THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out faciam." SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15TH, 1862.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 93, 4 March 1862, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out faciam." SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15TH, 1862.

The Dun Mountain E ail way, Nelson, is just completed, and from the accounts received 'appears an entire success. The object of its construction was to convey chrome ore from the works of the Dun Mountain Company to the port for shipment. The company is an English one, and the railway has been constructed under the auspices of the engineer, Mr FitzGibbon, sent out for the purpose. This gentleman has issued a pamphlet, in which he enlarges upon the system of construction of cheap railways, of which he claims to be the inventor. He does not, however, come before his readers, like many other inventors, with theoretical data only; he is enabled to vindicate his system by the practical results which have followed its adoption. Claiming the knowledge how to construct rail- i ways which, for their cheapness and adaptability to mountainous country make them peculiarly suited to the physical and economical features of New Zealand, he is able to point to a practical unmistakable instance of the successful adoption of his plan. The general character of the undertaking which Mr FitzGibbon has successfully carried out may be I gathered from the following somewhat cynical description of the Nelson Mxnminer : — The work is probably unique, and shows a degree of boldness very near* to genius in those who have risked their reputation on its achievement. There are none of what, are called engineering difficulties. The railway is simply a benching- or shelf cut on an ascending gradient along the sides of the hills, following with' sudden curves every bond of their face.3 ; with alight and narrow, but substantial, pair of rails, such as are ustd by contractors at home. But the nature of the country is such as to stagger even an unimaginative person. The scenery is wild and imposing on the upper part of tile line. The hills, as the reader is aware, are of the steepest slope j none but granite peaks are more abrupt. The height to wbicii •the line ascends is equal to that of the largest mountain in England, and near to that of Snowdon in Wales. A large part of the work is through black birch forest, and in some spots abrupt limestone rocks stand as if to bar the line. The toil of the preliminary operations in planning the railway must have been extreme, and enough, one might, have thought, to disgust a moderate patient hhhu Yet, now tile work is done, it appears, and indeed is, simple. The gradients which to the eye and to the imagination are fearful, prove 'manageable thing's, and are attended by no greater or other dangers than are inseparable from all mechanism which deals with the great forces of nature on a larger scale. Ordinary care ensures complete safety. Wo can have a hundred such ]i nes now if we need them. For a more precise and technical description of the Kail way, we refer to an extract from Mr. FitzGibbon's own pamphlet. Eleven miles of this line are constructed through a most difficult country, the rise in that distance being about 2,800 feet. Five miles of the line have a gradient of one foot in eighteen, succeeded by four and a-balf miles Laving a, gradient of one in twenty. The corners range from one chain to two chains radius ; and of the eleven miles not more than half-a-mile in the aggregate is straight. The line is at present but six feet wide at formation level, and is cut out of the mountain sides the entire way, which are very steep, having an average inclination to the horizon of thirty-three degrees. About two-thirds of the excavation are in the rock ; the remainder clay. Tiie gauge of the lin». is three feet, •with a rail of 30 lbs. to the yard, fished at the joints, supported, by transverse, sleepers of black birch timber, S in. by 4j in. placed three feet apart. The sleepers rest on eight inches in thickness of broken stone ballast, and the space between the sleepers is filled up with similar material, which, having two inches of gravel on the top, forms a most excellent roadway for the horses which work the traffic. The cost of the line, as it is, including permanent way and rolling stock imported from England (say, two waggons to the mile), has not exceeded £2,000 per mile. Let us fancy a series of steep hills, ascending terrace on terrace, and rounding along the surface of their sides into innumerable curves of more or less depth. Round these, always ascending, till, in eleven miles, a height of nearly 3000 feet is attained, a platform or road is excavated out,' and a line of rails laid. True there was no special engineering difficulty, for the precise reason that the engineer's art was devoted to saving by economical means the very works that engineers are wont to hang their fame on. Who shall know what aerial suspension-bridges, costly viaducts, or lengthy tunnels Mr. FilzGibbon might have been tempted to undertake. Perhaps in quietly pursuing the even tenor of his plan, toiling patiently and perseveringly up and round the great mountain-sides, he displayed more heroism than if he had consented to risk his reputation on some large engineering work, at the expense of the company whose interests he represented. Dunedin is cut off from the Port through which its obtains all supplies of goods by about nine miles of hilly or mountainous country. So far it resembles the Dun Mountain, but there is this grand distinction— there is no need to ascend at all; a level trackalong the base of the hills will answer all that

