FAULTY RAILWAY ENGINEERING

Timaru Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 1763, 25 June 1877, Page 8

FAULTY RAILWAY ENGINEERING

[From the Timaku Ueuald, June 18.] We should like to find out exactly how much hus already been expended on repairs and alterations to the Canterbury railways, rendered necessary by faulty engineering. We venture to say that the amount would be something startling, and would go fur to swallow up all the profits of working the lines. Under the expression " faulty engineering," we should class the omission ot culverts at points where culverts are needed; the construction of culverts of a size altogether inadequate to the ordinary* water-flow ; and, above all, the making of embankments where experience teaches that the destruction of ■uck works is merely a matter of time. To so great an extent- do these faults prevail, that every heavy fall of rain necessitates a renewal of various portions of the line. The maintenance of the traffic, m short, depends on the continuance of fine weather. A marked instance of this occurred last week, when a rain-storm of not more than eighteen hours' duration, seriously damaged the railway at three or four different places, and rendered it perilous and difficult, if not impossible, to carry on the traffic. Such mishaps as the washing away of the northern line by the overflow of the Waimakariri, cannot, of course, be justly laid at the door of the engineers. It there is to be a railway m that locality at all, it must always be liable to destructive floods, just as the high roads are. The injuries for whioh we do blame the engineers, however, are of quite a different character. They are not brought about by the irresistible force of the groat rivers, or by any unavoidable cause. They happen at spots where the ordinary wheel traffic was never interrupted by floods, and where the plan on which the railway is constructed, alone renders the surface drainage formidable. They never would have arisen at all, if those who laid out the lines had either had foresight and experience, or had been content to toke the advice of men better informed than themselves. We know of an instance m this district which strikingly illustrates our meaning. There is a creek near one ot the largest rivers m Canterbury, which is crossed by the railway. When the line was being surveyed, the Engineer consulted a very old settler m the locality, as to what his experience of this creek was. The settler replied that he had frequently been obliged to swim his horse over the creek, when he could easily walk across the river. He said it would be necessary to leave a wide open way, m order to allow for freshes there. What was the consequence of this conversation ? The Engineer put m a twofoot culvert, against the protests of even his own subordinates ; and the first fresh m the creek flooded the neighborhood, and washed away several chains of the railway. Ex pede Herculem. What occurred at that spot occurred all over the province, and continues to occur to this day, wherever the Public Works Department are carrying on operations. We consider that it is the duty of the Government to give serious attention to such important matters as these; to make the proper persons bear the weight of responsibility for them ; and to institute without delay, a better state of things for the future. It is well known that the late Minister of Public Works had Tfiry little control over his department. He was to a great extent a tool m the hands of his subordinates; and his sole idea of administration was to screen his officers from public criticism and to stifle all enquiry into their shortcomings. Very strenuous efforts were made last session by several of the most determined members of the House of Representatives, to bring to light the hidden things of the Public Works Department, and to investigate the causes of the wretched mismanagement and disorder which characterise it. Those efforts, however, were almost wholly unavailing. The persistency, the earnestness, the resolution of those who conducted this invasion on the official stronghold, were all out-matched by the stolid passiveness of the Minister. He would give no information, would institute no enquiry of any practical value. He asked for delay, for time to ascertain facts, for anything which might put things off; and he so contrived to hoodwink or outwit his assailants, that the session closed before any of the abuses complained of had beea exposed. We believe that the strain thus^rought on Mr Richardson was great, and that he recognised that the most becoming 1 course he could adopt, was to resign his position as Minister of Public Works. He did resign, and Mr Ormond now reigns m his stead. Mr Ormond is a man of considerable ability and of no mean resolution. Whether, however, he is capable of successfully

combatting the hydra-headed bureaucracy which his predecessor permitted to com*; into existence, remains to be proved. We may teil him this, m any case. Nothing but the lateness of the ses.-ion prevented the scandals of tho Public Works Department bein<£ dragged into light last year ; and the House will be m no humor m ihe en'tiing session to tolerate any longer the. incubus of incompetent officialism under which the colon}' has groaned so long.