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DARJEELING HIMALAYAN RAILWAY COMPANY, LIMITED.

STATEMENT showing net EARNINGS and PER-CENTAGE of Working Expenses on

Year.

Net Earnings,

GROSS EARNINGS.

including Debenture

Interest.

Per-centage of Working Expenses on Gross Earnings.

Re.

1880

34,196 8 8

29.46

1881

1,15,522 12 7

55.76

1882

1,21,983 2 11

66.71

1883

1,55,724 8 8

63.09

1884

1,46,764 14

4

66.20

1885

Half a year 1886

1,63,850 0 2 1,12,835 18 6

62.11

63.05

Remarks.

F. PRESTAGE.

If

mile, assume the length of the line to be only 28 miles instead of the 30 miles surveyed, take working expenses at Rs. 2/50 per train mile, the rate on the Dimbula line being 3/50, the net result is only Rs. 105,400.

I am assuming that only two trains each way per day would be required for this traffic of 24,000 tons, &c..

A. net profit of Rs. 105,400 will give only 3.7 per cent on Rs. 2,800,000, the assumed cost of 28 miles of metre gauge line at Rs. 100,000 per mile.

It is obvious from these calculations that the kind of railway required in Ouvah is a cheap one, and as no other district has a larger traffic-Masheliya has not even 10,000 tons-I believe that the cheap 2 ft. 6 in. gauge is far more suitable for our requirements than the metro gauge.

Mr. Prostage bad an interview with the Governor at Nuwara Eliya, and told me that he was to be supplied with a copy of Mr. Waring's objections against the Darjeeling railways, in order that he might send in an answer.

I hope that in the meantime you may be able to do something to hinder

any decision

in favour of the broad gauge, and that eventually the proposals made by Mr. Prestage may be examined in earnest.

Trusting that you will excuse my writing at this length,

I am, (Sigued)

&c.

H. ATKINSON.

No. 5.

། ?། །། ། །

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

பரீய

Reference :-

C.O. 882

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH—NOT TO

No. 4.

H. ATKINSON, Esq., to the RIGHT HON. SIR W. H. GREGORY, K.C.M.G. MY DEAR SIR WILLIAM GREGORY,

Kandy, March 25, 1887.

THE enclosed copy of Mr. Prestage's letter* (which he is unwilling to make public, as he thinks the Governor would not like that) will show you what he is prepared to undertake.

Having spent some days with him at Kandy and Newera Eliya, I learnt the following additional details of his views :---

The steepest gradient on his proposed line would be 1 in 32, and the sharpest curve would have a radius of 100 feet.

The engines would each be capable of hauling 40 tons of goods or passengers in one train. As the average up traffic estimated by the Commissioners of 1886 was 59 tone daily, and of down traffic 30 tons, it is obvious that two mixed trains would suffice. The great mistake of people in Ceylon, and, apparently, of the consulting engineers at home, is in supposing that there is a heavy traffic in any of the planting districts of Ceylon. The only place where there is a heavy traffic is at Putlam, the salt traffic, which at present goes by canal and cart roads, and is not likely to go by railway.

The speed proposed, 12 miles per hour, exceeds that attained between Hatton and Nanoo Oya, which is only 10 miles an hour. The slip below Hatton prevents my quoting the rate to Nawalapitis, but it will probably be much the same.

Mr. Prestage examined the ground at Nanoo Oya (as I had told him an engineer had expressed an opinion that gauge could not be broken there), and informed us at the Planters' Committee meeting that there was ample room.

I am sorry to find that the "Times of Ceylon" continues to advocate the metre gauge. I have shown the editor that there is no district that possesses a traffic sufficiently large to afford an outlay of the Rs. 100,000 per mile for that gauge, but my letter arrived, as he says, too late, and the "Times" is fully committed to that

course.

The traffic even in Ouvah is so small that it can only pay the high percentage it offers because of the profit of carrying it, as new traffic, over the 129 miles below Nanoo Oya.

The Ouvah railway, considered by itself, would pay only a small percentage of profit. This can be easily proved.

The Commissioners' estimate for Badulla and Madulsima traffic was 12,000 tons.

If we assume this doubled, charge it at the highest rate that could be paid, viz., the same as Dimbula pays per ton per mile, say, Rs. 6/40 per ton, between Haputilla and Badulla, assume an average of 150 passengers per day at the usual average of 3c. per

• Enclosure in No. 80 in Eastern No. 45.

7

F. PRESTAGE, Esq., to the RIGHT HON. SIR W. H. GREGORY, K.C.M.G. DBAR SIR WILLIAM GREGORY,

Near Madras, March 27, 1887.

In continuation of my note informing you that I was on my way to Ceylon, let me say that I have visited the island with the following results:

First, after looking into the working of the main line, I proceeded from Newara- Eliya by Badulla to Papara, where I met the Committee of the Branch Planters Association, and learnt their views of the need of an extension right on to that place.

I returned to Badulla, prospecting, en route, the routes proposed for the proposed line. I then prospected from commanding positions near Badulla, the trace from Badulla towards Hapatule, and an alternative route proposed. Then I proceeded as near as convenient by the trace to Hapatule, and from Hapatule along the trace to Nanuoya. At Newara-Eliya I met the Chairman and Committee of the Planters' Association, learnt their views, and made known my intended mode of proceeding as indicated in the enclosed printed letter.*

Then I interviewed His Excellency the Governor, who had my letter before him; he gave me much encouragement to advance, but could hold out no hope of the provisional sanction sought in the third condition, and which I rather hoped would be given, for I did not seek sanction for any expenditure until the work was stopped. His Excel- lency said that if I could satisfy him of the carrying power of the narrow gauge, it would remove his main cause of distrust in it; so I proposed a test at Colombo, which was sanctioned, and which showed the following results:

+

The ordinary broad gauge wagons, 15 feet long, 7 feet 5 inches wide, 6 feet 6 inches high, hold 85 chests of tea; a skeleton of a narrow gauge truck, 12 feet long, 7 foot 2 inches wide, 6 feet 6 inches high, held 75 chests, so that a broad gauge train 180 foot long without buffer space would carry 920 chests of tea only, whilst a narrow gauge train of the same length would carry 1,125 chests.

I got all assistance I could hope for or expect from officials all round, but I could not get a glance at the plan or section or list of works on the Extension; all had been taken away by Mr. Waring, and nothing of the kind left in the island to the knowledge of the Lieutenant-Governor.

I am sending copies of my officials to the Colonial Office, but must, I am afraid, wait until I get to Darjeeling. I also am to interview the new Governor of Madras on my way back about the Nilghiri line, and which looks like advancing; if the needful concessions could be got for this line, I may be in a position to propose that the Ceylon Extension may also be undertaken by one Company.

Yours, &c.

(Signed) F. PRESTAGE.

• Enclosure in No. 30. in Eastern No. 45.