D.—2

2

likely to exist in the near future, in regard to the Central line, the East Coast line, or any other line between Nelson or Picton and Christchurch. While comparing the relative merits of the Central and East Coast routes, we were naturally drawn to take into consideration the propriety of so locating the main line as to favour, if possible, its future connection with any line to be constructed between the East and West Coasts. Erom the evidence before us, we have come to the conclusion that no divergence to the westward of the proposed Central route would be advisable. In the absence of an accurate and detailed survey, no more than an approximate estimate of the cost of either of the proposed lines of railway, from Canterbury northwards, can now be made. It is in evidence, however, that the cost of making either line will probably exceed the average cost per mile of the lines already completed in this Colony; and that, mile for mile, the East Coast line will be, of the two, the more expensive to construct. Mr. George Blackett, the Resident Engineer of Nelson and Marlborough, gives £8,000 per mile as the probable cost of the Central line ; whilst with regard to the East Coast line by Cheviot, Mr. Hochfort, accepting Mr. Blackett's estimate for the Central line, gives it as his opinion, based upon recent examination, that the East Coast line would cost £2,000 per mile more, or £10,000 in all. The probable cost, then, adopting the estimates of these two gentlemen, of 175 miles of the Central line, from Waikari to Blenheim, still to be constructed, would be £1,400,000; and of the East Coast line, 146 miles, from Waipara to Blenheim, £1,460,000. Mr. O'Connor's estimates — viz., £1,290,000 and £1,350,000 —though somewhat lower, show the same difference in relative cost. The land suitable for agricultural settlement on the East Coast, which is of considerable extent and value, may be said to be wholly in the hands of private individuals, in large holdings, and almost exclusively occupied, except at Kaikoura, as sheep runs or for grazing purposes. The wool from the stations on and near the proposed line of railway, is now sent by sea, from various points on the coast, to Lyttelton or Wellington, and the necessary supplies are received in the same way. The wool and supplies would, we are advised, continue to be so transmitted if the railway were made, because of the greater cheapness of the sea freight as compared with the railway charges. The population in the whole district to be served by the line is small, and with a few exceptions, as at Kaikoura, all are engaged in pastoral pursuits. Even if the landed proprietors were prepared to throw open such portions of their estates as are suitable for agriculture for sale, or settlement, a long time must elapse, in the present condition of the colony as to population, before any considerable quantity of the land could be thus productively occupied. Between Parnassus and Elaxbourne, a distance of eighty-two miles, throughout which the line follows the seashore, there is no prospect, owing to the configuration and broken character of the country, of any appreciable increase of population or produce, except perhaps in the immediate neighbourhood of the small settlement of Kaikoura. The same objections may be said to apply, generally, to the construction of the Central line : the differences of advantage in its favour being, mainly, that a much larger proportion of public land would be opened and served by it than by the East Coast line, that its cost of construction would be somewhat less, and that geographically it would have more of the true character of a main trunk line, as going through the heart of the country instead of along its seabord. But, owing to its elevation and distance from the sea, the climatic conditions are so little favourable, that it is only under circumstances of extreme pressure by population that any considerable settlement, except for the prosecution of pastoral pursuits, on such public land as is now to be found in the district, can be looked for. The agricultural land at each end —separated by a district almost wholly pastoral, which stretches between the Hannier Plain and Marchburn, in the Wairau, a distance of 120 miles —is, as in the case of the East Coast line, in the hands of private individuals, and occupied mainly for pastoral purposes. It has been urged that a through line connecting the Southern settlements with a port in Cook Straits is an accepted portion of the public-works policy of the country, and that it must be carried out. That being so, it is alleged that the