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extension of some sixty-seven miles, forty-two of which have since been undertaken and completed. When Governor Gregory left in 1877, there were few rivers of any importance left unbridged, a large extent of previously unoccupied country had been opened up for cultivation, and an impetus given to both natives and the European colonists in the extension of cultivation, especially of new products, which alone saved the island from a serious collapse in the years of commercial depression and blight on coffee which followed. After 1877 not many miles of new road were added by Sir James Longden; but Governor Gordon greatly improved existing roads, and made several extensions, besides constructing some important bridges, especially in the new and rising Kelani Valley tea district. It is a great matter to be able to say that, whereas the Rev. James Cordiner, chaplain to the Governor of Ceylon in 1807, could write, "Strictly speaking, there are no roads in Ceylon," now, after some ninety years of British rule, about 1,500 miles of first-class metalled roads, equal to any in the world, have been constructed, besides about 1,400 miles of gravelled roads for light traffic, supplemented by 600 miles of natural tracks available in dry weather to traverse districts where as yet there is little or no traffic. The main roads are those from Colombo to Batticaloa vid Ratnapura, Haputalé, and Badulla, right across the island; from Colombo to Trincomalee via Kandy, and another branch via Kurunégala, also right across the breadth of the island, but north instead of south of the Central Province; from Jaffna southwards through the centre of the island to Kandy, and thence to Nuwara Eliya and Badulla, and by a less frequented route to Hambantota on the south coast; from Kandy to Mannar on the north-west coast-the great immigration route; and the main roads on the coast, Colombo to Galle and Hambantota, and north to Mannár and almost to Jaffna. Subsidiary first-class roads, especially in the Central Province, are too numerous to mention.

The benefit which this network of roads has conferred on the people it is impossible to over-estimate. Secluded districts have been opened up, and markets afforded for produce which previously was too often left to waste; settlements, villages, and even large towns, have sprung up within the last fifty-five years (during our good Queen's reign) alongside roads where previously all was jungle and desolation, and means of employment have been afforded to a people who had scarcely ever seen a coin.

As in India, so on a smaller scale in Ceylon, it is a recognised fact that there is no more effectual preventive of famine than internal means of communication, whether by road, rail, canal, or navigable river. There has probably never been a year in which India, within its widely extended borders, did not produce enough food to supply all its population; but unfortunately there has been no means of getting the superabundance of one district transferred to the famine area in another part of the continent. So in Ceylon, in years gone by, there has been great scarcity and mortality in remote districts without the central Government at Colombo being made properly aware of the fact, or being able to supply prompt relief. The mortality from fever and food scarcity in some parts of the country must thus have been very great before British times.

Roads, again, are great educators, but in this they are surpassed by railways in an Oriental land. The railways in India and Ceylon are doing more in these modern days to level caste and destroy superstition than all the force of missionaries and schoolmasters, much as these latter aid in this good work.

The railway between Colombo and Kandy, projected originally about forty years ago, was not seriously taken in hand till the time of Sir Henry Ward. After many mistakes and alterations of plans, it was successfully completed under the skilful engineering guidance of Mr. (now Sir) G. L. Molesworth, K.C.S.I. (afterwards consulting engineer to the Government of India), Mr, W. F. Faviell being the

[graphic]

THE "DARK ARCHES" ON THE RAILWAY INCLINE AT KADU-
GUNAVA, WITH BULLOCK CARTS ON THE ROAD BELOW.
[From a Photograph by Lieutenant R. W. Stewart, R.E.]

successful contractor. The total length is 744 miles, and, including a good deal of money unavoidably wasted in dissolving and paying off a company, it cost the colony, from first to last, as much as £1,738,413; but the line (on the broad Indian gauge of 5 ft. 6 in.) is most sub-. stantially constructed, including iron-girder bridges, viaducts, a series of tunnels, and an incline rising 1 in 45 for 12 miles into the mountain zone, which gives this railway a prominent place among the remarkable lines of the world.

Between 1867 and 1877, the railway was extended by Sir Hercules Robinson, on the same gauge, for 17 miles from Pérádeniya to Gampola and Nawalapitiya, rising towns in the Central Province; and by Sir William Gregory for 17 miles from Kandy to Mátalé, a town on the borders of the Central Province; while in the low country the same governor constructed a seaside line from Colombo, through a very populous district, to Kalutara (27 miles), and also some 3 miles of wharf and breakwater branches.

To Governor Gregory's time also belongs the inception and practical commencement of the extension from Nawalapitiya to the principality of. Uva (67 miles), of which 41 to Nanu-oya were commenced in 1880, and finished in 1885. This line includes two long inclines, with gradients of 1 in 44, a tunnel 614 yards long, and the end of the section at Nanu-oya is 5,600 feet above sea-level, within four miles of the sanatarium and town of Nuwara Eliya (6,200 feet above sea-level). This extension, however, only touches the borders of Uva, one of the richest parts of the country, an ancient principality, which Sir Arthur Gordon separated from the Central, and constituted into a separate, province. Governor Gordon, after some doubt and delay at first, became thoroughly convinced of the importance of the work of extending the railway from Nanu-oya into Uva as far as Haputalé or Bandarawella (for 25 to 29 miles), as originally suggested in 1872 in the memorial drawn up by the author of this volume and presented to Sir William Gregory. It took some years of hard work on Sir A. Gordon's part to overcome the objections of the Colonial Office, but at length sanction was obtained for the Haputalé section, and a commencement made in December 1888, while the spring of 1893 is expected to see the opening of the line.

In all there are now about 205 miles of railway open in Ceylon, besides the 32 miles into Uva nearly completed. Then there is the remainder of the line to Galle (191 miles), with a section of 13 miles to Kurunegala from Polgahawella which is under construction. This will give a total of about 270 miles, due to be open by the beginning of 1894; but only the main line to the hill districts may be said to have been working long enough to afford a fair test of the traffic and the benefit to colonists, natives, and the country generally. The seaside line, however, has a wonderfully large passenger traffic, and when the extension is open to Galle, it will also secure profitable freight. With the revival of planting prosperity through tea, the Nanu-oya and Mátalé lines are now fully employed, although the division into Uva has to be adequately worked before a handsome return can be got for the outlay. Altogether 122 miles of railway are the free property of the colony, while the debt on the remaining 148 miles will not much exceed two millions sterling.

The main line to Kandy has more than repaid its cost in direct profit, apart from the immense benefits it has conferred. It is sometimes said that this railway and other lines in Ceylon, constructed as they were mainly for the planting enterprise and with the planters' money, confer far more benefit on the Europeans than on the native population. An answer to this statement, and an evidence of the immense educating power of our railways, is found in the fact that during the past twenty-five years over thirty-five millions of passengers have been carried over the lines, of whom all but an infinitesimal proportion were natives (Sinhalese and Tamils chiefly). On the

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