Country. Political and local considerations, more than com- 

 mercial considerations, governed oiir railway construction in 

 the past. And for this reason, unfortunately, we have even 

 in Tasmania some lines which will not pay in the lifetime of 

 our children, and possibly of our grand-children. The two 

 principal reasons for this state of affairs are the high cost of 

 construction (the average cost of the 3ft. 6in. gauge Tas- 

 manian Railways being =£8,400 a mile), and the policy of 

 successive Governments of carrying our small quantity of 

 goods traffic at a less average cost than the much larger 

 quantities of goods are carried for in the other Australasian 

 colonies. It may be an excellent thing for the country that 

 it is the policy of the Government to carry the native coal of 

 Tasmania at a rate averaging 50 per cent, less than the same 

 article is carried for in New Zealand, as well as many other 

 lines of traffic at rates less than the average of the other 

 Australasian colonies. But it is only fair, I think, when dis- 

 cussing the financial position of our railways to take into 

 consideration the hidden profits and the great advantages 

 which are derived by the users of our railways. 



It may be some satisfaction to us, however, to remember 

 that Tasmania is not the only country which has constructed 

 unprofitable railways. America, which takes the lead in so 

 many matters, has beaten us here. By the last returns I 

 have in my possession I find that considerably more than 60 

 per cent, of the total stock of the American railways was 

 paving no dividend whatever. =£562,000,000 invested in 

 railways returns nothing to stock holders. During the first 

 six months of the year 1892, 24 railway companies, owning 

 between 9,000 and 10,000 miles of railways, became insolvent, 

 and during the history of American railways considerably 

 more than half of them have at one time or another passed 

 into the hands of receivers. With all her errors, Tasmania 

 is not likely to put up a similar record. 



But, to come to my subject, the 2ft. gauge line from Zeehan 

 to North-East Dundas. There is a large area of country 

 waiting to be opened up in this colony. On the North- West 

 Coast, inland from Table Cape, through Flowerdale, are 

 thousands of acres of valuable land unoccupied, or carrying 

 a few head of cattle, because there are no means to bring 

 produce to market. The same may be said of other districts 

 in the North of the island. On the West Coast there is a 

 large tract of country rich in minerals, rugged, broken, 

 difficult of access, and in a climate where the rainfall is 

 measured by feet instead of inches. Without means of 

 access the minerals cannot be developed. The colony is not 

 in a position to continue its past policy of railway construc- 

 tion. It cannot construct another Sorell line at a cost of over 



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