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c£9,000 per mile, nor another Apsley line ending at a stump 

 iu a paddock, 1<> miles from anywhere. Some means had to 

 be found to open up the country at a cost which the circum- 

 stances of the colony could afford. After much consider- 

 ation the Government decided to initiate a scheme of rail- 

 way construction within the means of the colony, and which 

 would he fully capable of carrying all the traffic that might 

 offer. In constructing the line from Zeehan to North-East 

 Dundas, that is to say to the foot of Mount Read, we have 

 adopted the gauge of the Davjeeling line, a narrow gauge 

 railway which has given most successful results, and there is 

 every reason to believe that our line will achieve a similar 

 success. In this connection I am pleased to be able to say 

 that the cost of our line will be less by at least one-half the 

 cost of the Indian line referred to. 



The North-East Dundas Line, starting from the Zeehan 

 terminus of the Strahan- Zeehan Railway, runs north-eastward 

 during the whole of its course. The first four miles are 

 through comparatively easy country. The line then com- 

 mences to ascend, and at 10f miles, after twisting and 

 turning in the remarkable manner which you will observe 

 from the beautiful limelight views which will be exhibited 

 this evening, it reaches an altitude of 1,015ft. above Zeehan, 

 or 1,550ft. above sea level. After the first five miles the 

 country is extremely broken, and the line consists entirely of 

 steep gradients and sharp curves. The steepest grade on 

 the line is 1 in 25, in combination with curves of If chains 

 radius. 



The scenery in parts of this line, especially where the 

 rivers are crossed by timber bridges, is particularly beautiful 

 and interesting. Further than the eye can reach, say for a 

 distance of 40 miles, there is an immense myrtle forest, the 

 foliage of which is so dense that when viewed from a dis- 

 tance the tops of the forest present the appearance of rolling 

 downs. 



The rolling stock in use on the line has all been constructed 

 in the colony, with the exception of the locomotives. Our 

 standard locomotive was built by Messrs. Sharp, Stewart, and 

 Co., of Glasgow, and weighs in working order 19 tons 15 cwt. 

 It takes a load of rather better than 50 tons up a grade of 

 1 in 25. The goods trucks carry a net load of 10 tons, the 

 weight of the truck being only 2 tons 14 cwt. Thus, we are 

 able to negotiate grades of 1 in 25, in combination with curves 

 of If chains radius, with a paying load of 40 tons per train. 

 Therefore, supposing the traffic grows sufficiently to run four 

 full trains each way daily, the carrying capacity of the line, 

 with four daily trains in each^ direction will be 100,000 tons 



