96 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



stantial lines could have been built for not much more than half the 

 expenditure. 



After half a century of experience the State-owned railways 

 are still worked at a heavy loss, which has to be made up out 

 of the general revenue, and there appears small prospect of the 

 Government being able to bring them into conformity with com- 

 mercial principles. For a power has grown up in the large army 

 of railway servants, whose mass vote at Parliamentary elections 

 is a thing that even Ministers have to reckon with; and whose 

 Unions, in combination with other labour organisations, are strong 

 enough to resist any proposed reduction of working expenses. But 

 these conditions were undreamt of, even by the most pessimistic, 

 in 1858. 



The line to Ballaarat was opened for traffic on the 10th of April, 

 1862, and that to Sandhurst on the 20th of October following. In 

 the latter city some 20,000 persons gathered from the surrounding 

 districts to welcome the Governor, who was accompanied by Mr. 

 O'Shanassy and several members of his Cabinet. The congratula- 

 tory speeches at the banquet following the ceremony were conceived 

 in the grandest form of superlative exaggeration. The Government 

 had already been constrained to take over the privately constructed 

 line between Geelong and a place called Greenwich, on the Salt 

 Water Eiver, about four miles from Melbourne, the journey being 

 completed thence by steamer to the Queen's Wharf. The Govern- 

 ment had guaranteed interest for twenty-one years on this enterprise, 

 but the work had been badly done, without proper supervision, and 

 during the short time the company operated it there were some 

 fatal and many serious accidents. The Government paid about 

 600,000 for the company's undertaking, and it cost quite as much 

 more to properly equip the road and make the direct communication 

 with the Metropolis. Later on the resumption by the State was 

 extended to the Hobson's Bay and St. Kilda lines, and to the lines 

 controlled by the Melbourne and Suburban Eailway Company serv- 

 ing Eichmond, Prahran and Brighton, the Legislature having decreed 

 that all future railway extension should be in the hands of the 

 Government. 



In the city of Melbourne during this seven years great strides 



