BY R. M. JOHNSTON, I.S.O., F.S.S. ig 



Prior to the opening up of the States' lands and the 

 Loans expenditure on Roads, Bridges, and Harbours, 

 the expenditure of time and labour in effecting the 

 necessary transport between points of production and 

 centres of population and ports of trade was very great. 

 Even in the limited areas when macadamised roads 

 existed, the cost of transit formed a heavy tax upon 

 either reproducer or consumer, or both, accordingly as 

 the product was intended for foreign or local consump- 

 tion. 



This aspect of the case was carefully investigated in 

 Tasmania by the writer soon after its first Railway (the 

 Launceston and Deloraine Railway) was opened for 

 traffic in February, 1871. It was found that prior to 

 regular daily timed service, and the consequent reduced 

 carriers' freights forced upon the latter by the Railway 

 competition, the average for carriers and coaches 

 throughout the State averaged as follows : — 



Carriers & Current 

 Coacttes prior Charges Decrease, 



to 1870. (Govt. Rys.) 



d. d. d. percent. 



Average Fare per Passenger 



per Mile 2-92 106 i-S6 6370 



Average Freight per Ton per 

 Mile of goods of all 



Descriptions lo-oo 1S2 S-i8 81 'So 



( 



The true interpretation of this remarkable reduction 

 in cost of transit within a very brief period is simply 

 this: that for every £1 now obtained as gross receipts, 

 there is a hidden value saved to either producers or 

 consumers of the country of at least £2, apart from the 

 actual profits of the Railway as an undertaking. 



Let us now make an estimate of what this hidden 

 value of railway speedy and cheaper transits means to 

 the States of Australia from the working of State rail- 

 ways in the year 1906-7. 



In this year there were open for traffic 14,232^ 

 miles of railway, whose Capital Construction and Equip- 

 ment amounted to £140,707,474. 



