The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-21 00:00:00

endeavoured to make some further remarks but was
unable to obtain a hearin7, and resumed his seat.
The house then divided. The numbers were—
For the motion ...... 57
Against it
RAILWAYS IN INDIA.
Mr.LIDDELL, in calling the attention of the house to
the delay that has occurred in the construction of railways
in India, and in moving for leave to move for the appoint-
meat of a select committee to inquire into the causes that
have led to that delay, said the subject was one of great
importance, and well deserving the moat serious conside-
ration of the house. So far back as the year 1841, this
great subject was brought under the consideration of the
Government of India by that great man, Sir Donald
utmadei?ninhterlm:thahrinseedyer
oe
ntpmheomecr
ete.snsid difficultiest Aeadt
ecbdoym ihpt
isamonfyw dissolution.t wahea
Stevenson, celebrated as an engineer. He went out to
India and made a survey of the line, and subsequently
sn o et
established,
dio
n:ucBtbr4ueasatt s ttte hhhd ees
e,
stcaabrlr
companyi
bill for the Great Trunk lines had been obtained, and
in the year 1550 a branch line was sanctioned from Cal-
cutta to Rhanneegungee. In 1850 some progress had
been made in the construction of lines, and he found,
that there were in that year 121 miles of railway con•
structed in the Presidency of Bengal, 87 in Bombay and
81 in Madras. It would be very unfair in him, were he
to state that 300 miles of railway only were open ; for
pan panu there had been some hundreds of miles con-
structed in the various presidencies. One great cause of
the delay was in the changes in the decisions of the Go-
vernment as to the course the lines should take ; and the
course of the line being sometimes altered, led to con-
siderable delay in the execution of the plan. In addi-
tion to those causes, the greatest cause of all was the
great mutiny. In Bombay there were natural difficul-
ties. The lines in the Madras Presidency were mere
easily constructed ; and amongst the facilities were the
cheap price of labour, which, for instance, was at some-
thing about 21. a day for women and children. The
calculation for the whole cost of constructing railways
in India was somewhere under 10,0001. In many parts
of India, railways had been constructed at a cost of
6,0001. a mile ; and he begged to remind the house that
the average cost for the whole of India was 33,0001. In
consideration of the vast sums of money which this
country received from India, they were bound to ex-
tend to them that which every civilised Monarch con-
ferred on his subjects. The Government, however, was
not in a position to construct those railways themselves,
because of want of money, and they handed the work
over to the companies to construct themselves, and hav-
log the Government sanction, it was not to be surprised
that they assented to the Government superintendence
exercising the power of selecting and altering the lines
as they might think proper. On the other hand the
Gos ernment, in consideration of certain concessions
&aimed and exercised paramount control in the construe-
Von and management of the lines. It was said that they
had given land to the estimated value of a million ster
liog. He did :not know on what bases that estimate
rested, and he should like to know how much money
had been paid to the ryots whose lands had been thus
disposed of. But in addition to the land, cf whatever
value it might be, the Government gave guarrantees,
varying from 41 to 5 per cent. upon the capital em-
ployed in the construction of the lines. There were
other agreements which he need not particularise, hut
the general effect of which was to give the Indian
Government power to take the railways from the com-
panies under certain stipulated conditions, or in the
event of mismanagement. It was clear that those
conditious having been entered into, could not be die-
turbed during the construction of the present lines,
but lioking forward as he did to the vary large
extensions of railways in India, it was most desirable in
future to have their promoters as unfettered as possible,
or, at all events, very materially modify our present sys-
tem. The extent to which the Government exercised
suiveillance and control, and interfered even in the most
mime e particulars under that system, was such as to
lead to inevitable delay, to great s )reness and vexation
of spirit, between the Government consulting engineers
and the Company's engineers, managers, aid officers ;
and he need not add that a cordial understanding and
harmonious action between persons so situated was ab-
solutely essential to success, efficiency, and economy.
The Indian Government stipulated expressly that the
appointment of all manager?, agents, clet ks, and officers,
and the entering into contracts of every kind should be
subject to their sanction. That was the extent of their
power, and he would not weary the house with many de-
tails to show the way in which it was enforced, but
would take one illustration from the case of the Madras
lines of railway, because, as that presidency bad not
been disturbed, like other portions of India, there could
be no reason for stating that the delay which had taken
pace was owing to other causes than the cea.eless in-
tervention of the Government officials with the manage-
ment of the linee One great cause of this delay was to
be found in the fact that the consulting engineers, who
was entrusted by the Government with the supervision
of the works and the regulation of the line, was a mill-
scientific branches of the service, but however ail of
they reieht be in the construction of a fort, or the de-
fences of a position, they were, and must be, altogether
at sea in the construction of railway embankments, via-
ducto or tunnels. If their position were reversed, and
a civil engineer placed over them, when engaged in the
defence of such a position, such a course could not fail to
lead to disasters ; and, by placing them as the control-
lers of civil engineers, they were called upon to perform
duties for which they were not fit. One would imagine
that the companies would be permitted to enter into con-
tracts, and engage their own inspectors of work on their
own responsibility, and without external interference.
