The Invercargill Times. MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1863.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 103, 19 October 1863, Page 2

The Invercargill Times. MONDAY, OCTOBER 19, 1863.

On looking over the order paper of Fiiday evening's sitting of the Provincial Council, we were rather surprised at seeing Mr Tarl ton's notice of motion:— "That this Council, by a previous decision, having resolved upon adopting the narrow guage with iron rails, is of opinion that no other guage should be sanctioned, nor any other mode of construction resolved upon, on the proposed line from Invercargill to Winton.'' The honorable member, when speaking against the Wallacetown diversion, laid particular stress on the importance of immediate construction of a line of railway *, in fact, that it must be constructed before next winter to enable us to hold our own as regards the Lake traffic. This was the chief reason why the straight line was carried. Now, it would appear from the wording of the motion, which was carried, that the Government is bound to construct the railway [ on a certain principle, which cannot possibly be deviated from. We say, it would appear, for, from what we could gather from the remarks of Mr. Tarlton, when speaking, to the motion, it was not his intention to throw any obstacles in the way of its speedy construction, or, indeed, to fetter the Government in its action in the matter; for, beyond elucidating the facts that iron was more durable than wood, and that wooden tramways and railways had been given up whenever iron could be substituted — facts which, we fancy, were pretty generally understood prior to the honorable gentleman's statement — we did not understand that he considered the carrying of his motion as precluding the Government from carrying out their projected railway in accordance with the preliminary report of the Chief Surveyor. Some time since we called attention to Mr Davies' scheme, with the view of having the matter discussed in all its bearings prior to the sitting of the Council, and we called the attention of the Government to the advisability ot constructing a line of railway on Mr Davies' principle from the head of the jetty to the reserve at th£ baqk.. v of .the j!js«--;*!4-'-"-«^'- i ~*' !j3 ''S" c ****' aii *' = '^"***i"**™'iT>' *** trrciL/ic; itpaU during winter those parts of Tweed and Clyde "Streets over which the heaviest tragic in the Province had to pass, even if the railway had to be made at the Government expense ; but we believe Mr. Davies would have been only too 'glad to have constructed and worked it at his own expense, had the profits accruing therefrom been assured to him for at least three years, and the goods would have been brought into the heart of the town at a considerably less cost to the importers than by the present system of cartage, more regularly, and more expeditiously. Had this been done, the public would have had an op port unity of seeing tile practicability of Mr. Davies' proposition ; and thougjjgit could only have been in operation three or four months before the Council was called together, that time would have been sufficient to have proved whether it was likely to succeed, or, if it failed, to what extent, and whether such failure was remediable ; it would, in fact, have come before the Council not as an experiment, but as a thing which had been tested and proved, and it would also have tested the capabilities of our native timber; and had any fraying resulted, it could have been easily calculated what the injury would be if the time were extended from three to eleven months. It must also be recollected that the entire traffic of the Province would have passed over this neck, and thus, though the time would be short, the number of trips performed would have equalled, in all probability, a year's traffic on the rail from Invercargill to Winton. The risk to the Government as regards expense, had Mr Davies constructed and worked the line, would have been absolutely nothing, while the advantages were so palpable that we cau only express surprise that the Government did .not seize the opportunity. There seems to be some misunderstanding out of doors, as well as in the Council, as regards the railway from Invercargill to Winton. From what we can gather, it would appear to be looked upon merely in the light of an experiment, to be set down « in the same category as the celebrated wooden baulk- way. This, judging from Mr Heale's report, is entirely erroneous; in fact, the whole tenor of that report, taken in conjunction with his report on " Davies' wooden railway," also laid before the Council, leads to the assurance, that while inclined to give a trial to Mr Davies' plany not one sixpence will be expended in the construction of the line which would not be absolutely ' necessary for the constructien of a railway on the usual principle, the difference being merely that the longitudinal sleepers for iron bridge rails having been laid down, can, by the adoption of Mr Davies' patent engines and carriages, be at once made serviceable pending the arrival of iron rails from

