70 



the end of the year. The sleepers weir worked within the contract price paid by the 

 Government. The license fees paid to the Forest Department for the timber amounted to 

 nearly lOd. per sleeper on the sound sleeper produced." 



The price paid for sleepers 1' x 10* x 5 ff , containing 2*43 cubic feet, varied from 

 2s. 9d. to 3s., delivered at the Port. 



If in Knysna it is found possible to manufacture and prepare railway sleepers of 

 native wood, within the necessary limits of price, the same result should be achieved here 

 with at least equal facility, for we have better advantages in Natal for the successful 

 prosecution of the work than there exist at Knysna. 



In the first place, imported sleepers can be landed in Cape Town for less than they 

 <jan be landed in Durban ; the excess of freight may not be much, but it leaves a slightly 

 greater margin for the production of a native wood sleeper at an equal price. Then, at 

 Knysna, native labour costs 2s. 6d. or 3s. a day, and the sleepers must not only be 

 brought overland to the port at a cost of from 5d. to 9d. each, but have also to be shipped 

 and landed in Cape Town or Port Elizabeth, at a cost of about Is. each ; while in Natal, 

 native labour only costs Is. a day, the transport rates are not heavier in the season, and 

 the sleepers may be ridden direct to the line of railway. Again, there is evidence 

 to show that the creosoting process now followed at the Knysna may be replaced 

 advantageously by impregnation with chloride of zinc. Chloride of zinc is fast super- 

 seding creosote in Europe, as it preserves a sleeper almost equally well at a much smaller 

 cost. At Knysna, the cost of creosoting sleepers averages Is. 8d. each, but by using 

 ohloride of zinc, a saving of at least lOd. per sleeper could be effected. With these 

 comparative facilities, there is every prospect that the manufacture of sleepers from 

 native woods could be made a success. 



In Natal, the small imported sleepers, 6' 9* x 9" x 4^, containing 1'90 cubic feet, 

 are stated (Report of the General Manager of Railways for 1887) to cost 4s. Id. each. 

 Sleepers 1" x 10" x 5" (which are the dimensions of those cut at the Knysna), containing 

 2'43 cubic feet each, are now ordered for use with the heavier rails. Their corres- 

 ponding cost would be 5s. 2d. each. I am now informed that the cost of the last few 

 shipments of small sleepers has been 5s. each, which corresponds to a cost of 6s. 5d. for 

 the larger sleepers. 



PREPARATION OF WOOD. I would recommend the establishment of suitable works at 

 Maritzburg, which is the most convenient centre for the purpose, to season, prepare and 

 store sleepers of native wood ; these works to form part of the Railway workshops and to 

 be placed under the management of the Railway Department. The manufacture and 

 preparation of railway sleepers is discussed in Appendix III., where may be found details 

 of the principal recognised processes of impregnation now in use. Creosote and chloride 

 of zinc are the most commonly used preservative substances, and the same machinery 



