UNIFORM GAUGE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 24 March 1922, Page 8

UNIFORM GAUGE.

VICTORIAN OBJECTIONS

MB. HUGHES' REPLY,

MELBOURNE, March 15. In the course of a statement made; to-day the Prime - Minister, Mr. Hughes, dealt further with the representations of the Victorian Railways btanding Committee on the subject of1 the- unification of railway gauges "The parochial attitude is still'being adopted, 1? said Mr. Hughes, "and the committee is apparently unable to look at this great question from a national standpoint. It,did not appreciate the break of gauge position as it affected Australia but only as it would affect Victoria." Mr. Hughes then answered several statements to which attention had been directed by the chairman of the Standing Committee. In contending that the working and maintenance rexptenses of the railways would be appreciably reduced, Mr. Hughes said ,nX d,V nn£ the year ended June 30, ! 1920, the loss in the mainland States was £1,744,000, after paying working expenses and interest. For the succeeding year the loss was £3,947,000, an advance of £2,202,000. Increased trade and reduced cost of operating only would check this drift. In _ contending that the proposal would add to the productive wealth of the Commonwealth, the Prime Minister said that no country with hampering restrictions such as now existed on the Australian railways was capable of proper development. The first step to produce wealth was to provide efficient transport. With regard to the burden of cost, it was stated that the longer unification was delayed the larger grew the bill. The cost of altering the permanent way in Victoria had been estimated at £350,000 in 1897, and at £3,500,000 in 1913, while in 1922 the estimate had risen to £5,240,000. The unification of the gauges, added 'Mr. Hughes, would not directly open up new territory, but it would make the existing railways of greater assistance to the producer, and would encourage closer settlement by giving rapid and direct access to markets. No country in the world had more railways in proportion to its population than had Australia, the miles of railway per thousand of the population bemw 4.99 in Australia!, 4.57 in Canada, 2.68 in Argentina, and 2.59 in the United States of America. The United States effected conversion in 1886, prior to which date tEere were seven different gauges in the States. Approximately 13,000 miles of railway were converted. The unified gauge in America had been the means of affording an unhampered flow of trade and commerce throughout Ihe country, and had been the means of large cMies being; built far removed from ifie coast. It was this very object that they wished to achieve in Australia.