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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

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Reference :-

C.O. 882

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4PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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It was impossible for the intelligent public in Ceylon to contest this view of the Colonial Office, seeing that the 25 miles of line surveyed, estimated, and planned out ready for construction between Nannoya and Haputale have always been regarded as an integral portion of the extension from Nawalapitya.

To reach Haputale was the main object of the agitation for railway extension which began in 1872, while 12 of the most expensive miles of work from Talawakellie, climbing up 1,500 feet to Nannoya, would certainly not have been constructed save in the interests of the further section required to connect the Uva province.

Governor Longden, during 1878-79, apologised for the need, as be deemed it, of cutting the Nawalapitya-Haputale extension into two sections; but assured the Legislative Council and public that the second, smaller, and most profitable section must inevitably be constructed by Government at an early date.

I need not enter on the reasons which have operated since 1880 to prevent the much desired sanction of the 25 miles section to Haputale being accorded, further than to say that so far as the non-elasticity of the general revenue is concerned, it is patent to everyone acquainted with the circumstances of the case that the Ceylon Government by not being allowed to complete their main lines to Haputale have been all these years losing a very considerable addition to their railway receipts on general revenue over and above the additional working expenses involved.

Now, however, that you, sir, have been enabled to state officially that there is no objection on the part of the Home Government to the introduction of a private company for the construction of the Uva section, it may be useful to examine some of the conditions which would alone induce capitalists to engage in a work of the kind.

The credit of the planting enterprise in Ceylon, and consequently of the Colony at large, is being so rapidly restored, mainly through the success and wide extension of tea cultivation, that it would not probably now be difficult to establish an Uva railway company for the purpose of serving the very valuable and heavy traffic that passes over the Haputale Road to and from the sea coast.

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At present there are many thousands of tons of traffic passing up and down this Haputale-Colombo road annually which are entirely lost to the Government railway, for the latter, though constructed for 129 miles from Colombo to Nannoya, had its terminus fixed seven years ago at a point 25 miles short of this comparative wealth of new traffic. Now the mere carriage of this tonnage between Haputale and Nannoya would afford to the private company that constructed the Haputale railway a very trifling margin of profit. The profit must be almost entirely derived from the carriage of this new Uva traffic over the existing line 129 miles to Colombo. It is calculated that from 70 to 80 per cent. of the receipts on the latter would be clear gain, and the first question to be settled between the Government and the promoters of a company must inevitably be, who is to have all this profit ? acquired solely through the operation of the company bringing so much new traffic to the Government lines, which traffic the Government themselves, or at least the Colonial Office, refuse to do anything to obtain on their own account. In equity, it would seem that the Government, after paying the additional working expenses and a certain small per-centage for wear and tear, ought to hand all the rest to the private company which has been the sole means of bringing this Uva traffic on to the existing railway lines.

I quite realise the delicacy and difficulty attending such a compact; but it will be entirely useless to say to capitalists interested in Ceylon, “We grant you permission to construct the 25 miles of extension required to enter Uva and to command all the traffic passing Haputale," if the Company's only return should arise from the carriage of this traffic over the short distance to the very point where the profit really begins to accrue. Such a bargain would mean that a private company, which would be the means of bringing to the Ceylon Government Rs. 250,000 per annum of profit free of all risk, could not probably secure more than two per cent, on their own capital.

I trust, therefore, sir, that if you feel it to be your duty to refuse sanction to the construction of the Haputale Railway under Government auspices, that you will make known at an early date what concession you would be inclined to grant to a private company for the new traffic which their work would bring to the existing railway. This concession might best be made, perhaps, by an allowance for each ton of Uva produce or goods passing through Nannoya to or from Haputale.

Another point would be as to the use by the company of the surplus rolling-stock which, it is understood, the Government own beyond the requirements of the existing Naunoya section.

Such surplus locomotives and other stock were provided in the full expectation of the construction of the Haputale section being undertaken immediately after the line was opened to Nannoya, it being more economical to secure at once enough rolling-stock for the whole extension of 67 miles than for 42 miles only.

