RAILWAY COMMISSION.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 3505, 5 August 1880, Page 2

RAILWAY COMMISSION.

STRATFORD AND NORMANBY LINE. The following evidence was taken by the Commissioners on the 18th May with respect to the formation of the railway between Stratford and Normanby, at New Plymouth :—: — Mr. Robert West Holmes, Resident Engineer, sworn and examined, said : There is one contract at present being carried out called »the Mangawhero Contract. That extends to 7 miles beyond Stratford. That section will be completed in November next. Tenders are now being called for a further length of 4A- miles, the work to be completed on the 3 1st March next. The formation, for 4 miles on this side of Normanby will be completed this month (May). Then tenders will have to be called for laying the permanent way on that portion of the line. That will complete the line to Normanby, I have charge of the

construction of the line to Hawera ; but the survey of the line between Normanby and Hawera is not under my control : it is under the control of Mr. Foy. The Government in Wellington, or, I suppose, the Engineer in Charge, fixed the station-sites 0:1 the line of railway, upon Mr. Foy's recommendation. For the part of the line he is surveying he would recommend, from an engineering point of view, the station-sites. The first stationsite, Sh or i miles beyond Stratford, was fixed in Wellington. lam aware that a siding has been put in about a mile on this side of the point at which the line leaves the main road. The reasons for selecting that particular spot were because there is a level grade there, and a district road crosses the railway line at that point. There is a difficulty about the grade a mile further on. The line all the way from Stratford to Norraanby, with very few exceptions, is on a falling grade. The grade at the point of divergence of the line from the main south road is 1 in 60 ; and that is the substantial reason for fixing the station a mile on this side of that point. There are also very heavy cuttings on the line near the accommodation house at the point of divergence. Ido not know when the Tasmanian sleepers that are being used on the line were imported. They were imported before I came to this district. I have been here since last September. I do not know what they cost, except from a Parliamentary paper which was published I last session, which stated, I think, that the cost was 4s. 10d. each. The sleepers we are now using for the line other than the Tasmanian sleepers are matai, and a few rimu left over fiom last permanentway contract. I think the contract was 2s. Id. each. The overseers had the passing of those sleepers. The person who passed the matai sleepers we are now using is named Friers. He is not now in the public service. Drunkenuess was the principal cause of his leaving. A few sleepers I have obtained have been passed by Mr. Oliver. lam aware that a great many of those sleepers are below the standard size. I allude to the sleepers passed by Friers. He was discharged before I came here. I suppose 1 am responsible for their now being placed in the line. Ido not think it conducive to a good road to put in sleepers so small as many of those that were passed by Mr. Friers. I have not made any representation on the subject to the Engineer in Charge, and am simply using sleepers because they are Govern meat property acquired before I came into the district. lam not receiving any sleepers of the same character now. lam not getting any at present ; the supply has been stopped. The few I obtained were 7 feet long, 7by 5 inches. I have heard that in the Middle Island they now order none under 8 by 5 inches ; but I have had no official intimation. I should say the life of the matai sleepers was about ten years. I cannot speak positively, because I have not seen any used and seen them again after the lapse of a certain number of years. I use these smaller sleepers on the straight and for tlie middle sleepers. A good many of the sleepers are too small, and have been thrown out, and not used on the main line. I have used them temporarily in ballast-pit siding 3. lam not responsible for the selection of the station site at Normanbj'. The tender for the first contract from Stratford was, I think, £9700 ; and the distance of that contract is six miles GO chains. It included everything but cost of rails and sleepers and station-buildings. The next contract would be much heavier. Speaking roughly, I should say it would cost about £3,500 per mile. The length of that contract is four and a half miles. The £3,500 per mile covers the earthwork, platelaying, and ball isting. This is the heaviest section of the line from here to Normanby. That cost includes culverts and bridges. Ou the west coast of the South Island the rimu sleepers only lasted three or four years. I fancy the heart of rimu here is a much superior class of timber.