the purpose requires. It then becomes a | question whether it. would be cheaper to follow ! .scrupulously the hill-nides, or, when practi- j cable, to shoot across the curves by means of, piles or embankments. Supposing the hitter j not very expensive, it might be found I the preferable course, as the small bays I which would thus, as it were, be walled in would be available for redemption from the Bay, which covers them at high water, and would realise a heavy price. These, however, are details with which we have not now to deal; suffice it that at the worst, the diffi- j cultics cannot be greater than thos<i with | which the Dun Mountain Company has so | successfully competed, and that the gentle- j man under whose superintendence that un- ! dertaking was carried to a conclusion is so ! near at hand, that his advice at least, if not his absolute co-operation, would be available. The railway between Dunedin and the Port would require to be of a more substantial character, and, perhaps, wider than that of the Dun Mountain Company; but we may allow for a considerable excess, over the cost of that work, £-2,000 a mile, and yet iind that Otago ''would not be paying too dear for its whistle." It is not to be supposed that with a railway, all the heavy goods would come up to Dunedin by that means, far from it; A great deal of lightering would still contine but the passengers and valuable goods would be entirely diverted to that source of transit. Nothing but carefully-taken traffic returns would satisfactorily determine the amount of remuneration the undertaking might be expected to yield, but that it would be remunerative there is ample reason to infer. At present, Dunedin in stormy weather is shut off'from the Port, but in fine weather the number of passengers is very large, and there is a constant tendency to increase. We should be afraid to mention the number that we believe might be securely calculated on, without reckoning those who would see in the trip to the Tort and back the only opportunity of taking advantage of a few hours of leisure. Of goods, the traffic would be very large, and something like sixty per cent of the entire quantity required for the consumption of the province would be brought up by railway. The saving in the freight, in the liability to damage, and in the economising of time, both in the transit of goods and in the loading and unloading of ships, would be such that importers would be in a position to make a material reduction in the cost to consumers. Thus we have a real tangible benefit arising to every class of the community, quite irrespective of the profitable or unprofitable nature of the undertaking itself. Say the line could only be carried on with sufficient returns to cover working expenses (a hypothetical case which we by no means endorse) there would be a loss of the interest on the capital, against Which would be balanced the saving to consumers to which we have before adverted. Supposing now the Government were at the cost of the interest on capital, the community would gather a more than commensurate advantage in the reduced cost of articles of necessary use, and in the facilities to passenger traffic. If we come to apply figures to the question our position is borne out. Kay, that with stations and with a more substantial line than that of the Dun Mountain, the total cost wauld be .£200,000. A minimum guarantee of six per cent, would amount to £J52,000 per annum, a sum which we venture to say would be fully saved in other directions. The capital, meanwhile, would have been expended in the place, and, moreover, the public funds would gather a large revenue in the advanced value of the land along the line of railway, not including the land redeemed from the Bay. We might, if we; chose, refer to Canterbury, which, with a less population to supply and a less revenue at its command, entered upon a far more expensive but similar undertaking. 'We think, however, the allusion unnecessary. The advantages of a railway to Fort Chalmers are so obvioue and the probable cost so little, that we cannot suppose the Provincial Government would refuse to afford it the encouragement of a minimum guarantee of profits. We believe that the £200,000, which we have supposed by way of example would be the sum required, is"in excess of what the, railway would really cost. But supposing it did cost that amount, the Provincial revenue could well spare the interest on the money to secure the public the advantage the railway would confer.. As a preliminary step we would suggest that a return be collected of the passenger and goods traffic between Dunedin and the Port, during the next three months, and in the meanwhile that Mr. FitzGihbon be invited to visit the spot, and report upon the cost of constructing a line on the cheap principle which he has so successfully carried out between Nelson and the Dun Alountain.

