It will be seen from the foregoing table that the lines opened in the Commonwealth and Australasia averaged 30 miles in length during each year from 1854 to 1861; from 1862 to 1871 the annual average was 82 miles in the Commonwealth and 89 in Australasia; from 1872 to 1881, 312 miles in the Commonwealth and 439 in Australasia ; from 1882 to 1891, 597 miles in the Commonwealth and 665 in Australasia; and from 1892 to 1902, 332 miles in the Commonwealth and 361 in Australasia. It is now the established policy of each state to keep the railways under State control, and only in exceptional circumstances is that policy departed from. Excluding coal, timber, and other lines which are not open to general traffic, there are within the Commonwealth only 6404 miles of private lines, equal to but 4.75 per cent. of the total mileage open; and in Australasia only 728 miles, or 4.61 per cent. of the total mileage open. In Victoria the railways are entirely in the hands of the Government; while in Western Australia there are 277 miles of private lines, or 16.92 per cent. of the total mileage of the state; in New South Wales, 814 miles; in Tasmania, 160 miles, and in South Australia, 20 miles. A departure from the ordinary policy of the State has also been made in Queensland, where the construction of the railway from Mareeba to Chillagoe, a distance of 102 miles, has been carried out by private persons. The private lines of New Zealand have a total length of 88 miles. Except in the case of Western Australia, none of these private railways are trunk lines, the most important of them being primarily intended to facilitate the development of important mines, and not for general traffic.

The divergence of the policy of Western Australia from that pursued by the other states was caused by the inability of the Government to construct lines when railway extension was urgently required in the interests of settlement. Private enterprise was therefore encouraged by liberal grants of land to undertake the work of construction; but the changing conditions of the state have modified its policy, and on the 1st January, 1897, the Government acquired the Great Southern Railway, 243 miles in length, one of the two trunk lines in private hands. This railway, which was owned by the West Australian Land Company, Limited, was built on the land-grant system, the State concession being 12,000 acres for every mile of line laid down, of which the original concessionaire retained 2,000 acres. The total price paid by the Government for the railway, with all the interests of the company and of the original concessionaire, was £1,100,000, of which £800,000 is set down as the capital sum on which the railway authorities are expected to provide interest, exclusive of the amount invested in rolling stock. The other trunk line is the Midland Railway, 277 miles in length, owned by the Midland Railway Company of Western Australia, Limited. In this case the land granted by the state was also 12,000 acres per mile of line. In 1891 the Government granted some slight assistance to the company, and in the following year guaranteed £500,000 of 4 per cent. debentures, the security being a first charge

upon the railway and its equipment, and 2,400,000 acres selected land. At three months' notice, the state may foreclose should the company be indebted to it to the amount of £20,000.

The following statement shows the gauge and length of the private railways of Australasia, excluding coal, timber, and other lines which are not open to general traffic:

A proviso has been inserted in the charters of the companies owning the private lines in New South Wales, whereby after a certain date the Government can, if disposed, acquire the lines at a valuation. Similar conditions are found in most of the charters granted by the other states permitting the construction of private lines.

In the construction of railways during the last working year the state of New South Wales displayed most activity. Of the 347 miles thrown open to traffic in Australasia during the twelve months ended 30th June, 1902, 177 were opened in New South Wales, comprising The Rock to Lockhart, Clyde to Carlingford, Byrock to Brewarrina, Gravesend to Reedy Creek, Cobar to the Peak, Reedy Creek to Inverell, and Goulburn to Crookwell.

The following table shows the extension of the railway in each state since 1861 :

In 1883 a junction was effected between the New South Wales and Victorian lines at the river Murray; three years later direct communication was established between Victoria and South Australia; and in 1888 the last mile of line connecting Sydney with the northern state of Queensland was completed, thus placing the four capitals, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, in direct communication with each other. A few years ago proposals were made to the Government of Western Australia to construct a railway upon the land-grant system, connecting the eastern districts of the state with South Australia. It was proposed to extend the lines to Eucla, close to the South Australian border, and when that state had extended its railways to the same point, Perth would be connected with all the capitals of the Australian states. In June, 1897, the South Australian Railways Commissioner, in a report to the Commissioner of Public Works, estimated the cost of construction and equipment of a line to the Western Australian border, a distance of 553 miles, at £1,903,000. When the railways of the two states shall have been connected, as they will possibly be at no far distant date, the European mails will, in all likelihood, be landed at Fremantle, and sent overland to all parts of the continent.

