COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL. 



1405 



The connection of 



the two chief cities, the 



most important feat of 



railway construction in 



Australia, was finally ef- 

 fected by a bridge over 



the Murray at Wodonga 



in 1883. Besides these 



main lines there are many 



subsidiary lines and 



branches. In 1890, the 



number of persons car- 

 ried over the lines in 



New South Wales was 



17,071,945; the tonnage 



of goods carried being 



3,788,950 tons for the 



same year. The average 



cost per mile is calcu- 

 lated at ,14,003. The 



interest for 1887 on the 



total capital expended 

 amounted to i, 663, 938, leaving a net 

 deficiency for the year to be paid out 

 of the general revenue, of ,313,404. 

 The whole railway and tram-way system 

 has lately been placed under the con- 

 trol of three Commissioners in order 

 to relieve the management from po- 

 litical influence. In order to protect 

 the Government against undue local 

 applications for new lines, an Act was 

 passed providing for the appointment 

 of a joint Parliamentary Committee of both Houses 

 to which should be referred all works estimated to 

 cost more than ,20,000. All projects for new 

 railways were therefore to be investigated and re- 

 ported on by this Committee. Victoria in the 

 year 1887 adopted the same principle. 



From the first steps towards railway construc- 

 tion in Victoria, in 1853, the progress was rapid. 

 A private line to St. Kilda was opened in 1857, and one to Get-long in the same year. 

 The Government constructed at great expense a line from Melbourne to .Sandhurst, and 



another from Geelong to Ballarat. These supplied the wants of the largest gold-fields, 



THE RAILWAY LINK AT M T. VICTORIA. 



