798 
THE  TROPICAL  AGRICULTURIST 
[May  I,  1S97. 
it  is  hoped  few,  if  any,  curyes  will  be  less  than 
100  ft.  radius. 
The  Commission  favours  this  project  because  it  is 
undoubtedly  desirable  that  the  town  of  Nuwara 
Kliya  should  be  connected  witl;  Nanuoya  and  as 
the  roads  are  fairly  suitable  the  continuation  of 
the  line  to  Bagalla  will  give  it  a traffic  and  a length 
favourable  to  its  successful  working.  This,  too,  is  the 
only  one  of  the  schemes  in  which  the  appro.ximate 
length  of  the  line  can  at  present  be  determined. 
The  estates  traffic  is  easily  ascertainable,  and  the 
figures  for  it,  up  and  down,  are  quite  reliable.  The 
Nuwara  Eliya  traffic  is  calculated  from  tally  returns 
of  the  present  road  traffic,  and  is  less  reliable.  The 
estimated  cost  of  construction  will  probably  be  found 
to  be  fairly  accurate,  and  it  is  unlikely  that  the 
working  charges  will,  on  the  average,  be  much 
less  than  3-30  per  train  mile  to  Nuwara  Eliya,  and 
2‘50  beyond. 
(fj)  Dikoi/a  District  Scheme. — The  roads  in  this 
district  are  far  from  suitable,  and  there  is 
one  section,  at  Wanarajah  bridge,  where  the  gra- 
dient is  1 in  16  for  500  ft.,  with  a short  bit  of  1 in  13. 
It  is  considered  certain  that  the  railway  would  not 
get  the  traffic  of  the  side  valleys  unless  branches 
were  constructed  up  all  the  roads  ; this  necessitates 
a relatively  large  mileage  to  serve  the  district,  and 
the  short  branches  will  add  greatly  to  the  cost  of 
working,  which  has  been  placed  at  the  high  figure 
of  3'25  per  train  mile.  Mr  Harcourt  Skrine  brought 
before  the  Commission  a scheme  to  run  narrow 
gauge  lines  from  Watawala  station  up  the  Maskeliya 
and  Dikoya  valleys.  Taking  advantage  of  the 
natural  outlet  of  these  districts,  the  suggested  lines 
would  be  on  easy  gradients,  and  save  the  traffic 
climbing  up  to  Hatton  station.  There  would  be 
much  to  recommend  the  adoption  of  such  a scheme 
if  the  railway  had  not  already  been  constructed 
to  Hatton  with  the  object  of  serving  these  districts. 
At  present,  when  there  are  districts  much  more 
in  need  of  increased  railway  facilities  than  Dikoya 
and  Maskeliya,  the  commission  would  not  be  justi- 
fied in  suggesting  the  construction  of  an  alternative 
notlet  railway,  even  although  it  presented  advantages 
over  the  existing  outlet. 
(c)  Diinbula  District  Scheme. — This  was  a proposal 
to  construct  a line  from  Talawakele  to  Diyagama, 
17  miles.  The  ;'road  is  less  unsuitable  than  the 
Dikoya  roads,  and  the  line,  being  without  branches, 
could  be  more  cheaply  worked ; but  the  mileage 
rates  of  cart  hire  are  less  than  in  Dikoya,  and  the 
revenue  therefore  is  not  so  large  as  might  have  been 
expected.  The  Uommissiou  considers  that  this 
scheme  will  be  found  worthy  of  further  investi- 
gation. 
{d)  Badulla-Passara  Scheme. — The  road  between 
Bandarawela  and  Badulla  was  at  once  pronounced 
to  be  quite  unsuitable  (gradients  of  1 in  15  abound- 
ing, and  portions  being  as  steep  as  1 in  10  and  1 
in  12),  and  it  is  evident  that  railway  communica- 
tion to  these  districts,  which  is  much  to  be  de- 
sired can  only  be  given  by  adopting  a trace  in- 
dependent of  the  roads. 
The  Commission  strongly  recommends  that  a survey 
should  be  made  for  a 2 ft.  6 in.  gauge  line,  and  uut  1 
that  is  done  the  estimates  of  cost  of  construction  and 
working  must  be  considered  as  being  but  little  better 
than  guesses.  The  country  is  undoubtedly  a very 
.difficult  one,  and  it  is  not  possible  to  say  what  length 
of  line  might  prove  to  be  necessary  to  overcome  the 
differences  in  elevation.  The  estimates  of  traffic  and 
revenue  are,  particularly  as  regards  the  estates’  share, 
quite  reliable ; but  the  question  of  the  tonnage  which 
at  present  travels  between  Madulsima  and  Batti- 
caloa  all  finding  its  way  to  the  railway  would  need  to 
be  a matter  of  definite  understanding  between  the 
Government  and  the  planters  before  the  line  was 
undertaken.  The  figures  for  last  year  show  that  about 
600,000  lb.  net  of  tea  were  shipped  in  1806  froni 
Batticaloa,  out  of  an  estimated  total  crop  (Passara 
district)  of  2,400,000  lb.,  while  over  3,000  tons  of  Indian 
nice  were  imported  at  that  port  during  the  year. 
