PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TTC.O. 882
8
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC-
COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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by means of a loan to meet the cost of the construction of these branch lines of railway, and the purchase of the necessary rolling-stock, should the proposed scheme meet with the approval of the Council of Government.
In his Minute No. 34 of the 21st November last, the Officer Administering the Government asked the views of the Council on a suggestion that the rolling stock required for the Black River and Mountain Long lines-estimated to cost Rs. 255,000-be included in the loan to be raised for certain public works. This amount might be added to the estimated cost of construction of the proposed lines and purchase of the necessary rolling stock, and included in the loan.
The following is a comparison between the original scheme and the modified scheme now recommended for acceptance:-
Original Scheme.
Modified Scheme.
1. A loop light line Pample- mousses-The Vale-Poudre D'or:
1. Poudre D'or to The Vale, including rolling stock...
£51,000
Standard gauge
£80,000
2. A narrow gauge light line: Souillac-Baie du Cap.
2. Mapou to Australia, in- cluding rolling stock
37,000
30,000
line:
3. A standard gauge light Pamplemousses-St.
3. Mare D'Albert to Cent Gaulettes, including rolling
stock
Julien
40,000
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4. A narrow gauge light line : Mare D'Albert-Cent Gau- lettes
23,000
£111,000
23,000
£192,000 8,000
Total
£200,000
Rolling stock for main line necessitated by Black River and Montagne Longue lines
Grand Total...
Contingencies
Rolling stock for Montagne 17,000 Longue and Black River lines 17,000
£217,000
Grand Total
£128,000
The Officer Administering the Government considers that the above lines will meet the present requirements of the sugar industry, and that the expenditure will be within the limits of financial prudence.
It will be a condition of the construction of the two lines in the north of the island that the rates will be increased by fifty per cent., and that the planters over whose land the lines pass undertake to send their sugar by the new lines.
GRAHAM BOWER,
Government House,
January 11, 1904.
Officer Administering the Government.
Annexure I. to Minute of His Honour the Officer Administering the Government No. 49 of 1903-04.
THE PROJECTED NEW RAILWAYS.
Memorandum submitted by the Surveyor-General for the consideration of the Light Railway Board.
It results from the controversy which is going on in connexion with the projected new railways in the Council of Government, in the Light Railway Board, and in the Press, that there are conflicting interests at stake which, in the wise words of Mr. C. Dumat, Chairman of the Chamber of Agriculture, the Light Railway Board should try and conciliate in making a recommendation about the schemes before them. So far as I am personally concerned, I do not think that I can reasonably advise the Government to embark the Colony in a liability of about £200,000 in the present depressed state of the sugar market; the more so that owing to the objections raised about labour, the impossibility for the Government to introduce men from India only for a short time, and to get them in time for the works, and the opposition the construction of the proposed new lines during crop time is
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meeting with, it will be impossible next year, if the construction works are started in January or in February to execute all the works during the entre-coupe. Such being the case, I submit that the Light Railway Board should recommend that only those works that could be completed next year, in time for the crop, be under- taken and that provision be only made for those works in the proposed loan to be floated, having the remainder for further, consideration.
next
If I can get the permanent way materials and rolling stock in time I can make year the following lines or parts of the projected lines without employing in all, for the undermentioned works, more than, say, six hundred Grande Bande Indian labourers at R. 0.75 per diem. I will take on Creoles, light work Indians, boys and bibies to make up the difference.
Those lines or parts of lines are the following:-
10. Poudre d'Or The Vale;
20. Mapou-Beau Séjour, Antoinette-Mon Songe-Australia.
30. Mare d'Albert-Cent Gaulettes.
The Souillac-Baie du Cap line, and the extensions of the above ones can wait. What we must do is to meet for the present the most pressing wants, and limit our- selves to what we can afford to do both financially and materially, under the present circumstances.
The provision to be made for the above works would be as follows, exclusive of the cost of rolling stock, for which an estimate should be obtained from the General Manager of railways.
Line No. 1.
Poudre d'Or-The Vale: about 10 miles.
10. Earthwork, road diversions, road crossings, lay-
ing permanent way and ballast
20. Two stations and station fittings... 30. Land compensation and indemnities
40. Permanent way materials (40 lbs. per yard rails) 50. Contingencies, including staff and telegraph, say
or, at 50 per cent. exchange
Line No. 2.
Mapou-Australia: about 7 miles.
10. Earthwork, road diversions, road crossings, laying
permanent way and ballast
20. Bridges and culverts
30. Two station buildings and station fittings
40. Land compensation and indemnities
50. Permanent way materials 40 lbs. per yard rails... 60. Contingencies, including staff and telegraph
or, at 50 per cent. exchange
Line No. 3.
Mare d'Albert-Cent Gaulettes-already recom-
mended and estimated at
Rs. 265,000
55,000
5,000
168,000 17,000
Rs. 510,000
£34,000
Rs. 185,000
30,000 55,000
5,000
130,000
30,000
Rs. 435,000
£29,000
The total sum to be provided for the construction works would be
therefore
Public Works Department, December 18, 1903.
18,000
£81,000
G. DE CORIOLIS,
Surveyor-General.
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