The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-16 00:00:00

RAILWAYS IN INDIA.

. India at this moment presents one of those in-
dustrial difficulties which, though apparently of.
theamost surmountable haracter, have oftener
been solved by events than -by humax enterprise.
It might, seem the easirat thing_ -in- the world to
make railways to any extent in India, when there
is no other country that contains more iron, of the
best quality, in the most accessible situations and
theanost ieducilalo forms; tosspealt'-af copper,
lead, and other valuable ores. In no e; her coun-
try is labour cheaper, or the supply of charcoal
so far inexhaustible. From Nerbudda to Assam,
Central India-a-sc.:on, we will hope, to be traversed
by rail \says in every direction—abounds not only
in ironstone, but in coal-beds. Indeed, iron ores
are so 'abundant, and of. a richness and quality so
much superior to ours, that the only question is as
to coal. •This is not only abundant, but in many
places •is in immediate proximity to iron. "Coal
occurs extensively in eight provinces," says Dr.
J. M'Clellanda-" namely, Tenasserim, Arracan,
Orissa (Cuttack), Bengal Proper, Burdwan,
Aisam, Raginchal, Behar, and Nerbudda. In
every instance iron ores, either the common clay
ironstone, or red or yellow ironstone, containing
from 30 to 50 per cent. of iron, occurs with the
coal, or extensively in the same district." Mr.
Williams,,
_geological surveyor to the East India
Company, reports that " the actual cost of mining
coal in India, including agency and rent, is one
rupee,- or two shillings, per ton, and the cost of
mining iron would not exceed three shillings per
ton. It could be mined in large quantities for
Much less." Coal has been mined at considerably
less• cost in the Soane district, where ironstone
and limestone also abound. Taking, however,
the average Indian rates, and coal tOgether with
iron, the cost of the two at the' pies mouth is
generally less than half that in Scotland or Wales.
Nor are these raais of. a merely local, accidental,
or temporary character, likely to be much raised by
an extensive demand. All the eleinents of the cal-
culation, including the most. iniportAnt—that is,
labour—are practically inexhaustible. The popu-
lation is everywhere, as we should -.express it at
home, in excess of the existinginepms of emplOy-
ment ; it ia' everywhere of a floating character,
ready to go anywhere or do anything for a bare
existence, and we have the testimony of engineers
to the merits of the patient and clever Hindoo at
miningasmelting, and all the other processes of the
iron manufacture. Here; then, are all the' condi-
tions of the problem. On the other hand, there is
now au immense demand for the use of railways.
Yet, strange to say, native iron, native fuel; native
skill, and native labour, combined io an estabii ;lied
.manufacture some thousand years old, have so far
been made no use of, at least none worth mention,
in the construction of Indian railways. The East
Indian Iron Company's works turn out • 9,000 or
10,000 tons .=year, in one description or another,
bur chiefly in the shape of pig iron, and of this the
gp•eater part comes to England for a market, and
there fetches a ton. The remainder is worked
up into castings and malleable iron on the spot and
sold to the railways, the Government, and the gene-
ral consumer. In Malabar, however, the scat of
its operations, there is no coal, and charcoal is, for
many reasons, much too expensive a fuel ever to
allow of a competition with coal made iron for
rails. •

Thus the whole of the rails uFed in India,
• amounting to many thousand tOns, have to cern()
- - from' this country. For a time the supply was
checked by the diversion of all shipping to the
- purposes of the war, and England stood in the
rather discreditable position of neither having
developed the natural resources of ' India 'nor
being able to supply the deficiency from her own.
Now, however, what with British and what with
American shipping, there is no want of freight, and
we hear of American sailing vessels taking 1,600
• - tons at a time. Notwithstanding the old caution ,
. against dead weight of this sort, vessels now load
with iron - even beyond the register tonnage, till
stopped by the high rates demanded by the under-
writers under these circumstances, the only other
restriction being the difficulty of getting return
freight from India. It is possible, then, that near
the seaboard it may. always be difficult for the
native ironmasters—should such a class ever come
into existence—to compete with the British, bit in
the interior it ought not to be so. In 1850, even
at Moradabad, the market price of English bars
was about the same as those of the best Kumaon
• iron, found only 50 miles off, viz., about 181. a-t A;
and the latter was not in so available a form as the
: former. Indeel, everywhere the Hindoo black-
smith has the choice between British iron, coal-
made and of inferior cinality, but in sheets, bars,
wire, and other ready forms, and native iron,. of
much superior quality, readily yielding to his of ar-
coal furnace and rough forge, but in shapel ss,
impracticable masses. The cost of the native
• , manufactured iron is also much increased by the
• needless and almost incredible was:o that takes
place in rendering the crude metal malleable.
Thus it is a-case of "civilisation," at a great dis-
tance and with a bad material, competing success-
fully
with native ignorance and poverty, cheap'la-
. • bour, and the 'best material. There is no reason
why such a rivalry should not be determined, as it
often, has been before, in favour of the laboider,
the material, and the demand ou the spot. No
great amount of skill and capital is required to ob-
tain- any quantity of ore in Central India, for it is
close to the surface, to smelt with coal, which
would produce an iron good enough for rails, and
to erect mills, foundries; and forges sufficient for
the supply of every -Indian railway. We believe,
it would surprise most of Our readers to hear at
. how small an expenditure it would be possible to I
sot up works large enough to supply India with
iron rails, and everything necessary for any proba-
ble amount of railways. So long, however, as the
native iron trade remains dependent on its present
- methods and resources it will even suffer by the
introduction of railways. Theywill bring into every I
part of India English iron., of a much worse qua-
_, . lity, but in the convenient form of sheets, bars,
. . bolts, and wire, which the natives can only prodUce
- in the roughest workmanship.
Here, then, appears a rare opportunity for coin-
bining an immense national benefit with private
profit. Why has not wealthy and enterprising
England stept into the gap, and brought together
the various elefnents of this simple
.calcnla,tion ?
We take it that those,who have the required cabi-
tal do not like to plunge themselves into the heiirt
of India, and as little do they choose to trust their I
'money to an,undertaking which they must manage
as absentees. The company Will not undertake the
operation, and, indeed, cannot. The Indian rail-
way companies are preparing to erect forges and
other works for repairs, but do not think it i igfit
to imperil their profits in a new and not absolutely
necessary speculation, such es ironworks would
undoribted!y be. So again the appeal reverts to
British enterprise, and it certainly does seem ve y
1 strange of India, so rich, so populous, so peacef I,
so quietly yielding everything to our paramou it
sovereignty, so regular in its returns of money atd
produce to this.country, and with so Powerful a
Government, should not be considered security
cirough for so simple a speculation. No specula Limn
is without risk, but we cannot see that India pre-
.
- • sents greater risks than are inevitable in every
• field of enterprise.- direly there are nicn rich
enough ; sus ely there is...the skill to spare ; sti.;:ly
there are men of sufficient; Itonesty to be intrusted
with the conduct of undertaleingseveni2;ooo mires
• ofC? Of course, an association is the best form of
undertakingTfor such a business, and it is so intich
the interest of• the East India firithorities- that it
should litcceed tlia,-, no dolibt, they wouldgive it
every facility in their power. The immediate ob-
ject is the application of,coal to the production of
a quality or iron :cab:lent •lor ordinary rail ;,wily
• purpOiles, and within easy carriage of the, railways
- that are "•or ought to be made, That we conceiv,, to
be a veer' proper object for the investment of Bri- '
. tish Capital and skill.—Times. i .

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