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Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2586, 21 August 1909, Page 4

RAILWAY SLEEPERS.

At least two thousand sleepers are used for every mile of railway that is being laid down at present between Gisborne and the Motu. Each sleeper is imported from Australia and costs more than four shillings: It is alleged by the Railway Department that timber hard enough and durable enough for railway sleepers cannot be obtained in New Zealand, but there are settlers at Rakauroa and Motu who declare that the red birch timber of those legalities is eminently suitable for that purpose. As regards its durability, they are prepared to show posts that have been embedded in the ground for from twenty to thirty years, and have been taken out as sound as on the day they were put in. As for the breaking strain this is a matter that can be put to a definite test at any time without difficulty! Unfortunately the Manager of the Railway Department soems to have made up his mind that the Poverty Bay red birch is useless for sleepers, and having done so will give no adequate reason for hi 6 disbelief, nor will he arrange, for proper tests of the value of the timber to be made. It has been suggested that this attitude is due to the fact that red birch sleepers were once tried in the Wairarapa district, and after two years had to bo taken up. This may be the fact, but that does not necessarily affect the position so far as our own timber is concerned. The varieties and quality of the wood may be entirely diverse and probably are. It would mean a great

saving to the Department and an immense source of revenue to Rakauroa and Motu settlers if the sleepers for the Gisborne line could be taken from their forests and it is certainly due to the people of this district ' that complete and exhaustive tests should be made before rejecting what we have to offer. Now that our own Parliamentary representative has attained to the influential position of Acting-Premier, we may be pardoned for hinting that the matter has only to bo brought to his notice at this opportune moment to receive prompt and careful attention. Properly speaking the “Hon. James” should have attended- to it long ago, but, presumably, in the rush of his multifarious duties it has escaped his notice. We are entitled to- ask that our member shall insist upon obtaining from the Manager of the Railway Department a definite and satisfactory reason why local timber cannot be used as sleepers in place of tlic imported article.