A correspondent at Wetherston's has forwarded to us some verses in which he most pathetically vents his indignation about bad roads. Some of the stanzas are not exactly admissible, but the following may bo taken as cmboding thegruvamen of his complaint : — I lives up here in Wetherston's And drives a one horse dray, But Dobbin's daily sighs and groans Must drive me soon-away. We've many a swampy bog and creek, Each worscr than the last; There's not a day in all the week But Dobbin gets stuck fast. They're bottomless and getting worseGet through them if you can. Who in such place would drive a horse Is more a brute than man. We understand that a meeting of the Provisional Directors of thu s.s. -'Victory" Company was held at the Atheiueum yesterday, when a first allotment of shares was agreed upon, and it was decided that a final allotment should be made on the 17th instant. We are informed that only a limited number of shares remain open. By the courtesy of the Captain of the "Jane Loekart," we are in possession of two days' later papers from Sydney. The vessel made an excellent passage, leaving two days after the mail steamer, and arriving within a few hours of her. The news is not important we give extracts from the papers in another column. In the Sydney Herald of the 18th there is a telegram from Adelaide, dated the previous evening at 8, p.m., by which it appears that up to that hour there was no news of the Mail. The branch steamer from King George Sound generally reaches Adelaide 30 hours before the Suez steamer reaches Melbourne, so that we may assume that up to the 19th, the Mail had not artived at the latter place. The members of the Town Board were apparently so exhausted by the labors of the three special meetings which they held during the last week, that it was found impossible to get a quorum of the Board yesterday until three-quarters of an hour after the proper time of meeting, and even then the requisite quorum of three "was only obtained by the Clerk running out into the street to try and discover a stray member. The Volunteers turned out in considerable numbers last night, and on the dismissal of the squads his Honor intimated his wish that all desirous of joining a Company under the New Regulations should, on the evening of Wednesday next, bring their names written on a piece of paper, when they would be forwarded to His Excellcncv the Governor, accompanied by a request for enrolment. When their services were accepted, they would have to elect their own officers, and in the meantime, it was necessary that they should ; amongst themselves elect a committee to confer with him, and settle the question of uniform, &c.

Wo are informed that a room to servo temporarily the purpose of taking observations on the weather is being creeled at the residence of Mr. Ko=s, wliu lias undertaken tho office of meterologlst. The instruments niso are being fitted, tiuii observations will be commenced on the Ist of next month. Apropos, the amount placed on tlie estimates, .£3O per annum, is quite inadequate if the observations arc to be elaborately taken. • The Council is to meet on the 15th of next month. We hope that members will not have to complain this session the same as last of the Ordinances intended to be brought forward only being placed in their hands us the Council is sitting. They should be prepared a sufficient time previous to enable members to make themselves acquainted with their nature before the Council sits ; if for no 'other reason than to prevent those members who feel bound to speak on every subject, from talking about what they do not understand. Several of last session's Ordinances have been disallowed for technical mistakes which probably would have been avoided had there been more time to prepare them. This reminds us that it would be well that the Ordinances should either be drawn up or revised by qualified Counsel before they are finally j submitted for apjirornl. It is a practice usually 1 adopted by legislatorial bodies, the having Counsel to prepare the measures proposed to be passed. Shipmasters and others doing business at the Custom-house will find the hitherto very imperfect facilities afforded by the old Customs' buildings greatly iimended for the better by the erection of the new frontage, which has just been completed externally, and is being finished internally as rapidly as circumstances permit. By this erection the complaints of insufficiency of accommodation will be so far met until the completion of the contemplated stone-building at the foot of Itattray-street, where it is ultimately intended to remove this department of the Government service. "^A letter which appeared in our columns the other day relative to tho quality of the Dunedin water supplies, in a sanitary point of view, has suggested a more extended inquiry into the subject, and we hope to be able soon to lay before our readers a more perfect statement of the properties of the water derived from different sources around the town, and its probable inlluencc upon the health of the population. Arrangements, we understand, are being made by the Postmaster for the establishment of letterboxes in different convenient situations in town, letters deposited in which will be removed by the postmen a short time before the closing of each mail. Our correspondent at Tokomairiro mentions that one storekeeper there has during the last four months purchased 1200 ozs. of gold. The " Louise " is to remain in quarantine for a. week, when a further examination will be made of her. It appears the quarantine regulations are very ill understood here, as the "Louise " was I towed up by the tug steamer light in the midst of the shipping, presenting a, rather curious appearance when she was ordered to hoist the yellow flag. She is now removed to the quarantine ground. As we stated yesterday, she has two bills of health. The firs, was entirely "clean." The second, which she appears to have obtained in consequence of having to return to leave a man behind, stated " several cases of cholera raging at the port." The imm suffering from dysentery states he has been ill all the voyage. We sincerely hope that a, most strict examination will be made before the vessel is let out of quarantine. A case of severe English cholera, not altogether dissimilar to its terrible Asiatic namesake, is now occurring in the gaol. A serious accident was occasioned yesterday by the kick of a horse. A man was walking along the Saddle Hill road, when he was overtaken by a person riding one horse and leading another, which he was, unfortunately, tempted to mount. The vicious brute threw him, and then kicked him in the face, fracturing his lower jaw completely just at tlu arch of the chin. He was taken to the hospital, and the jaw was set. The face was also shockingly bruised. To-morrow, being Ash Wednesday, will be observed as a holiday at the public offices.