CiiAP. XXIII.] 
TRANSPORT TO RAILWAY. 
477 
From tlie foregoing table i1 will be seen that the most customary 
rate in the Central Provinces fc i- the carting of manganese-ore is about 
2|- to 2| annas per ton-mile ; b it that in the case of deposits very near 
the station, like Beldongri, the tendency is for the rate to be lowered ; 
and that when the deposit is situated at a considerable distance from 
the railway, the tendency is for the rate to increase, as in the case of 
Kachi Dhana ; though it must be noted that a portion of the excessive 
rate in this case is due to the steep ascent up the ghats on the way to 
Chhindwara, and to a steep descent and ascent in crossing the Kanhun 
river. The carting is usually done by contract in the Central Provinces, 
and the carting rates include the cost of loading the carts at the mines 
and the stacking of the ore at the railway station. In addition to this 
a charge of 1 to 1^ annas is incurred in loading the ore into railway wagons. 
In the Central Provinces, however, bullock-cart transport is to a 
large extent being superseded by the construction of light tramways or 
railways. At present there are two such tramways constructed by the 
Central India Mining Co., Ltd. One of them, in the Nagpur district, joins 
the Manegaon, Mandri, Panchala, Kacharwahi, and Lohdongri deposits 
to the Bengal-Nagpur Railway at Tharsa, the total distance from Mane- 
gaon to Tharsa being 13| miles ; the other, in the Bhandara district, 
connects the western Bhandara deposits, such as Chikhla, Kosumbah, and 
Sukli, to the Bengal-Nagpur Railway at Tumsar Road, the total distance 
from Kosumbah being about 34 miles. These two lines are of 2-foot 
gauge. On the Nagpur-district line the ore was at first carried by hand- 
tramming in trains of a few trucks each. But now this line, as well 
as the Bhandara line, has been converted to steam traction and the ore 
is hauled in trains of 25 to 30 trucks at a time, each truck holding 
1 to 2 tons according to size. The Balaghat deposit has been con- 
nected directly to the 2|-foot-gauge branch of the Bengal-Nagpur Rail- 
way known as the Satpura Railway, by a short line of 2 miles' length. 
The last connection is the broad-gauge branch of the Bengal-Nagpur 
Railway running out to Ramtek, with a siding to Mansar and Kandri, 
a total distance of about 17 miles. This was comp eted and 
opened to traffic during 1908. Another line that would further 
decrease the need of bullock-cart transport is the proposed 
extension of the Satpura Railway from Nagpur to Chhindwara ; another 
proposed branch of the Satpura system is a line from Mandla to 
Bilaspur, passing through Baihar in the Balaghat district, from which 
place a siding could be run out to Ul-ua. 
