568
!
?
5.
gives has made no comparison of the probable receipts by
the line traversing the East and West routes respectively,
contenting himself with pointing out that the West route
passes through 19 miles of country (a length nearly as
great as that of the whole East route) which, as he ex-
-pressively puts it, "won't pay for axle grease". In these
circumstances I see no reason to alter the opinion expres-
-sed in the 19th. paragraph of my Despatch of the 11th.
January that the trade from just beyond our borders which
is equally served by both routes is of far greater im-
-portance than that of the local markets on the two routes
and that the much greater mileage of the West route would
not be compensated for by a correspondingly greater bulk
of traffic if that route were adopted.
9.
Mr. Bruce concurs in the opinion
I expressed in the same paragraph that a better method of
getting access to the Un Long trade than by following the
West route would be eventually to connect the line along
the East route with Un Long Market Town by a branch which
I put down at 8 miles and which his survey shows to be 8
miles 1.75 furlongs long and of which he estimates the
cost at $728,000, capable of considerable reduction if
Center