Of  all  the  schemes  considered  by  the  Commission, 
this  Badulla  scheme  is  the  only  one  in  which  it  is 
possible  that  any  one  might  suggest  an  extension  on 
the  5 ft.  6 in.  gauge,  and  the  Commission  therefore 
thinks  it  well  to  point  out  that,  while  quite  conscious 
of  the  evils  of  break  of  gauge  on  a continuation  of  a 
trunk  line,  or  even  a branch  line,  with  heavy  traffic 
requiring  rapid  transport,  it  is  of  opinion  that  for 
the  types  of  branch  lines  coming  within  the  scope 
of  its  inquiry,  the  inconveniences  of  break  of  gauge 
would  be  but  little  felt,  and  are  far  outweighed  by 
the  saving  in  first  cost. 
The  fact  that  passengers  have  to  change  from  one 
train  to  another  is  of  no  weight,  as  they  often  have 
to  do  so  where  there  is  no  break  of  gauge. 
The  cost  of  transferring  goods  from  one  train  to 
another  is  very  small  where  labour  is  cheap  and 
when  the  weight  to  be  transferred  does  not  exceed 
20  to  40  tons  per  day,  and  that  of  easily  handled 
goods.  On  this  point  attention  is  drawn  to  the  evid- 
ence of  Mr.  Cantrell  given  before  the  Northern  Rail- 
way Commission  (Sessional  Papers  VI.  of  1897,  pp.  23 
and  24). 
There  is  no  competition  either  in  time  or  cost  to 
be  feared  where  consignors  are  prepared  to  have  their 
roads  barred  for  heavy  traffic.  On  the  freight  rates 
per  ton  per  mile,  which  vary  from  30  to  75  cents,  the 
cost  of  transferring  will  form  a fractional  charge. 
In  every  scheme  considered  by  the  Commission  it 
was  clear  that  a standard  gauge  branch  line  would  be 
so  costly  as  to  entirely  preclude  the  possibility  of  its 
being  constructed. 
(e)  Ptisselhuca-liamboda  Scheme. — The  scheme  as 
originally  presented  to  the  Commission  includes  three 
lines ; 1,  Gampola  to  Ramboda ; 2,  Gampola  to 
Pooprassie ; 3,  Ulapane  to  Lower  Ramboda;  but  a 
slight  investigation  showed  that  no  case  could  be  made 
out  for  Nos.  2 and  3,  and  the  suggested  line  from 
Gampola  to  Ramboda  is  the  only  one  worthy  of  con- 
sideration. In  the  sketch  estimate  annexed  it  will 
be  seen  that  financially  this  scheme  is  one  of  the  best, 
if  the  bulk  of  the  Pundalu-oya  traffic  finds  its  way^  to 
the  railway  at  Ramboda.  It  is  not,  however,  clear 
to  the  Commission  that  those  who  now  use  the  rail- 
way at  Gampola  would  all  bind  themselves  to  use  it  at 
Ramboda  if  the  extreme  rate  of  75  cents  per  ton  per 
mile  were  enforced,  and  this  is  the  rate  quoted  by 
the  District  Planters’  Association,  on  wdiich  the 
revenue  of  the  scheme  is  based.  The  cost  of  this  line 
is  rendered  somewhat  more  uncertain  than  the  others 
owing  to  the  crossing  of  the  Mahaw'eli-ganga  at  Gam- 
pola, which  would  probably  necessitate  a new  and 
expensive  bridge.  The  nature  and  extent  of  the 
deviations  would  have  to  be  ascertained  before  it  is 
possible  to  state  how  much  the  mileage  of  the  railway 
migitt  exceed  that  of  the  road  distance. 
(f)  lleicaheta  and  ilaturata  Scheme. — This  scheme, 
requiring  a long  mileage  for  a comparatively  small 
tonnage,  would  not  bear  investigation.  In  the  figures 
furnished  to  the  Commission  the  Lower  Hewaheta 
traffic  was  entered  at  a much  larger  figure  than  the 
Commission  could  accept,  but  in  the  summary  of  the 
scheme  that  unduly  large  estimate  has  been  included. 
7.  The  ommissiou  concluded  its  inquiries  regard- 
ing specific  schemes  with  those  just  referred  to,  but 
in  doing  so  the  mmission  does  not  imply  that 
there  are  no  other  schemes  worthy  of  consideration, 
or  that  its  inquiry  was  exhaustive. 
It  was  necessary  that  certain  schemes  should  be  in- 
quired into,  and  in  a rough  way,  their  respective  merits 
set  out,  and  this  has  been  done. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  what  is  now  required 
and  generally  wished  for  is  that  one  line  should  be 
undertaken,  and  hereafter,  when  the  knowledge  gained 
by  its  construction  and  working  is  available,  that 
the  other  schemes  should  be  more  definitely  con- 
sidered. 
For  the  reasons  which  have  been  given  in  the 
sections  dealing  with  the  specific  schemes,  the  Com- 
mission’s  recommendations  to  Government  are — 
(1)  The  construction  of  a 2 ft.  6 in.  gauge  line 
from  Nanu-oya  to  Nuwara  Eliya  and  Udapussellaw'a, 
subject,  so  far  as  the  latter  section  is  concerned,  to 
