TKANSAOTIONS OF SECTION J. 475 



would be possible to work this without the aid of artificial ven- 

 tilation, which is an open question. 



Then, the estimate of cost on the incline will be — six miles 

 of incline, multiplied by l'43d. per ton, multiplied by 150,000, 

 equals l,287,000d.; nineteen miles of flats x l-09d. x 150,000 

 = 3,110,500d. : total, 4,397,500d. = £18,322. Tmmel section 

 seven miles of usual grades x l-09d. x 150,000 = l,144,500d. 

 14-18 miles of 1 in 50 x l-23d. x 150,000 = 2,619,000d. 

 3-2 miles of tunnel x l-09d. x 150,000 = 523,200d. : total, 

 4,286, 700d., or £17,861 ; showing a difference in favour of cost 

 of working the tunnel line of £461 per annum. 



Comparing the two sections on the basis E, of l-65d. 

 per ton for the incline as the present Fell incline, the balance 

 in favour of the tunnel is increased to £1,287 per annum. 



If the tunnel and Abt incline are compared without con- 

 sidering the nature of the sections dependent on them — but 

 which is inadmissible in practice — the balance of cost in work- 

 ing would be about £4,000 per annum in favour of the tunnel, 

 on account of the greater height through which the load is 

 Ufted on the incline. 



Mr. Maxwell reported to the Government on this question 

 during the time the New Zealand Midland railway contract 

 was before the House, and this report was printed as Parlia- 

 mentary Paper D.-8, 1888. He gives £6,000 in favour of 

 the cost of working the tunnel. But this may be accounted 

 for by the difference of data used in this instance, Mr. Maxwell 

 taking ^d. per ton per mile for locomotive charges, as on the 

 ordinary lines with l-in-50 grade, and the ordinary average 

 wages ; but this, as shown, must be modified in considering 

 railway work on the West Coast, and over exceptional country 

 this must be increased, and also charges for maintenance must 

 be materially increased for working a long bank on the sidling 

 ground down to the Otira and Teremakau Eivers. According 

 to the estimate of cost of working the tunnel section on basis 

 A, wdiich is £18,360, and the cost of working the incline on 

 basis D throughout the average cost of the New Zealand rail- 

 ways, instead of on the combined bases B and C, as before 

 compared, this becomes £12,250, which new figure would leave 

 a balance of £6,110 in favour of the tunnel, which is practically 

 the same figure as that given by Mr. Maxwell, and arrived at 

 by separate reasoning, but which is reduced, as before stated, to 

 £461 when the true conditions of working the sections are 

 compared. 



The result of the comparison made shows that the esti- 

 mated difference in cost of constructing this section with an 

 incline instead of a tunnel, and locating the adhesion line on 

 the river-flats, against a summit tunnel of three miles and a 

 quarter, and the greater part of the line located on the hillsides. 



