take his sent- upon the Bench, in conjunction with Mr. M.-Liiiitfidan. in the Sandhurst Court, P,en<HgO. Mae (us tin- larfer n\".s generally calleiO, is an old neqn:ini!ane.e of Mr. Thatcher's. I iiw hi-- memory is so tre.-icherous. 7i is finlv some two or tliroe years air" Iho Snpur-inti-niK-i'ts'i.f l'olie" in Victoria resigned by request their Commissions of the Puli.-rv 1 am, sir, Yours truly, IiEXUKIo. Auck'iincl, .-iOt-h May, IS6-1.