290 ^'^fr SOUTH WALES. 



days, Port Macquai-ie was a sliipping- place of considerable importance, 

 as most of tlie wool and produce from New England went there, but 

 the construction of the Great Northern Eailway from Newcastle, 

 and the opening- up of other shipping places on the coast, has robbed 

 it of most of its trade, and the extensive stores and buildings which 

 were formerly used are now falling into decay. 



The roads as main highways for traffic from Sydney have to a 

 great extent been superseded by the railways, but for a large part 

 jf the Colony they are still the sole means of communication, and 

 as feeders to the railway system they play a very important part. 



In the interior a vast amount of work has been done in providing 

 oranch roads to the main arteries ; roads between townships, and for 

 access to the railway system ; and routes for stock purposes. On 

 many of these latter, in the dry parts of the far interior, a large sum 

 has been expended in providing tanks and wells for supplying water 

 to travelling stock, and dui-ing the past few years artesian bores have 

 been put down for the same purpose in some of the driest regions with 

 signal success. 



Owing to the nature of the soil, and the absence of suitable stone, 

 the cost of road construction in some of the inland parts of the 

 Colony is exceedingly high, so much so that where there is any large 

 amount of traffic it is absolutely cheaper to construct light railways, 

 which, in some instances, has been done, and will no doubt be con- 

 tinued on a much more extensive scale in future years. 



The bridges are constructed in a very substantial manner, timber 

 being used wherever possible. The Colony is fortunate in having an 

 almost unlimited supply of hardwood eminently suitable for bridge 

 work and structures of a like character. The ironbark which is 

 mostly used for the purpose has a tensile strength of about one-third 

 that of wrought-iron, whilst its durability may be gauged from the fact 

 that some bridges 50 years old are still canying traffic, whilst numbers 

 of others, totally unprotected from the weather, have been built over 

 oO years. Of course the wearing portions such as the deck planking 

 have from time to time been renewed, but the original main members 

 are still doing duty. A photograph accompanying this article illus- 

 trates one of the largest timber bridges yet constructed, which has just 

 been completed over the Murrumbidgee at Wagga AV^agga, at a cost 

 of £13,200, to replace a wooden structure built 34 years ago. It con- 

 sists of three 110-feet truss spans with 315 feet of timber approach 

 spans, the floor space per span being 3,165 feet. Apart from timber 

 bridges, some very fine structures of steel, iron, or composite iron and 

 timber have been erected where the importance of the traffic warrants 

 the expense. Space will not permit of reference being made to them 

 at length, but a brief mention of the most important will, perhaps, be 

 of interest. 



The Parramatta Bridge over the river of that name, near Sydney, 

 opened in 1881, consists of five 150-feet indeijendent wrought-iron 

 lattice girders, and a swing-span with two 60-feet clear openings. 

 The piers are constructed of wrought-iron cylinders, and the abut- 

 ments are of sandstone masonry. The Iron Cove Bridge, over one 

 of the arms of Sydney Harbour, was opened for traffic in 1882. It 

 is of the same general design as the Parramatta Bridge, but without a 



