THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1897.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10420, 19 April 1897, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1897.

9 The recent opening of the first light railway of narrow gauee in New South Wales marks a stage in a movement which, we believe, is likely tp extend throughout the colonies. Most of these colonies have already reached the point in railway extension, beyond which financial and other considerations, suggest a pause in the path of progress— position which, in this colony especially, has been attained yet in this colony, as in all the rest, as it must be in any new and undeveloped land, the necessity of increased means of communication is only increasingly felt. Whether we have acted wisely or otherwise in the allocation of railways in the past, need not here be discussed. For good or ill we have pushed on railway construction so far, that there is with a large proportion of colonists a reluctance to hearing of any further railway projects, even when the proposals may contemplate the mere completion of unfinished lines, or bringing them to a point at which they may be made to pay something for their construction. Yet everyone feels the necessity of increasing the means of communication unless some of the richest and most promising districts are to remain indefinitely closed against settlement, and unless many existing lines of railway are to be left profitless and practically idle in the absence of "feeders" of some kind connecting with their terminal or wayside stations. Public roads commonly suggest themselves in this connection, and in the absence of anything better they are sure to be constructed, when the necessities of localities raako extended communication imperative. But if it is possible that light and narrow gauge railways may be constructed at no greater cost than public roads, there are few who would not give their voice for rails, even if the track be but little advance on a tramway. That such a thing is practicable is the contention of the advocates of light railways, and the experience of Tasmania and of New South Wales seems to favour the idea, The Narabri line which has just been opened to traffic in New South Wales does not probably show the minimum of cost at which a substitute for highways may be provided. This experimental line has cost £2000 a mile, but as that colony does not yet feel the strain of the necessity of foregoing railway extension, it is probable that the work constructed has been given a stability and completeness that makes it something more than a mere alternative to a highway. In Tasmania, however, a line of railway of the narrow gauge of two feet, and with forty pound rails, has been built at a cost of £1750 per mile, but over a route so difficult that it has been estimated that a public road over the same track with the same carrying capacity, would have cost £3000 per mile, and a railway of the ordinary gauge could not have been constructed for less than £20,000 a mile. In fact; the description given of the Tasmanian ines shows that the difficulties of construction have been far beyond those ordinarily encountered in either road or railway construction, the line having skirted the faces of mountains at heights of five or six hundred feet) above the bottoms of this gorges, and with escarpments so steep that the workmen required to be suspended by ropes when commencing the cuttings, It is needless to say that exceptional difficulties like those need not necessarily be contemplated in this colony, oyer wide areas of which a cheap system of railways might become an important auxiliary in opening up the country and feeding the traffic on the railways; and the probabilities seem to be that over many routes, and . over long distances, light lines - of ' railways of this.kind could be laid, at a cost r. considerably below .that' of the TasmanUn experimental line, and at a

price as cheap, if not cheaper, than that of an ordinary highway. Anyone that has travelled by what is known as the Scenio Route, through the Rocky Mountains and the Canyons of Colorado, in crossing the North American Continent, must have a vivid recollection of the possibilities of which a very narrow gauge is capable—the cars on that route extending in width some four feet on each side beyond the narrow track of rails, and preserving their equipoise with safety while travelling at considerable speed, and negotiating the most rapid curves, Through the distribution of the weight of a car over six pairs of wheels, and a proper adjustment of equipoise in the build of the trucks and cars, neither the lightness of the rails nor the narrowness of the gauge appears to have any material bearing on the carrying capacity of a line, at least to such an extent as to prevent such a system proving of incalculable service under circumstances in which costlier railways are inadmissible. It is well known that in England, during the past few. years, and following the example of many districts in France and other Continental countries, lines of the lightest and cheapest construction have been brought into use, some of them running along the public highways, and that the benefit of these cheap means of communication has been keenly appreciated in the agricultural and rural districts. The difference in the force required for traction on iron rails and on common roadways is so extreme, that even the most rudimentary form of railage must confer material advantage in conveyance and transit. But it seems obvious that a modified form of railway might be provided, capable of bearing a considerable amount of traffic in the meantime, and capable also of being developed into a completer form when necessitated by the increase of traffic which itself might have created. This method of making a railroad pay for its own completion by the traffic it develops, is a familiar form of railroad extension in America, and in the circumstances of this colony burthened as it is by a heavy debt, yet urgently requiring extended communications, this system seems poculiarly applicable.

How far it might be made to at least temporarily till the break in the trunk line in the North Island is worth considering. Grievous as the injustice has been in the diversion of the loan, supposed to have been earmarked for the completion of the trunk line, the prospect does not seem very clear that any practical effort will be made to complete that line in its originally intended form for a good many years to come. But a light line of rails thrown across the intervening break would certainly be within the ability of the colony, and if in the survey and construction the prospect of ultimately completing the track as part of the main trunk line were kept in view, all immediate purposes might be served, and the full object be more easily attained in the end. It seems clear that we have reached that stage when for further extension of communication we must have light narrow gauge railways or but a meagre prospect of any further railway extension at all of any material importance for a good many years to come. In such circumstances the public attention should be turned to the idea of light narrow gauge railways which is attracting so general interest, not only in England, but in the neighbouring colonies, and which in many respects seems so admirably adapted for opening up new countries for settlement.