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may touch here on the question of gauge, seeing that it has been stated on authority that you, sir, have no objection to narrow gauge per se for the Uva extension. I would just venture to remind you of a few considerations which ought to operate against any thought of break of gauge of all places at Nannoya. I might recall the opinion of Mr. G. L. Molesworth (now consulting engineer for state railways to the Government of India), based on his 12 years experience in the island, that he could recognise no economical medium in the hill country of Ceylon between a first-class road and a first-class railway. When it is said nowadays that the adoption of a wide gauge in the first instance was a mistake in the case of Ceylon, it is well to recall the fact that there has been no serious accident on the Ceylon railways since the opening of the Kandy Railway in 1867, in spite of the lines being single with sharp curves and exceptionally heavy inclines, an all important exemption very much due to the wide

Again, the advantage of constructing a first-class, even though expensive, line in a

gauge. country subject to the action of heavy rains twice a year in the monsoon seasons has been shown by the exceptionally low cost of upkeep per mile after the works on each section have been settled by two or three working seasons. So much for the general

question, but in regard to the particular point before us, I may refer to the opinion of all the engineers, without exception, who have been engaged by Government in railway construction in Ceylon, as opposed to any break of gauge at Nannoya before entering

Uva.

Again, I would recall the fact mentioned above that the Government already possess enough of rolling stock to work an Uva extension to Haputale, an advantage which would be entirely neutralized by a break of gauge.

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As regards Ceylon generally, there is no evidence that break of gauge would result any permanent economy, or in very much saving in first cost, while there is the fact that in India, as in the United States of America, narrow-gauge lines are already being taken up, in several instances, to be replaced by the broad-gauge. To break gauge at Nannoya before reaching the traffic which alone warranted the first call for railway extension beyond Nawalapitya, and after making 42 out of the 67 miles, would be a piece of folly unparalleled in the history of railway enterprise in the Colonies. As regards the low country of Ceylon, it has already been shown that the broad gauge is no bar to economical construction, seeing that Sir William Gregory's line from Colombo to Kabitara of 26 miles only cost Rs. 70,000 per mile (about 5,0007.) even though some of the land in the neighbourhood of the capital had to be purchased at exceptionally high rates. It is fully anticipated by practical men in the Government service that a very large saving would be shown in the engineer's estimates for the Haputale section, if the construction were entrusted to picked officers of the Public Works Department who have already shown their capacity in heavy and skilled masonry works on large irrigation tanks, bridges, &c. in the Colony.

It will be obvious to you, sir, from the general tone of the present letter that the writer conceives it to be far more desirable, from every point of view, that the Uva Railway Extension should be constructed by Government than by a company. But the question of time is now becoming a very serious one. probably the richest in undeveloped resources of any in Ceyton, considering the goodness The province of Uva is of its soil and climate. Tea cultivation is being rapidly extended within its bounds, and the produce, far more than coffee, requires the aid of safe expeditious transport, to prevent deterioration in quality while passing between the plantations and the coast.

Moreover, whereas coffee was finally prepared and packed in Colombo, tes is manu- factured, dried, and packed on the estates, involving the transport of tea-lead hoop-iron, and often boxes, from the low country.

Every acre of tea, therefore, is certain to give a much larger average traffic to the railway than was afforded by coffee.

It is evident now that a very large area of tea in Uva will be in full production before the railway can be brought within the bounds of the province, and the agitation which, has hitherto prevailed with reference to the delay will be slight compared with the storm of angry remonstrance certain to arise when the heavy losses to proprietors, and to the community at large, are fully realized two or three years hence. This loss will occur through the want of that railway communication which has been so long urgently called for at the hands of the Colonial Office.

Nearly 16 years have clapsed since the writer, at the instance of the planters and other residents in Uva, drew up the first memorial urging railway extension from Nawalapitya to Haputale, and more than 13 years since the Secretary of State was specially appealed to.

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