Factors Militating Against More Rapid Construction.

Considering the numerous obstacles met with, the progress of railway construction was remarkably rapid right up till difficulties occurred in connection with raising loans on the onset of depression, following the continued drops in export prices that had begun in the late ‘seventies.

The chief of the obstacles militating against still more rapid construction was probably the fewness of competent surveyors and engineers. Thus, the first rough survey of a route from Canterbury to Westland was not made till 1874; it was not till 1883 that the Arthur's Pass route was decided on as the best, and not till 1900 that the length and gradient of the summit tunnel were closely determined. The first flying survey from Picton to Christchurch did not take place till 1875. A systematic survey south from the Waikato towards Wellington had to wait till 1885. Even then it was far from complete. It was 1877 before the various routes to Cromwell (Central Otago) were surveyed and a decision was arrived at in favour of the Taieri Gorge Route as giving reasonable

Old Class “D” car as rebuilt in 1885. (Length, 20ft.; width, 6ft. 10in. Tare, 5 tons).

grades together with the shortest distance from Dunedin—as compared with routes from Kingston via Kawarau, Waipahi via Ettrick, Lawrence via Ettrick, Palmerston via Macraes, Palmerston via Shag Valley, and Duntroon via Kyeburn. A route from Wellington to Foxton was not surveyed till 1878, and it was 1879 before the superiority of the via Johnsonville route over various routes striking west from points on the Hutt Valley was demonstrated; and then, after the Government had spent £33,000 on this line, it was abandoned to private enterprise on the adverse report of a Royal Commission in 1880. Flying surveys north of Helensville and between Whangarei and the Bay of Islands had to wait till 1880, while final decisions as to details of routes in those areas had to wait a third of a century longer.

In certain cases difficulty in deciding the most practicable route held up construction progress. Few such problems were met with on the Canterbury Plains, the route being mainly determined by the most convenient places for crossing the numerous snow-fed rivers from the Southern Alps—usually the place where the river was narrowest near the mouth. As already mentioned, however, difficulties in the way of discovering a good route out of Dunedin to the North held up construction there till 1874, and similar delays occurred in connection with the Wellington-Wairarapa Railway. As early as the beginning of 1879 the railway between Christchurch and Bluff was, however, open, the last two sections to be completed being from Wai-Kouaiti to Palmerston South (September, 1878) and from Balclutha to Clinton (January, 1879).

The appointment, in 1878, of two separate engineers in charge for each Island in place of one Engineer-in-Chief, no doubt helped the situation as regards the overworking of the engineering staff, as did also the separation in the same year of the construction of railways from the management of working railways.

Shortages of labour had also militated against more rapid construction of new railways. Maoris were proved inefficient as early as 1871, and the importation of Chinese was canvassed as early as 1872, but frowned upon by the authorities. This problem was gradually overcome by the introduction of large numbers of immigrants from Britain and North-Western Europe.

In many districts the rate of progress was considered by the inhabitants to be far too slow, and companies were formed to build railways. The Dunedin, Peninsula, and Ocean Beach Railway Company was incorporated in 1875; and, having received provincial blessing, at once proceeded to construct tracks and then to ask the Government to sell or lend it rails for its lines out of the Government surplus stocks—only to be informed by the Government that incorporation was not enough, there was no common law right to run so potentially dangerous a thing as a railway, or to assume that the Otago Harbour Board and the Government would permit the company at one point to cross the foreshore below high-water line, or to use the Government railway tracks—all of which were contemplated.

Recriminations ensued, and when the correspondence was published the veracity of at least one leading local politician was gravely impugned. This matter was eventually adjusted only by the passing of the Railway Companies Act, 1875 (replaced in 1877 by the District Railways Act). All private railway projects had to receive prior Government approval, and only a 3 ft. 6 in. gauge was to be allowed. Under the 1877 Act interest for fifteen years up to 7 per cent. per annum from the date of completion was to be guaranteed, 2 per cent. by the Consolidated Fund and the balance by local authority rating. Other private railways of this period — some of them constructed under special Acts—were:—

One of the old “K” class locomotives imported by the Railways Department to run the through express trains between Christchurch and Oamaru.

Waimate Gorge Railway (started 1879; opened 1883; bought out by Government, 1885).

Rakaia and Ashburton Forks Railway (opened 1880; bought out by Government, 1885).

Waimea Plains Railway (Gore Lumsden) (commenced 1878; completed 1880; bought out by Government, 1886).

Thames Valley - Rotorua Railway (bought out by the Government in 1885 on the eve of completion from Morrins-ville to Putaruru and Lichfield in the following year).

Kaitangata Railway (special Private Act, 1875).

Duntroon and Hakataramea Railway (commenced 1879; opened 1881; bought out by Government, 1885).

Other railways in this category were the Wanganui Heads Railway; the Nightcaps Railway (Southland); and the Fernhill Railway (near Dunedin).

An Act to facilitate the reclamation of Lakes Forsyth and Ellesmere and the construction of a railway from Christchurch to Akaroa was passed in 1876; but to this day all that has been done is for the Government to construct a railway to Little River.

(Cont. on page 41.)