AUSTRALIAN RAILWAYS

Evening Star, Issue 17919, 15 March 1922, Page 7

AUSTRALIAN RAILWAYS

Press Aasociation-By Tekgraph—Oopyiigß LONDON, March 13. Mr T. R. Johnson, formerly Railway Commissionor in New South Wales, and lately engineer adviser to the Peking Board of Communication, lectured before the Institute of Transport on the railway problems of Australia and! China. He endorsed the commission's recommendation of 1921 for the adoption of the New South Wales gauge. Ho pointed out the overwhelming advantages from the point of view of" the diversion of the proposed north-south lino to the eastward, thereby Unking up Queensland with east and west lines. This was better than the Oodnaihtta route. Victoria was, he said, lead-' ins the Commonwealth in regard to tho cl'-Vi-rifii-ation of railwayß. Sir doVeph Cook (High Commissioner) paid a tribute to Mr Johnson's, railway s-crvice.i in Australia. Ho said that wellin' >!!iiorl opinion favors the new south line via O.ieensland. Ho deprecated reference •;.■> i.hV "desert line." He had the best .ir.ihnriiv for saving that in this territory these w'ero hundreds of millions of acres c:.j>;v'>U' of carrying millions of cattle when h»i,,-. were in operation and railway transport provided. In Kimberley alono there were L 00.000,000 awes of the finest cattle country in the world. The lato Lord KitchoiW had repeatedly informed him that he favorer! tho Queensland overland route, y.i.l cnlv for military purposes, but from an (nnnom'ip point, of view. Sir Joseph Cook advocated the spending of millions on railway extension and land dovelopmont, thereby' employing hundreds of thousands of immigrants and promoting tho expansion of industries.—A. and N.Z. Cable.