Nothing of the kind. Everything had to be done sub-
ject to the authority and direction of the Government
consulting engineer. The Government forbade the com-
panies to engage inspectors of works out of the country,
and they were not to be had in it. They refused liberty
to enter into contracts, and disputes were continually
arising from this cause. Sometimes the consulting en•
gineer was in favour of what were called sealed tenders,
while the company's manager advocated open contracts,
or, in other oases, the simple system of paying ready
money for the articles required, according to the
locality and the circumstances. In one case the agent of
the Madras lines had purchased 3,000 sleepers in
Malabar, which the consulting engineer decided were
not made of any of the woods specified in the agreement.
He refused to allow them to be used until he was
furnished with the proper botanical name. A long and
irtita ing correspondence ensued, which lasted some
months, and at length it was found that the wood of
which the sleepers were made was exactly what it ought
to have been, but that it went under a somewhat
botanical name in Malabar. (A. laugh.) Then as to
stores from home. The Government sanction had to be
obtained for the purchase of these stores, and thus it
frequently happened that articles which were urgently
wanted at particular places, during the construction of
the works, were not sent out to India till 15 or 16 months
after the necessity for them had past away, and the
things were not wanted at all. That was the case in one
instance within his own knowledge, with respect to
some iron pumps that were required on the Madras and
Veliore line. So vexatiously minute was this everlasting
interference, that he had heard of a Governor in council
actually entering into a violent discussion with a railway
engineer as to the position and construction of a water-
closet. It was this system that led to the delays of
which he complained during the construction of the
works. But even after the lines were completed the same
fatal intervention produced the most mischievous results.
The consulting engineer claimed to fix the fares, appoint
the trains, and regulate the traffic ; and here again, as a
necessary consequence, continual disputes arose between
bits and the officers of the companies. He did not men-
tion names, or attack individuals, but merely exposed a
bad system, which urgently call for reform. While this
was the case in India, other obstructions were offered
by the Government at home. In fact the obstruction
was felt quite as strongly, if not more strongly than it
was in India. The plan of that line was first submitted
to the Indian Government in 1853. In August that
year a surveying party was sent out, and in the follow-
ing April they submitted to the Government in India a
survey of 1,114 miles, of which the home Government
sanctioned the construction of 330 miles in 1555, and
that tai a point which might be said to lead nowhere but
to a bad port, and bad bar, and a station which was
almost useless for general purposes. This the result
of three years' consideration on the part of the home
Government of India. The same delay had been
shown in the case of the extension lines of the
Beim° company. He toadentood they were still under
consideration, and he earnestly hoped that the ex-
tension to Indore, which was the centre of the trade is
opium, would be pushed for ward more rapidly in future.
The result of the system of constructing railways in In-
dia, where contrasted with that pursued in the United
States, was eminently satisfactory. Since 1830 there bad
been 25,000 miles of tailway constructed in the United
States, or at the rate of 1,000 miles a-year, while, after
first.
all the years which had elapeed since railwayitlwere
mooted for lodia, we had only opened 500 miesr .sysuteto
prboerel
Kennedy in 1842 estimated that, with a P
of troop.
of railways in India, two thirds of
.the num
that country,
wou'd be sufficient for
t re-
at present required ber at presen
and more efficient than the whole nu
uTounting to 50,000
quired. This redaction inra foorocoela
which would repro
would effect a saving of more than neces-
sent a capital of 60,000,001
proposed railways for
ctlon of the ,
easy for the consau
wintery, and economic grounds
India. On commercial,
hoti d accede to his motion.
Mr. CRAWFORD
he th )ught the hou, e s n
seconding the motion, said be
, .
the attention of the house to the quarter
I wished to draw
blame shoal he attached for the non-construe.
te which
lion of railways !n.
Stephenson Vl2l
.1. . ted India, and in 1844 returned and
reported his views on the subject of railways
.in that
co„try. In 1854 the Court of Directors, having consi-
eered the seject, communicated, on May 7, their views
to the Governor-General. of Bonabav, and suggested that
Ur. Simms, a civil engineer, and Nir. Stephenson should
be authorised to proceed to India for the purpose of in-
vestigating the whole question. They proceeded to India
and returned in 1346, when they reported their opinions
to the Board of Directors, who communicated their
views to the Board of Control. They stated tha five
wouldmillion be requisite to carry out the proposed un-
dertakings, and as money was then cheap there would