THE OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6823, 29 September 1883, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE OVERLAND ROUTE TO INDIA.

A; project is before the Government of India, the Calcutta Englishman says, for no less a scheme than a railway all the way from Quatta to Kandahar. Herat and Sarrakhs, thence. ;'across ..Northern Persia and Asia.!j.Minbr;; to 'the shores of the Bobphoriis. . Th l; s gigantic undertaking has been projected by some English gentlemenof repute in the engineering world, and the Government of India has been asked to give the subject a favourable consideration. The projectors believe, of course, that tbe ..line would prove a financial success. The section running through Asiatic Taikey, would,; it is thought, prove a paying concern ;6vnng to' local, traffic, inilependantly of the fact that it would constitute a portion of the overland route to India. The sections through Khoiaesan, aad on from Sarrakhs to Herat and Quetta, present prospects 1e33 favourable from a commercial point of view ; but the well known tendancy of a line of railway to develope trade along its course is taken into' account, and it is contended that the great natural resources of these regions would be roused into . activity by tbe line and so a trade be created. Besides, the through traffic from India is calculated at a favourable rate. As compared witb the Euphrates Valley route, the proposed line is /regarded as possess , ng "the advantages of passing for about half its length throngh a more fertile country, and of minimising the sea voyage in the journey between India and England. '-,' : . ...