7&5 
THK  Tropical  agriculturist. 
[May  I,  1897. 
the  Bombay  route  is  almost  barred  oa  account  of 
the  Piiigue. 
'ihen  Irom  a Military  and  Imperial  point  of  view, 
an  Indo-Ceylon  Junction  Kailvvay  could  not  fail  to 
be  of  much  importance  to  British  troops  kept  in  the 
comparatively  cool  healthy  barracks  at  Bangalore, 
or  higher  up  on  the  Nilgiris,  who  could,  if  required,  be 
carried  by  rail  for  shipment  at  Colombo  to  any 
part  of  the  African,  Austral,  Asiatic,  European 
or  Americau  world.  The  British  Infantry  Regiment 
now  kept  in  detachments  at  different  stations  (mostly 
very  hot)  in  Ceylon,  might  well  be  dispensed  with 
or  kept  ready  at  Bangalore  more  especially  in  view 
of  a full  local  Infantry  Volunteer  Corps,  Volunteer 
Artillery  and  Mounted  Foot  Companies  to  back  the 
Royal  Artillery  in  charge  of  the  Batteries.  For 
local  disturbance  of  any  kind,  there  is  absolutely  no 
need  of  the  British  regiment. 
Having  thus  shown  the  intimate  trade  and  cooly  re- 
lations between — and  the  great  encouragement  to  con- 
nect Ceylon  and  Southern  India  by  railway,  I come  to 
the  question  of  the  practical  work  required  and 
the  probable  cost  of  the  same. 
THE  INDO  CEYLON  RAILW.VY  : — GAUGES. 
The  Standard  Railway  Gauge  of  India  adopted  by 
Lord  Dalhousie  is  5.V  feet  and  Ceylon  followed  suit 
for  its  own  Railways.  But  there  are  700  miles  of 
Railway  on  the  metre-gauge  in  Southern  India  and 
thei'e  is  only  an  extension  of  100  miles  from  the  town 
of  Madura  (60,000  people)  through  a populous  district 
to  Pamban  required  to  complete  the  South  Indian 
system.  From  Pamban  there  would  then  be  un- 
broken communicrtion  by  metre-gauge  lines  to  the 
town  of  Madras  serving  all  the  Presidency  territory 
between  these  points  and  across  the  Southern 
districts.  In  Ceylon  there  is  no  metre-gauge  ; but 
if  the  direct  route  from  Mannar  along  the  hedthy 
open  West  Coast  to  Colombo*  were  adopted,  there 
would  be  no  iiiteiference  with  any  existing  i-ailway 
in  the  island  and  the  metre-g  luge  (served  it  might  be 
from  workshops  in  Southeru-India)  would  find  its  own 
terminus  in  Colombo  and  its  grand  harbour.  Such 
a line  after  the  100  miles  to  Pamban,  would  bo 
68  miles  across  the  islands  and  reef  to  the  mainland 
of  Ceylon  and  about  140  from  Manaar  via  Put- 
lalam,  Chilaw  and  Negombo  into  Colombo.*  One 
great  advantage  on  the  Ceylon  side  of  this  route  is 
that  a profitable  local  traffic— in  passengers  especially 
would  be  comiuAiided  all  the  way  from  Colombo  to 
Chilaw.  At  present  a canal  serves  a good  deal  for  goods 
but  it  is  crossed  at  int-crvals  by  rivers  and; 
cost  the  Government  a good  deal  every  year  to 
keeps  open ; while  there  are  complaints  about  the 
lons^  delay  in  the  transport  of  produce,  fruit,  &c., 
by '’canal.  Puttalam  is  the  chief  seat  of  the  manu- 
facture of  salt,  used  in  the  island— a Government 
monopoly.  The  objections  to  this  route  is  the 
number  of  rivers  that  require  to  be  crossed,  es- 
pecially between  Manaar  and  Puttalam,  so  that  a 
diversiou  inland  has  been  proposed  here.*  At  any 
rate  some  such  route  is  the  only  one  available  for 
the  metre-gauge  and  as  affording  the  most  direct 
and  healthiest  railway  route  between  Southern 
India  and  Colombo. 
There  is  another  plan,  however,  for  connecting 
India  and  Ceylon  on  the  SJ-feet  gauge,  which  has 
been  coiiati'ucted  in  Ceylon  up  to  Kurimegala,  wdiile 
the  Government  favour  an  extension  (through  a 
country  bare  of  people  and  traffic)  to  Anuradha- 
pura.t  There  would  then  only  remain  about  60 
miles  to  reach  Manaar  (via  Madawachchi  perhaps) 
or  131  miles  to  make  from  Kunmegala  on  tlie^  5^ 
feet  line  against  118  for  the  metre  by  the  West 
* It  has  been  proposed  as  an  improvement  that 
the  line  should  urn  from  Colombo  to  Puttalam  or 
Dutch  Bav,  thence  to  Auuradhapura  and  t//en  to 
M-iiiaar.  Several  loding  Civil  Servants  with  ex- 
perience of  the  districts  favour  this  route  and  there 
f:  ,.o  specioi  cbjectioii  to  it.— En. y.-I.  . 