England, and fclnis the great object of making a railway'at all—i.c-, of securing, I? good, cheap, jand viable road from Tnvei cargill to W.inton before the winter sets in-— can" b*e attained without the slightest risk. To quote from Mr Heale's report: — " The increased -cost of constructing an iron railway in ■ this manner would be very small, if any. thing ; and quite incpmtnehsbrate with the*advantage of getting the wooden , railway Open befof e wi fitter ; r €re» if ip should wcyMifat/'mdJfferMly". No amount of fraying' in, the wooden rails would render them unfit for use as sleepers for iron bridge "rails, were it. found necessary finally to resort to them. To recapitulate arguments as to the necessity of immedi tely constructing a railroad to Winton is useless : the urgency of the matter is, we believe, too well understood both ia and outside of the Council, if any other incentive than self-interest we*c wanting, we ought to do so on purely philanthropical motives, for to quote Mr Heales' words, " any failure >n the road from Invercavgill must always serve as a stimulus to increased expense on that to Dunedin, and it should be a point of honor to this Province, not to drive its neighbor into efforts so necessarily wasteful as the attempt to make a road of at least one hundred and fifty miles, over mountains and through gorges, preferable to one only eighty-three miles long, over i a level plain." When the peculiar description of railway to be constructed is under the discussion of the Council, doubtless the evidence of Messrs. Heale, Marchant, and Davies, will be taken, but as the majority of our readers cannot be present, we re-assert that the Government,, judging from the Chief Surveyor's report, does not contemplate trying an experiment, that everyone of the longitudinal wooden sleepers to be laid down will be absolutely required for the ordinary description of railway, but that they will, by the adoption of Mr Davies 1 scheme, be at once made useful, and thus enable us to obtain that which we have so long desired — a good, road to the Lake diggings. The two events which were, according to our Otago friends, to consign the Province of Southland to an early grave, are not likely after all to be productive of anything so dreadful. Neither the discovery of the direct route to the West Coast, nor the new goldfield at the Taieri will be deathblows. We are sorry that our neighbors should, in a moment of exultation, — and before they knew how much to be glad, and what about — have committed Themselves. It seems thatDr Hector's explorations, valuable though they be, have . not accomplished some of their main ends. A suitable port could not be hit upon, and it was not ascertained clearly whether the country was auriferous. A port certainly was found — one that the describes it as seldom accessible — open to a se'i that is ever stormy, and exposed to gales furious and variable. The entrance is said to be strewn about with shelvings of rock; and sandbanks abound. The only way in which this port can be made at all useful — and without a port the road across is valueless — is, we are told by the Explorer, to construct an extensive breakwater ; a work of years, and costly to a degree. We question if Otago, with all her enthusiasm, will be prepared to undertake this means of extinguishing Southland. A good breakwater is, we repeat, the work of more than a decade. Take, for example, that constructed at Plymouth. It was commenced in 1812, and though steadily gone on with, not finished till 1841. Its cost was a million and a half sterling. Quite as substantial a breakwater would be required on the West Coast, and the expense of its construction would be even greater; so we 'may justifiably conclude, that if Otago attempt the gigantic undertaking, we shall have a respite of twenty-nine years before collapsing, and that, at the end of that period, Otago will probabdy have ruined herself with a work beyond her strength, and will collapse too. As to the other thunderbolt launched at our devoted heads, it has turned out only theatric fire. The Taieri goldfield, according to latest reliable accounts, is no goldfield at a]], and the men who published the false report, may have been " Lynched " by this time, for aught we know, by the exasperated hundreds, nay, according to the Dunedin papers, thousands, who went off on the wild goose chase. The formation of the country was certainly found to be auriferous, but the same may be said of every part of New Zealaud. There were, it is true, a few men working here and there, who washed out an occasional speck; but our impression is, that the Spots are rare in this colony, in which occasional specks cannot be washed out. Southland need not fear that her settlers will rush off to diggings of this kind, notwithstanding that the whole population of Dunedin ■ have gone mad, abandoned legitimate occupations, and thrown themselves ferociously upon the gullies of the Taieri. After a ; careful revision of the facts, we hefoe, strange to say, some faint hopes of Southland outliving, not only the discovery of the route to the West Coast, but also the great rush to the Taieri.