D.—2

1888. NEW ZEALAND.

AMERICAN RAILROADS (REPORT OF INQUIRIES MADE RESPECTING): BY MR. J. P. MAXWELL.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

Mr. J. P. Maxwell, General Manager, New Zealand Eailways, to the Hon. the Minister for Public Works. Sir,— 29th February, 1888. I have the honour to report that, in accordance with instructions received from the Agent-General to make inquiries respecting American railroads, I proceeded to New York from England, arriving there on the 27th December, 1887. After making inquiries in the vicinity of New York and Philadelphia, I proceeded to Buffalo, and thence to Chicago, Topeka, Pueblo, Denver, Ogden, Portland (Oregon), and San Francisco, travelling over the Pennsylvania Eailroad, the New York Central, Michigan Central, Chicago and Alton ; Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe ; Denver and Eio Grande, Union Pacific, Oregon Short Line, and the Oregon and Californian railroads. I visited the Baldwin Locomotive Works at Philadelphia, the largest of the kind in the world, the last year's work being 653 locomotives; also the Eogers Locomotive Works at Paterson; Jackson and Sharp's carriage works, Wilmington ; the Altona Workshops, on the Pennsylvania Eailroad; the Pullman-car Works, the Allen. Paper-wheel Works, and the Denver-Bio Grande workshops at Burnham, Denver, &c. I had the opportunity of consulting and obtaining information from some of the general officers of the New York Central Eailroad, at New York and Buffalo; the Pennsylvania Eailroad, at Philadelphia and Altona; the Adams Express Company; the Illinois Central, at Chicago; the Denver-Bio Grande, at Denver; the Oregon-California Eailroad, at Portland; and the Central Pacific, at San Francisco ; and also Mr. Albert Fink, Commissioner of the Trunk Line Association, at New York, and Mr. Blanchard, Commissioner of the Central Traffic Association, at Chicago. The object in following the route named was to see something of railroad business in the more remote districts. The lines in the East are situated among a population of many millions, and are among cities of great magnitude. They serve great manufacturing districts; their traffic is very great; their locomotives, rolling-stock, and roads are of the heaviest calibre. They run passengertrains at great speeds, in keeping with their appliances and roads, with the needs of the vast population they serve, and the great distances they traverse. The conditions they work under are remotely different from those attending the colonial railways, and, there being little in common in the conditions of traffic, we are less likely to find them of value to us in furnishing precedent for colonial practice than in those roads farther west. The New York Central Vestibule Express runs 953 miles, from New York to Chicago, in twenty-five hours, averaging nearly thirty-nine miles an hour, with sleeping-, dining-, and drawing-room cars of the most expensive and luxurious description, connecting New York, with 2,500,000 people, and Chicago, with 600,000 people. The Pennsylvania Eailroad runs a similar train to Chicago. Its express train from New York to Philadelphia, ninetyone miles, is run in two hours five minutes. Philadelphia has nearly 1,000,000 people. This company is employing 50-ton locomotives, and has cars to carry up to 60,0001b. of freight. The Illinois Central is a line traversing a well-settled and productive country, and is connected with the cities of Chicago and New Orleans, but has different conditions of traffic. After going west from Chicago the route I followed leads into districts which are very thinly populated. The Denver-Bio Grande system is of especial interest. It is of 3ft. gauge, and traverses a mountainous district, with maximum grades of lin 25, and curves sometimes 200 ft. radius. It has 531b. and 301b. rails. The line crosses the Eocky Mountains at an elevation of 10,850 ft., and connects Denver —70,000 population —with Salt Lake —20,000; distance, 771 miles. The country is thinly peopled ; the traffic is chiefly minerals and cattle. From Ogden to Portland, Oregon, 885 miles, the country is very thinly peopled. The Oregon country produces timber, grain, sheep, and cattle. Portland, on the Columbia Biver, I—D. 2.