Sept. 1, 1900.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
In his speech to the Legislative Council in 
August 1847, Lord Torrington made the follow- 
ing reference : — 
Not altogether unconnected with this subject is that 
of a projected railway communication between Colombo 
and the coffee districts. I have every reason to 
believe that such an undertaking, to the extent in 
the first instance of thirty-two miles, will be not 
long delayed. I have received the authority of the 
Right Hon'ble the Secretary of State to submit for 
your consideration an Ordinance having for its object 
the facilitating this desirable undertaking, and to 
give its projectors such privileges and powers as 
cannot fail to secure the ultimate accomplishment 
of the end in view, with advantage to the public 
and to the shareholders. 
As soon as I have received information that the 
arrangements of the Company are sufliciently 
matured, and the requisite proportion of the sub- 
scribed capital has been paid up, I shall not fail 
to submit to you such an Ordinance as may be 
required for the purpose. 
What followed next is succinctly related by 
Pridham whose volumes on Ceylon were published 
in 1849:— 
la 1815, a Railway, with a capital of one million 
sterling, was projected in England by the mercantile 
houses connected with the colony, between Colombo 
and Kandy in the first instance, but with the 
ultimate design of the connecting other districts 
wherever practicable. The illimitable expansion of 
railway enterprise had already sustained a check, 
when the attensioa of the public was called to this 
undertaking, and before its plans could be thoroughly 
matured, and a report be received from the surveyor 
of its practicability —a monetary pressure had set 
in, and the Directors found themselves unable to 
obtain the full call to which the shareholders had 
pledged themselves. A communication had already 
been made to the Colonial Department, which at 
once referred the matter for the consideration and 
report of the Local Government, whose reply 
was, as might have been expected, of a highly en- 
couraging character. 
Under these circumstanees, and in consequence 
of its having been discovered, that the cost of 
construction would very considerably exceed the 
sum originally estimated per mile, and that the 
Government was indisposed to accede to any pro- 
position immediatehj involving the revenue of the 
colony on the capital required for the whole line, 
the Company has been compelled to suspend its 
intention of proceeding with the entire line for the 
present, and has selected a part by way of experiment. 
On the line thus modified, the Government has 
sanctioned, by ordinance, a guarantee of five per 
cent, per annum, along with a free grant of the 
land required for the railway for a term of cinety- 
nine years, the Government having the right of 
purchase after the expiration of fifty years, and the 
reversion of the line, withoirt purchase, at the end 
of ninety-nine years. The result of this modified 
plan is, that the old Company has been dissolved, 
the capital has been reduced to one-fourth, viz , 
£300,000, under the new Company, and the holders 
of shares in the former are entitled to the same 
number of shares in the new company, as though 
it had been found possible to carry the original 
undertaking into effect. In addition, power has been 
reserved to increase the capital to the o.iginal 
amount when requisite, and the option of the 
additional stock will be given to the present sub- 
scribers. 
Its claims to public notice are thus set forth by 
its promoters. " Ceylon is subject to no volcanic 
action ; the soil is admirably adapted for the con- 
struction of railways, and the country through which 
the contemplated line will pass is not liable to be 
flooded during the monsoons, Laboiu' is excessively 
cheap in the island ; and bricks, lime, and timber 
may be procured with facility," " The sources of 
revenue are a large goods traffic ; considerable 
passenger intercourse, and the conveyance of troops 
and mails, &o." Under the first head, it is stated 
that the number of bullock bandies, with goods, pass- 
ing between Colombo and Kandy, is about 79.000 
annually, and the average hire about £2 10s each, 
shewing a cost for transport between Colombo and 
Eandy of £197,500 per annum. The carriage of 
goods by these carts is tedious and uncertain, and 
the expense is greatly increased by reason of the 
extensive mortality among the cattle employed ; so 
much so, that natives, each bearing a load of 
merchandise, are occasionally dispatched from 
Colombo to Kandy, in preference to that mode of 
conveyance. The cost of transport by rail will bo 
much less, but as the traffic by this means of con- 
veyance will greatly increase, there can be little 
doubt that this branch of traffic would of itself be 
sufficient for the remuneration of the capital invested. 
The present mail coaches in Ceylon are said to 
shew an annual return of upwards of £7,000, but 
it is clear, that it is on the first source of revenue 
that the Company mast principally depend for support 
in the outset. 
Over the division of the line* first to be under 
taken, all the traffic between Colombo and Kandy 
will pass ; and assuming that 40,000 tons are carried 
* The line selected by the surveyor, commences 
at the east bank of the Kalane, about three miles 
from Colombo, and following for the first thirty-two 
miles the direction of the great military road to 
Kandy and Kuruuaigalla, which the line crosses 
twice, enters the valley of the Maha-oya, which it 
follows for twenty-three miles, to the foot of the 
hill country at the Kaduganava Pas». At this point, 
it commences a rapid ascent to the summit 
on which Kandy is situated, and terminates about 
three miles short of that city, being a length of 
fuorteen miles, and making the whole length of the 
railway sixty-nine miles. Over the first division of 
thirty two miles, the country is flat, the total rise 
not exceeding 170 fict in the whole length, and 
the highest land passed over between these points, 
not exceeding 240 feet. Flat, however, as this part 
of the country is, the surface is broken in wany 
places by short hillocks, which, though capable of 
being avoided in some places, will render consider- 
able earthworks occasionally necessary, and give 
a class of gradients of 1 in 150 to 1 in 200. Extensive 
and deep cuttings should be obviated wherever 
possible, lest they should become torrent beds in 
the rainy season. The second division involves 
heavier gradients and works than the first, as the 
country becomes more broken. For seventeen miles 
the gradient need not exceed 1 in 150 to 1 in 200, 
but beyond that, they might be so steep as 1 in 100 
to 1 in 50 for the remaining five miles. The total 
rise of country on this division is 540 feet, without 
any intermediate summit. The third division, form- 
it!g the ascent to Kandy, is an elevation of 1,100 
feet to be overcome, but the gradients may, it seems^ 
be so arranged, as not to exceed 1 in 50, the nume- 
ous mountain ravines admitting of a lengthening 
of the line, so as to accomplish that object. The 
termination of the first division, i.e., the portioQ to 
be immediately constructed, is near the point of 
jmction between the Kurunaigalla and Kandy road, 
and consequently where the streams of traffic oa 
these two great military roads meet. The termina- 
tiou of the second is at the commencement of the 
hill couury, and intersects the great military road 
only 13 miles from Kandy. The cost per mile, includ- 
ing stock, for the two first divisions of the line (which 
is to be single), has been estimated somewhat under 
£9,000 and of the third division from £21,000 to 
£22,000 per mile. The expense of crossing the 
Kilane, and entering Colombo, is avoided, as also 
of entering Kandy, when the time shall arrive for 
completing the whole line, 
