CHAIRMAN S ADDRESS. III. 



excess with a teeming population, for which there is no 

 outlet except southwards, and it is sufficient for us to 

 be prepared to stem the overflow, if it comes in our direc- 

 tion. Some lunatic may at any day drop a match into the 

 combustible material of European politics, which might 

 give Great Britain all she could do to hold her own, or at 

 all events might necessitate the temporary abandonment 

 of this isolated outpost, and the opportunity might be seized 

 by China to pour her surplus millions into the northern 

 territory, unless in the meantime we take the precaution 

 to stock it for ourselves with some sturdy pioneering race 

 who will hold it for the empire. 



A policy of internal development and settlement of popu- 

 lation would be more effective than a standing army, but 

 the accomplishment of such a gigantic undertaking would 

 necessitate the construction of internal lines of communi- 

 cation, which at once brings us to the consideration of the 

 problem in relation to Australian railways. 



Engineering and Australian Problems in relation to 

 Australian Railways.— The principal object of a railway 

 system in a new country such as Australia, when viewed 

 from a national standpoint, should be the development of 

 its resources, in order that people of our race and of similar 

 aspirations, and having the same destiny, may "go in and 

 possess the land" and be able to hold it against intrusion 

 of the outsider and the alien, and when the system is under 

 State ownership, the construction of lines which per se are 

 unremunerative, may be fully justified if the trade and 

 industries of the country are stimulated, and the whole 

 system is benefited by the increased volume of traffic 

 accruing thereby. In some cases it may be sound policy 

 for the Government to sacrifice revenue in order to foster 

 a trade or an industry that may be necessary for the 

 defence of the country, or that may induce population to 



