THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out Faciam." DUNEDIN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 913, 23 November 1864, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times. "Inveniam viam out Faciam." DUNEDIN, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23.

Our local column yesterday contained an announcement of two projects at present under consideration by the Government, the importance of which to the well-being and progress of the Province it is impossible to over-estimate. The one is the construction of a railwayfromDunedintoPort Chalmers, for carrying out which a company will probably be formed ; and the other, a plan which is " being " matured- by the Government for the " construction of the Dunedin and Clutha " railway." Every merchant and tradesman in Dunedin will be benefited by the first. Notwithstanding the navigable channel which enables vessels of small draft of water to come up to Dunedin, there is a disadvantage in having to transfer goods from a vessel at anchor in Port Chalmers to lighters, in order to be conveyed to their destination. Those who have seen the speed with which large ships are unloaded at the London and Liverpool docks, or even at the Railway Pier at Melbourne, will have no difficulty in perceiving that the absence of such conveniences as are in operation there adds much to the cost of goods. In the first place, ship owners require to be paid a higher rate of freight on account of the longer time occupied on the voyage, through their vessels being weeks instead of days in delivery. Then, in addition to this increased freight to the ship-owner, there is losa of time, and consequently of interest of money to the merchant who, in many cases, might have sold and delivered his goods after the arrival of the ship long before he obtains possession of them by the -present mode of lighterage. But that is not all—there is the extra labor of turning every package over at least twice more than would be necessary if the ship were moored alongside a railway pier. At Sandridge, the railway trucks are run alongside the ship—a moveable crane, worked by steam whirls the goods out of the hold, and places them at once on the railway truck, whence they are not again moved until placed in safety in the Company's Goods Warehouse, in Melbourne. Besides the diminished labor by this arrangement, there is, therefore, the decreased risk of breakage and pilferage, and thus in every way there is a gain. The advantages to Dunedin then, from a line of railway to Port Chalmers, would not only be increased facility of communication, but a reduction of the cost of imported goods, which in the end would benefit both importers and consumers.

But it these desirable results would follow the construction of this short line, in how increased a degree the argument applies to railway communication with the interior. There is a peculiarity in the mode of settlement of the populations of Otago and Victoria, which iv both cases rendered the rapid ex- j tension of roads a necessity. In both countries, there is an extensive tract of land between "the inhabitants of the sea board who are occupied in importing and distributing the necessaries of life and the large gatherings of miners engaged in developing the gold fields far in the interior. Tne consequence of the difficulties attendant upon the transport of goods over those vast areas, on roads which of necessity in the first instance were little better than bush tracks has been to increase enormously the privations and expenditure to which those engaged in mining industry were inevitably subjected. Adam Smith observes, that there is a striking analogy between roads and money. They are the instruments by which exchanges are facilitated. Dr Hearne, commenting on this passage, observes, " Although they are con- " ditions precedent to extensive pro- " duction, they do not of themselves " produce anything," and as Mr Mill remarks, when writing on money, they are " merely machines for doing quickly and " commodiously what would be done, " though less quickly and commodiously " without them.1' Their tendency is to equalise the cost of necessaries throughout the country through which they pass, and thus to place the means of comfort equally within the reach of all. It is evident, therefore, that no portion of those districts is exempted from their advantages, and the more perfect the instrument] the greater the COEY'S. SINCLAIR'S,

benefit derivable from its use. If the diggings will be benefitted by increased facility of communication with Dunedin, so will the agriculturists on the Taieri and Tokomairiro plains. If the farmers and graziers of those districts reap the advantage ol obtaining imported goods cheiiper through railway communication with Dunedin, the population of the city will equally find the profit of being brought en rapport with them. And if those advantages are to be obtained in degree by a system of common roads, they may be multiplied indefinitely by a system of railways—the best, and in the long run the least expensive class of roads. It is plain then, that it is to the advantage of the Province that, if possible, railways shouid be conytructed ; and it would be shortsighted to imagine that, even if the returns of traffic upon them do not for some years to come indicate an immediate profit on the outlay, the Province would not gain. There are many investments necessary which bring no apparent profit to a country. There must be Courts of Law and Houses for the Legislature to meet in, vand places of Worship, and prisons, and all these appear to the mere accountant as so much capital sunk and unproductive, because the returns cannot be immediately traced in their results. But those results are the general wellbeing of Society. And so it is in young communities with railways. In the first instance the immediate returns may not pay the working expenses; and it is only when the time saved in travelling, the diffusion of comfort throughout the community, the equalization of the cost 'of living, the gradual settlement of the country through which the line passes, the actual saving of merchandise that was previously wasted through damage, the decreased expense of living among all classes, and the civilisation arising from frequent intercourse are considered, that the immense benefits derivable from Railway communication can be appreciated.