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New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4128, 13 June 1874, Page 2

A committee of the Provincial Council of Otago havo for some time been engaged in an inquiry as to tho management of the Dunedin and Port Chalmers railway, and a 3 to tho financial results of tho working of tho lino. The management thoy condemn as inefficient, but they quote facts, aud make recommendations, which indicate that the railway, instead of being a losing speculation, is likely to prove highly profitable. Their chief deduction, from the evidence presented to them, is that tho working of the railway has not given satisfaction to importers and exporters, or to the puiblie generally, and that the line has not carried anything like tho quantity of goods it might have done. AVhat “inefficient management” had to do with these defects they do not show, but they assert some things which ought to satisfy the Government, and to assure those who were sceptics that tho construction of railways in the Colony is not a needless waste of caputnl. Tho Committee found, in fact, that tho traffic had far exceeded expectations, and that, instead of its construction being an event in advance of the times, tho accommodation which it afforded for goods and piassengor traffic was considerably short of the demand. The committee complain that there aro at present, and already, three serious wants—a want of additional shod accommodation, a want of sufficient rolling stock, aud a want of engines, p>ier, cranes, and muCli besides which they include in the safe words et cetera. They recommend the meeting of these wants as early as possible, and they base their recommendations npion such facts as the following—that during the months of February and March the line carried 10,000 tons ; that, at that average, the traffic would amount te 90,000 tons per annum; and that even that quantity is less than one-twelfth of what the line, when in pirop>er working order, is capable of carrying. Based upion these facts and calculations, tho Committee exp>ress an opinion in favor of a further expenditure of from £25,000 to £30,000, and all the evidence which they havo made public seems to show that, even in tho event of a competitive mode of carriage being started by tho dredging of the harbor from the Port Chalmers anchorage to tho Dunedin wharves, they aro justified in supposing that tho outlay would not bo money mis-spjent, but rather that it would be money well invested, with a sure and profitable return. Tho presentation of such a report must bo satisfactory, not alone to tho Government, but to all who have favored tho construction of railways throughout the Colony. Tho Port Chalmers and Dunedin railway may bo exceptional in tho circumstance that, botweon these two places, the traffic is larger than in any other part of tho Colony, but lines connecting tho sea-board, and the interior have, in Southland aud Canterbury, also yielded a sufficiently satisfactory percentage upion their original cost and working expenses, and thero is every reason to supposo that tho same will prove to bo the case at Wellington. There may bo sections of the railways now in course of construction which, as regards immediate traffic, will be found in advance of tho times, but present evidence goes to provo that, in Now Zealand, as elsewhere, railways aro themselves creators of traffic, and that thero is no fear of any singlo lino yot proposed boing otherwise than profitable in itself and an instrument of largoly developing the trade of shipping piorts and country districts. «