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The amount of freight I have assumed on the ground that the carrying trade will be very large, and subject to competition.

As residents and consumers of coal in Nelson, we have of course to look only at the last column, and to choose the cheapest coal, supposing the quality of all to be alike. But this affects only a very small part of the question; as a community, the point that we wish to arrive at, is this, to be able to supply coal at some port in the Province at the lowest possible price, in order entirely to command the trade, or, at least a fair share of it.

We must consider, therefore, whether buyers who have coal to deliver, say at Auckland, or Wellington, could do so cheaper by buying it at Nelson, for 14/9, or 16/9, or by going to the Buller or the Grey, and buying it at 7/- or 6/8.

This question, for example, would affect all large quantities of coal, to be delivered, say, in Cook's Straits, for the supply of sea-going steamers.

And, supposing that we succeed in forming a railway to the Batten or the Wangapeka, the success of that railway must depend almost entirely on the cheap rate at which we could deliver coal in Nelson; for by no other means could we hope to retain the trade, even should we be the first to establish it; and as the first outlay on the railway will be the same, whether we produce 100 tons or 100,000 per year, it is clear that the more we can sell, the less will be the expenses on each ton produced.

The interest on the cost of construction and the working and maintenance of the way, must be greater on a long line than on a short one, and will put a limit to the cheapness, the advantage always being on the side of the shorter line.

This, therefore, brings us to the conclusion, that if, at any other port of the province, coal could be produced at such a low rate as to be able to bear, beyond that rate, the expenses of sea-carriage, a chance arises that we might have sea-borne coal delivered at Nelson, in our own market, at a lower rate than we could deliver it by railway; the whole question hinging on the lowness of freight.

We must not evade this view of the question, as, whether the West Coast coal-fields, at the Grey, Buller, or Mokihinui, are opened out now, or not, they cannot, from their size, importance, and position, long remain unworked.

We have, however, to view railways in another light than simply as coal-producing, as wherever they may be laid down, they will be the means of peopling the country, and of cultivating the land through which they pass.

But to coal we must look as the principal item of traffic, and as the immediate object of laying down railways in whatever direction; we must not of course expect such great results from them as in the old country, where population existed before railways, but must trust to the railways to make the population, with the hope that they will not fail to produce the desired result.

I have, &c.,
JOHN BLACKETT,
Provincial Engineer.

[Table from Left Side of Page]

The item for haulage, the amount for which varies exceedingly on different railways, and has a material influence on the total cost of the coal, especially on the longer lines, I have charged to all of them at the same rate, to make a fair comparison.

Thus it appears that coal could be delivered in

PRINTED BY R. LUCAS, BRIDGE STREET, NELSON.