Part IV.] R. S. Pearson: Antiseptic Treatment of Timber. 58 
The cost of treating a Pine sleeper and delivering it on rail at Jagadhri, 
therefore, amounts to Rs. 2-3-11, exclusive of cost of timber. Working 
on a commercial basis, the cost works out as follows :— 
Untreated Pinus longifolia broad gauge sleepers can be purchased 
at Jagadhri for Rs. 3-0-0 each. The cost of treating the sleeper comes 
to Re. 1-1-4; to this must be added royalty on treatment, say, 8 annas, 
or a total of Rs. 4-9-4 per treated broad gauge “ Chir ” sleeper. The 
case of the Pinus excelsa sleepers has been dealt with on page 40 and 
need not be again cited. 
(b) Cost of treating 438 Dipterocarpus tuberculatus and 437 D. alatus 
metre-gauge sleepers , with Chloride of Zinc and Green oil. 
Rs. A. P. 
Cost of felling, conversion and extraction of 875 metre- 
gauge sleepers at Re. 1-1-0 each .... 929 11 0 
Cost of Chloride of Zinc to treat 875 metre-gauge sleepers, 
absorbing 9 lbs. each of a 2 per cent, solution, at 6 
annas per lb., concentrated . . . . . 59 0 0 
Railway freight on the salt (concentrated) . . . 6 0 0 
Steamer freight on' ditto ditto . . 5 0 0 
Cost of Green oil to treat 875 metre-gauge sleepers, 
absorbing 1*1 lb. each, at 6 annas 10 pies per gallon 41 0 0 
Freight on Green oil from Antwerp to Rangoon . . 50 0 0 
Railway freight on oil from Rangoon to Pyinmana . 18 8 0 
Labour for treating and handling . . . . 15 8 0 
5 per cent, on cost of plant . . . . . .5180 
Cost of fuel. 68 0 0 
10 per cent., due to evaporation and leakage of oil . . 110 0 
Miscellaneous charges . . . . . , 26 0 0 
Total . 1,281 3 0 
The depreciation and fuel charges are, without doubt, high and could 
be reduced, when working on a more extensive scale. The cost of deli¬ 
vering a metre-gauge Dipterocarp sleeper on rail comes to Re. 1-7-5, 
exclusive of royalty. The Burma Railways pay Re. 1-12-0 for a Pyinkado 
metre-gauge sleeper, so that to deliver a treated Dipterocarp sleeper, 
the operator would have to be content with 4 amfas 7 pies royalty per 
sleeper, an extremely small profit. He probably gets less than that 
for his labour when dealing with a Pyinkado sleeper, hence the difficulty 
experienced in the past by the Railways to obtain all the sleepers they 
require. Until the price of sleeper woods goes up in Burma, which will 
probably be the case in the future, the business of treating sleepers in 
Burma must remain in abeyance. 
[ 183 ] 
