450 REPORT — 1891. 



2. On icorhing Narroio-gauge Eaihvays luith Light Traffic in 

 Neiv Zealand. 



By J. P. Maxwell, M.I.C.E., Commissioner for Eailways in 

 New Zealand. 



The peculiar conditions under which the New Zealand Govern- 

 ment railways are situated in many respects, make it of interest 

 to examine the expenses attending the transit of goods and pas- 

 sengers thereon, and to compare the results of working the prin- 

 cipal groups. The largemileageof railway in proportion to the 

 population, the location of the population along the coast-line 

 mainly, the active competition of water-carriage against the 

 railways at many points, the very short distances over which 

 traffic can be carried, the importation by sea of the great pro- 

 portion of mercantile products which are used by the popula- 

 tion, the extension of the railways inland to mountainous and 

 pastoral districts almost devoid of population, form a combina- 

 tion of circumstances adverse to the railway system such as 

 probably has no parallel in any other country. 



The comparison of the working results of different systems 

 of railways, without any precise knowledge of the conditions 

 under which they have been a,ttained, or of the manner in 

 which accounts have been compiled, is a common error, and 

 one which leads to many erroneous inferences. 



The conditions affecting railway operations are so complex 

 that it is often difficult to draw correct inferences from data, 

 even from results obtained from railways working in the same 

 country and climate. Where the systems are in different coun- 

 tries, where nearly all the conditions differ widely, the difficulties 

 are much increased. The rates of wages, the physical features 

 of the roads, the durability of materials, the cost and economic 

 value of fuel, the climate, risks from storms and floods, density 

 of population, competition, the extent class and direction of 

 traffic, the age of the lines, and many other factors affect re- 

 sults. 



In Europe, where unskilled labour earns from Is. 6d. to 

 2s. 6d. per day of ten or twelve hours, the population is very 

 dense, distances traversed are short, and fuel and iron are cheap, 

 the practice and results should be expected to differ widely 

 from those in the United States, where unskilled labour earns 

 a dollar a day of ten hours, fuel and iron are dearer, popula- 

 tion is less dense, and the distances traversed are much greater. 

 Still more widely must the practice and results be expected 

 to differ from both these in our own colony, wdiere unskilled 

 labour earns still higher wages, and the working - day is 



