980 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION H. 
from the users in rates and fares, on the one hand, and the 
working expenses and interest on the capital, on the other, is the 
only financial question, whereas in the other case, the owners— 
that is to say, the people of the colony—are at once the share- 
holders, the general public to be served, the landowners, to some 
extent, whose property is improved, and the taxpayers who are 
interested in the increase of population induced by railway exten- 
sion, such increase always reducing the cost per head of governing 
them. 
The proper way, therefore, to ascertain the commercial value of 
a proposed railway to be constructed by the Government for the 
benefit of its people, is first to estimate its cost, including that of 
equipment, and the value of the land occupied, both public and 
private, and to put the annual interest on this amount, and the 
estimated working expenses, on the debit side. 
Then on the credit side, should be placed :— 
(1.) The present cost of carriage by road of goods and pas- 
sengers over the length of the proposed line, which 
expenditure will cease on its completion. This is a 
credit, for the wealth of a country is the value of its 
products, less the cost of production, and one of the 
costs of production is that of transport ; therefore, if 
the transport be cheapened the wealth is increased by 
the amount of that cheapening. In this credit also 
should be included the money value of the saving in 
time of conveyance of goods and passengers. 
(2.) The gain to the country, generally, by an additional area 
being brought within the influence of the railways, 
leading to increased production, under the economical 
advantages provided by the connection with the main 
railway system. 
.) The increased value to the Crown lands within such ' 
influence, or to the natural products thereof, such as 
timber, &e., &e. ; and 
(4.) The saving in net cost of Government by the increased 
density ou population induced by the better communi- 
cation. 
Oo 
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It may be said that credit also should be taken for the cost: 
saved of maintenance of roads superseded by the railway, but it 
has been found in practice, owing to new country being developed 
with the new roads of access required, that more rather than less 
expenditure is incurred as a rule for roads, through railway 
extension. 
The same considerations apply to the road transport by horses 
and waggons, the operations of which do not cease when a railway 
is made, but are merely transferred laterally and further afield. 
