PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
||||||||
Reference :-
TEC.O. 882
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
44
And We do hereby further authorise and empower you, Our said Commissioners, to exercise, for the purpose of carrying on the said inquiry, the powers given to Com- missioners appointed by Us under the provisions of the Ordinance No. 9 of 1872, intituled "An Ordinance to empower Commissioners appointed by the Governor to
inquire into any matter referred to them for inquiry to hear evidence thereon"
""
And we do hereby command and require you, Our said Commissioners, to report to Us under your bands, within three months from this date, or so much earlier as may be possible, upon the matters referred to you as aforesaid.
Given at Avisawella, this Twenty-second day of January, in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-six
By His Excellency's command,
(Signed) CECIL C. SMITH,
Colonial Secretary.
UVA RAILWAY COMMISSION. Report.
In accordance with the terms of your Excellency's Commission dated the 22nd of January, 1886, we have the honour to report the result of our inquiries as to whether the financial prospects of the proposed railway line to Uva are such as to secure the revenues of the Colony against heavy liability.
2. From the official correspondence that has been published, and from your Excellency's address to the Legislative Council on the 11th December last, we under- stand that the Commission was appointed in consequence of the objections raised in the Secretary of State's despatch, No. 153, of the 28th October, 1885, as to the sufficiency of the data furnished him regarding the financial prospects of the proposed extension of the line from Nanu-oya to Haputalé. We have, therefore, carefully considered that despatch and connected papers, and have carried on our inquiry by way of a detailed examination into the several points adverted to by the Secretary of State, and into such other matters as have any bearing on the question at issue.
3. We desire to mention that we have examined several witnesses (of whom a list is annexed), including professional experts and experienced planters, and have obtained additional returns regarding the up and down traffic between the province of Uva and Colombo, so that the statistics now comprise a period of five years instead of three years, which was stated by Colonel Stanley to be "obviously too short for the deduction of trustworthy averages." We have also ascertained, by circulars to the superinten. dent of each estate in Uva, whether the Haputalé line would be used for the transport of their produce, should it be opened to that point.
4. Before dealing with the returns on which the calculations of prospective profits must be based, it will be convenient that we should at once state our strong and unanimous opinions that it would be wholly unreasonable to leave out of consideration the tea traffic of the Province. With all deference to the Secretary of State, this traffic cannot be classed as speculative, but, on the contrary, it is as assured as that of any product in the island.
5. It is not perhaps generally known that tea has been grown in Ceylon for 20 years past in a district similar to Uva, and what was planted in 1865 is stated by an expert to now doing very well, and its produce stands at the head of the market." The
be
"
same witness, who has 21 years' experience of Ceylon, informed us that, in his opinion,
** the extension of the cultivation of tea had been retarded because every attention was given to coffee, and also because it was supposed that there was some secret in making "tea." He added, that out of the several tea estates in full bearing, now under his supervision, not one produces less than 400 lb. of made tes per acre.
6. Having made this preliminary statement, we desire to draw special attention to the fact that there are already 6,524 acres of tea planted in Uva, and that the cultivation is extending. The evidence that we have taken satisfies us that, as regarda soil and climate, Uva is very favourable to the cultivation of tea, and experts assure us that from 300 lb. to 500 lb. of made tea per acre per annum may be anticipated with safety. Taking, therefore, the lower estimate of 300 lb. to the acre, and only considering the extent of land now planted with tea, namely, 6,524 acres, there is the certainty, so far as human foresight can go, that two million pounds of tes per annum will be despatched from Uva three years hence, or before the railway can be made.
7. We venture to submit that this is an important factor in considering the prospects of the railway, and that whatever the returns of the past five years may show as regards
45
the yield of produce in the district, the item tea is one that cannot, in the interests of the Colony generally, be shut out of view as regards the future, indeed, the immediate future; but, on the contrary, that it must be taken into account, and may probably be relied upon more than other products which have done so much to build up the past prosperity of the Colony.
8. Before going further, there is a comparatively unimportant point referred to in the same portion of the Secretary of State's despatch as that we have been discussing, which it is well not to pass by. In concurrence with the Secretary of State and your Excellency, we do not propose to base any calculations on possible passenger earnings, but, with regard to the statement made by Mr. Waring, that the line will run through an uninhabited country, we should explain that, although along the trace, which is cut on the high ground of hilly country, no population is settled, there are as many as 30 villages within five to 10 miles along the route, and there can be no doubt whatever that there will be a considerable passenger and miscellaneous traffic on the railway seeing that it taps a province containing 170,000 inhabitants.
9. Turning now to the cost of making the extension to Haputalé, and the liability that will be incurred in its construction, we have to state that we have conferred with the chief resident engineer of the Nánu-oya extension (Mr. Waring) and with the general manager of the Ceylon railways (Mr. Pearce), and discussed with them the details given in Mr. Waring's report of the 25th May, 1885, which formed an enclosure in your Excellency's Despatch, No. 265, of the 29th June last. Both those officials have gained substantial information since the report was prepared, and the figures we now give are those on which they rely.
10. Mr. Waring's estimate for making the line on the departmental system was Rs. 5,987,649. He has himself examined the whole trace, and he now considers that that amount can be properly reduced by the following sums, for the purposes of this report, viz., maintenance for one year, Rs. 76,191, Rs. 200,000 (see para. 31 of his report), and Rs. 25,358 (see para. 46 of his report); the total for construction, there- fore, being Rs. 5,686,100. This reduction on the original estimate is further increased by a sum of Rs. 46,124, which Mr. Pearce informs us, from experience that he has gained, will be saved on the estimate for rolling stock (see Appendix C. of Mr. Waring's report). Thus, the total cost of making the line and opening it for traffic will be Rs. 5,640,000.
11. After long and careful scrutiny, we have no reason to question these figures, and in connexion therewith it has come under our notice that nearly one-quarter of that sum will be available out of the balance of the loan for the Nanu-oya extension. The capital account of that portion of the railway will be closed on the 30th June next, leaving a balance of Re. 1,453,473. In this no credit has been taken for the sale of surplus materials, &c., nor, on the other hand, have deductions been made for any claims that the contractors may establish against the decision of the consulting engineer as arbitrator under the contract. This balance can, we apprehend, be utilised at the borrowed rate of 4 per cent., and we may assume that the remainder of the loan can be obtained at the same rate. If it is raised in three instalments, the Colony's liability for the first and second years of the period of construction would be appreciably reduced in amount.
12. Taking, however, the most unfavourable view of the expenditure, and calculating that the whole amount required for the construction must be raised at once, it is clear that by making the extension to Haputalé the Colony will have to meet annually the following charges:—
Interest and Sinking Fund Working expenses
·
-
Rs. 282,000
་
Rs. 275,000
Rs. 557,000
The amount for working expenses is based on actual experience, and not on an estimate, which was necessarily the case when the general manager's original report was framed. The working expenses on the Nánu-oya line rose at first to the high figure of 70 per cent., through the inexperience of those engaged in working the line. They amounted to 53 per cent., or Rs. 4,767 per mile, in 1885; and we may mention that, although the Secretary of State has, in the 12th paragraph of his despatch of the 28th October 1885, referred to the Haputalé extension as being a specially difficult line, the resident engineer has informed us that, both in construction and in working, it will be a less difficult line than the Nánu-oya line, and not more difficult than the incline section of the main line. It must be remembered that between Nanu-oya and Haputalė half the traffic either way will be downhill. The Secretary of State has also quoted the fact of the heavy cost of working the Kalutara line. It is therefore well to explain that the
1 23224.
H