•fMortovev  a very  aiiJ,  poor  country  in  which 
planterssoe  little  prospect  of  successful  cultivation,— 
iin,  T..L 
Coast.  One  drawback  to  the  inland  route,  apart 
from  its  circuitous  nature  (making  Colombo  119  in 
place  of  1-18  miles  from  Manaar)  and  the  iinhealthi- 
ness  (fever  and  malarial  country)  of  a long  expanEKi 
of  jungle,  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  section  of 
the  Colombo  and  Kandy  line  required  to  be  used 
from  Polgahawela  to  Colombo  (46  miles)  is  already 
wellnigh  fully  occupied  with  traffic ; while  an 
Indian  through  train  service  should  be  direct,  free 
fro.n  interruptions,  well-equipped  and  comfortable. 
The  still  greater  objection  to  a broad  gauge  con- 
nection is  the  long  distance  on  which  a broad 
gauge  would  have  to  be  laid  in  India — some  200 
miles — before  the  broad-gauge  system  was  reached 
at  Erode.  It  has  been  said  that  adopting  the 
broad-gauge  w'ould  connect  Ceylon  with  all  India ; 
but  this  argument  is  of  little  value ; because  it  is 
to  serve  Southern  India  up  to  Madras  that  Co- 
lombo Harbour  is  adapted ; and  there  can  be  no 
inconvenience  if  uninterrupted  railway  travelling  can 
be  commanded  on  the  metre-gauge  between  the 
cities  of  Colombo  and  Madras. 
Of  course,  there  is  the  third  course  of  breaking 
gauge  either  on  the  Ceylon  or  Indian  side,  the 
bro.rd  being  now  in  Ceylon  and  the  metre  in 
Southern  India.  Imperial  authorities  should,  in  that 
case,  decide  on  the  gauge  for  the  actual  crissing 
between  Manaar  and  Pamban. 
SURVEYS,  REPORTS  AND  ESTIMATES 
I have  now  to  refer  to  the  Surveys  and  Reports 
which  have  been  made  by  Engineers  with  reference 
to  an  Indo-Ceylon  Railway.  On  behalf  of  the 
Ceylon  Government,  Mr.  F.  L Waring  c.M.o.,  Chief 
Resident  Engineer  for  Railway  Extensions,  in  April 
1894,  made  a ‘‘  Report  upon  an  inspection  of  the 
loute  for  the  proposed  Indo-Ceylon  Railway  from 
raiuban  to  Taladi  near  Manaar,  and  of  the  alter- 
native routes  by  which  a railway,  if  made,  might 
be  connected  ivith  the  Ceylon  Railway  system.” 
Mr.  Waring’s  Report  is  a full  and  valuable  one. 
Beginning  at  the  Southernmost  point  of  India,  the 
results  he  arrived  at  may  be  summarized  as  follows 
Pamban  Channel  crossing  (includiug 
swing  bridge  100  ft.  wide)  to  cost  . . R450,000 
Ranieswaram  island  (50,000  devo'ees 
often  at  temples)  17i  miles  at  R5.o,000. . 950,000 
Adam’s  Biidge,  22  miles,  19  being  is- 
lands, bridging  between,  18,100  lineal 
yards  of  bridging,  total  coat  ..  25,500,000 
Manaar  island,  17J  miles  at  1155,000  ..  960,000 
Manaar  Channel  . . . . . . 520,000 
Total  for  crossing  from  India 
to  Ceylon  about  58  miles  R28,, 380,000 
or  at  Is  3d  the  rupee  =*  £1,773,750.  All  on  the  5g  feet 
gauge. 
Before  going  further  I may  compare  this  estimate 
with  that  of  Mr.  E.  C.  Shadbolt,  Engineer-in-Chief, 
Madura-Paniban  and  other  Railway  Surveys,  who  ex- 
amined and  reported  about  the  same  time  in  April  1895 
proceeding  on  the  principle  that  the  through  line  from 
Madura  to  Colombo  would  be  on  the  metre-gauge  ; but 
allowing  for  a double  line  in  the  “crossing’  from 
India  to  Ceylon.  Mr.  Shadbolt  also  allowed  for 
a swing  bridge  100  feet  wide  at  Pamban,  but  he 
made  heavy  allowance  for  one  mile  of  line  on  reef 
to  reach  the  bridge.  As  regards  this  “ crossiug  ” we 
sum  up  as  fo'lows  ; — 
Pambun  reef  1 mile  111,050,000 
,,  swing  bridge  100  feet  . . . . R 300,000 
Rameswaram  island  20  miles  . . . . 111,000,000 
Adam’s  Bridge  21  miles — building  a solid 
line  on  the  breakwater  principle  12 
feet  high,  30  feet  wide — in  water,  aver- 
agedepth  l ft; — 12miles  at  111,500,000; 
on  low  islands  6 miles  at  111,100,000; 
on  high  islands  3 miles  at  11100,000.  .1124,900,000 
Manaar  island  17  miles  at  1150,000  ..R  850,000 
TotU  for  crossing  bridge  to  Ceylon 
' fl, 7,36,000.] or  1128,100,000 
A sum  singularly  near  to  Mr.  Waring's — considering 
that  the  two  Engineers  adopted  dilferiiig  modes  of 
ciobsiug  the  reef  (tud  estimated  for  different  gauges, 
