MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
63 
the state of the main lines of communication through¬ 
out the colony will. I think, be vouched for-by many 
of the members now present, and it will not therefore 
be a matter of surprise that the cast of conveyance upon 
these roads should vary from a minimum of Is. to a 
maximum of 2s. 44d.* per ton per mile; or that the 
average rate upon the Northern roads should be Is. 
10£d. per ton per mile, on the Western roads Is. H id. 
per ton per mile, and on the Southern Is. lHd. per ton 
per mile. The loss and inconvenience which such a 
state of things occasions cannot of coarse be measured 
by the difference of cost between the transport on these 
roads, and that upon either a good turnpike road or a 
railroad. Allowance must he made for the delays 
which constantly take place. It is not an uncommon 
occurrence for a dray to he upwards of a month in 
going from Sydney to Goulburn, a distance of 125 
miles, or six weeks between Sydney and Braidwood, a 
distance of 185 miles. The farmur is often prevented 
from sending down his wheat at the time when the 
market would suit him, the roads being too had to per¬ 
mit him to venture his teams upon them; or the price 
of transport so high as to swallow up all the profit on 
his crop. As, however, the difference of cost upon these 
roads and upon a good turnpike or railroad is the mea¬ 
sure of the mimmim amount of injury done to the 
colony, it may he as well that I should’ prove an ap¬ 
proximate estimate of its money value. 
Along the Northern road 25,800 tons of goods are 
moved for various distances, which, when reduced, give 
1,183,770 tons moved one mile for .£110,053, or, at the 
average rate of] s. lO^d. per mile, the cost of moving 
goods upon a good turnpike road should not exceed 9£d. 
per ton per mile, wliicll would be a saving of Is $ d. 
per ton per mile, or in round numbers "of £02,887, 
while on a railroad this quantity of goods might be 
moved for Gd. per ton per mile, or less,"and the saving 
in this case would he £81,059. 
Along the "Western road the traffic is equivalent to 
1,615,725 tons moved one mile for a sum of £156,737, 
or at a rate of Is. ll^d. The saving, then, in this case, 
at the rates stated above, would be £92,800 in the case 
of a turnpike road, and £116,344 in the case of a rail¬ 
road. 
On the Southern road the traffic is equivalent to 
1,916,022 tons moved one mile for £188,672, or at the 
rate of Is. 11 id. per ton per mile. The saving in this 
case would amount to £112,830 in the case of a turn¬ 
pike road, and to £139,709 in the case of a railroad. 
Along these three lines, which may lie termed the 
main arteries of communication, the loss to the inhabit¬ 
ants of the different districts, occasioned by. the badness 
of the roads, amounts, on the transport of goods alone, 
to £268,517 per annum ; and were a railroad the 
means of communication, the saving by the use of it 
would amount to £338,175 per annum. This I have 
said is the minimum amount. I have allowed nothing 
for the increased expense to passengers. T have said 
nothing of the diminished value of land. I have merelv 
taken the returns of existing traffic, 3ud have shewn 
that the saving in the expense of conveying it would 
justify an outlay of capital on these thrce’linc-s, amount¬ 
ing altogether to 843 miles, of £5,370,340, in making 
turnpike roads, or of £6,763,500 in tho construction of 
railways—that is, of (>.370 per mile upon the one, or 
8,000 per mile upon the other. I have assumed 9£d. 
per ton per mile as the fair charge upon a good turn 
pike road. This was the average charge in England 
previous to the construction of railways, and it covered, 
not only the cast of transport, hut also the tolls, which 
produced a sum adequate to maintain the road in re¬ 
pair, and in many instances to the payment of some 
interest upon tho capital expended upon the formation 
of the road. In this colony, how-ever, the sum taken 
as the average cost of transport is chargeable w ith but 
a very small amount of the repair of the road. The 
tolls received upon the different roads do not amount 
on an average to mere than £5,600, or to £13 per mile 
on the whole length of the road, while the Legislature 
has appropriated, during tho present year, a sum of 
£29,000 towards the maintenance and repair of these 
roads, which sum ought properly to he added to the 
amount of saving which would accrue were the roads 
placed in a proper state, and would represent an addi¬ 
tional capital of £580,000. 
The state of the roads then is such ns not only to oc¬ 
casion a heavy annual loss to the community, but to 
saddle it with a heavy amount of taxation in addition. 
By what means can so unsatisfactory a state of things 
he remedied ? 
There are three modes of doing this which naturally 
present themselves. 
1st. By the construction of turnpike roads—that is, 
of roads properly laid out, drained, and macadamized. 
2 nd. By the construction of railroads on which horse 
power should be used. 
3rd. By the construction of railroads on which the 
traction wall be performed by steam power. 
The preference to be given to any one of these 
schemes over the others must be determined by a com¬ 
parison of the advantages and disadvantages attendant 
upon each, and by a correct estimate of the charge 
which it will be necessary to impose upon goods and 
passengers, in order to cover the cost of traction, that 
of keening the road in repair, and the interest of the 
capital expended in making the road. To an analysis 
of these m alters I will now proceed to draw your at¬ 
tention. 
1st. As to turnpike roads — 
These, when in their best condition, are tracks broad 
enough for different vehicles to pass each other. Laid 
out at as gradual a slope as the nature of the country 
will permit, properly drained, and covered with a 
stratum of hard broken stone of sufficient thickness to 
resist the action of the traffic, and to protect the foun¬ 
dation of the road from the rain falling on its surface. 
"Upon such a road, when properly constructed and kept 
in repair, a horse will draw from 15 to 20 cwt. not 
weight, and the cost of conveyance will be from 9£d. 
to 12d. per ton per mile, including, of course, in this 
the sum paid for tolls, out of which the cost of main¬ 
taining the road in repair must be defrayed, as well as 
the interest on tho capital expended in its construction. 
The amount of the capital required will of course de¬ 
pend upon a variety of circumstances. The character 
! of the country, the nature of the soil, the quality of tho 
' materials, and especially the price of labour. Taking, 
however, all these matters into consideration, the cost 
of constructing properly one utile of road may. bo esti¬ 
mated roughly at £3,000 per mile. 
The cost of a railroad; which is intended to be worked 
by horse power, will not differ much from that of a 
turnpike road. The heavy e-vpense of cuttings and em¬ 
bankments for the purpose of diminishing gradients, 
which, when locomotive power is employed, are works 
of absolute necessity— are in tin's case not required. I 
am aware that in making this statement I am placing 
my opinion in opposition to that of engineers of some 
experience, hut the difference between us is more in ap¬ 
pearance than reality, and is due to the fact that we look 
at the subject from, different points of view ; my object 
being to show how a given amount of goods and’pa>:seti- 
trers can be conveyed frovi one jK>int to another at the 
least possible cost, and theirs being to explain how the 
greatest result can bo derived from a given amount of 
power. _ It is, of courst\ unquestionable that the advan¬ 
tage gained by the substitution of the hard and smooth 
iron rail, for tho soft mid rough material of the road is 
a maximum when the road is absolutely level. In this 
case we learn by experience that a horse can draw on a 
railroad, about eight- times the load which he can move 
along a turnpike road. On an ascent the power which 
the horse has to exert is c<>-u^anded o) that which is 
necessary to overcome the force ol gravity, and of that 
which balances the friction o! tho road, &c. The force 
of gravity is, of course, the same on both road and rail¬ 
road, and varies in proportion to the steepness of the 
slope of the road ; while the friction is a constant quan- 
