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establishment of the necessary works at the Knysna, to season, prepare and store sleepers, 

 and such timber as can be advantageously utilised on the Public Works of the Colony, 

 while contracts should be entered into for the supply and delivery of Sleepers at the 

 Knysna works above referred to." 



Works were established at the Knysna during the ensuing year ; they have pro- 

 gressed since and proved very successful. The following extract from the last Report of 

 the Superintendent of the Sleeper Factory shows what was done in 1888 : 



" The total number of sleepers purchased during the year amounted to 126,900. Of 

 these, 86,900 were obtained from Government forests, and 40,000 from private forests. 

 94,380 sleepers were creosoted and shipped to the Railway Department. The number of 

 sleepers remaining in stock on the 31st December last was 94,900. The total sum 

 expended in this district during the year amounted to 20,084. Tenders for sleepers 

 were called for in February, and contracts were offered at from 500 sleepers upwards, 

 thus enabling the woodcutters themselves to take contracts. The smallest contracts 

 offered in the previous year were for 1,000 sleepers. Fifty tenders were accepted, 

 amounting to 97,000 sleepers. Subsequently, an increased supply of timber having been 

 made available in the Government forests, the contractors agreed to supply a farther 

 quantity of 20,000 sleepers. It was also arranged to work 15,000 sleepers departmentally. 

 The total supply, therefore, for the financial year 1888-89 amounted to 132,000 sleepers. 

 A considerable number of private forest sleepers received were delivered by contractors 

 who purchased their timber from private forest proprietors. If a sufficient supply of 

 timber were made available in Government forests this should not occur, on account of 

 the lesser price paid for sleepers from private forests. The supply of sleepers is almost 

 entirely dependent on hand labour. Out of the supply of 132,000, only 20,000 were 

 sawn by machinery. There seems to be every probability that the supply of from 100,000 

 to 120,000 sleepers can be obtained yearly, provided that a sufficient quantity of yellow- 

 wood is made available for felling in the Government forests. With the exception of a 

 few sleepers of witte els no sleepers were supplied of the other varieties of timber 

 authorised to be used for sleepers, and, although the license on iron wood was reduced to 

 Id. per cubic foot, the contractors were not induced to supply sleepers of this timber, 

 owing to the greater cost of working. I see no prospect of further reducing the working 

 expenses of the factory, and any difference appearing in the cost of the sleepers delivered 

 to the Railway Department will depend on the cost of the creosote and the freight on 

 the sleepers. The creosoting plant has up to the present time worked very satisfactorily, 

 and is maintained in thorough repair and working order. Arrangements were made for 

 obtaining 15,000 sleepers from the reserve forests at Gouna, and for working the Govern- 

 ment saw-mill departmentally. 12,000 of these sleepers were delivered at the factory by 