The following table shows the length of Government railways in course of construction and authorised on the 30th June, 1902 :—

Notwithstanding the energetic expansion of the railway systems throughout Australasia since 1871, there is still room for considerable extension. In the state of South Australia construction is entirely confined to the south-eastern corner and to the extension of the Northern Line, which has its present terminus at Oodnadatta, 686 miles from Adelaide. It is proposed eventually to extend this line as far north as Pine Creek, the southern terminus of the Port Darwin line. In the course of the year 1896 offers were made on behalf of various syndicates for the construction of the Transcontinental railway, with the acquisition of the section from Palmerston to Pine Creek; but the Government was not prepared to recommend to Parliament the acceptance of any offer based on the land grant or guarantee system. When this railway is completed, direct overland communication will be established between the northern and southern portions of the continent. The length of the gap between the terminus at Oodnadatta and that at Pine Creek is 1,140 miles on the telegraph route.

In New South Wales the railway extensions will be chiefly confined to perfecting the various systems already constructed. At the present time several lines of what is termed the "pioneer" class are in course of construction in level pastoral country. These are of a light and cheap kind, on which the produce of the settlers may be conveyed to the trunk lines at a reasonable speed and at a cheaper rate than carriage by road. In Queensland, with its vast expanse of partly-settled territory and extensive seaboard, the railways are being constructed in separate systems. The lines commence from each of the principal ports and run inland, but there is no doubt that not many years will elapse before these systems. will become branches of a main trunk-line which, in all likelihood, will be the Brisbane-Charleville line extended as far as Normanton at the Gulf of Carpentaria. In this state a system has been introduced by which railways are constructed under a guarantee given by the local authority on behalf of the ratepayers of the district. Details of this system are given on a subsequent page. In Victoria, Tasmania, and New Zealand the railways are well developed compared with size of territory, and any future extensions will hardly be on so large a scale as in the other states. In Western Australia great activity now prevails in extending the lines to the gold-fields, and also to the south-western portion of the state.

CONTROL OF STATE RAILWAYS.

The states of Victoria, South Australia, New South Wales, and Queensland have found it expedient to place the management and maintenance of railways under the control of commissioners. Victoria, in 1883, was the first state to adopt this system; four years later South Australia made the change, while New South Wales and Queensland followed in 1888. Each of these states appointed three officials

as commissioners, and conferred upon them large executive powers, amounting to almost independent control, the object aimed at being to obtain economical management of the lines free from political interference. Subsequently Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia reduced the number of commissioners to one; but in New South Wales, where the administration has been most successful, no changes in the system have been made. The control of the New Zealand railways was also handed over to a body of three commissioners in 1887; but at the beginning of 1895 the Government resumed charge of the lines, a general manager being appointed, responsible to a Minister for Railways. In New South Wales and Victoria an additional safeguard in railway construction prevails. All proposals for new lines are submitted to committees selected from Members of the Houses of Parliament. These committees take evidence regarding the suitability of the route proposed, the probable cost of construction, the financial prospects of the line, and the grades to be adopted; and thereupon advise Parliament to adopt or reject the schemes proposed. This supervision of railway development may be said to have been attended with success, although lines that are not likely to be commercially successful have been recommended by the committee and sanctioned by Parliament.

DIVERSITY OF GAUGE.

Unfortunately for interstate communication, railway construction in Australia has proceeded without uniformity of gauge, and the accomplishment of this work, which it is everywhere admitted must be secured, becomes more formidable to contemplate as the years roll on. In 1846 Mr. Gladstone advised that the 4-ft. 8-in. gauge should be adopted for any lines constructed in New South Wales; and two years later this gauge was adopted as the standard by the Royal Commission appointed for the purpose of determining a uniform gauge for England and Scotland. In 1850, however, the Sydney Railroad and Tramway Company decided. to adopt the 5-ft. 3-in. gauge, and in 1852 an Act was passed which provided that all railways in the state should be laid down to that gauge. But in 1853 the company mentioned, having changed their engineer, altered their views on the gauge question, and applied to have the 4-ft. 8-in. gauge substituted for the 5-ft. 3-in., succeeding in repealing the Act and in passing another which made the narrower gauge imperative. This step was taken without the concurrence of the other states, and feeling ran very high in Victoria in consequence, as two of the railway companies in that state had already given large orders for rolling-stock on the 5-ft. 3-in. gauge. Until the lines of the two states met on the boundary no discomfort was, of course, experienced; but since then the break of gauge, with the consequent change of trains, has been a source of irritation and inconvenience. The South Australian Government adopted at the outset the 5-ft. 3-in. gauge of Victoria;