MORE WORK.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22398, 20 October 1934, Page 9

MORE WORK.

AUSTRALIA’S PLANS UNIFICATION OF RAILWAYS (From Oub Own Correspondent.t SYDNEY, October 11. When the new Federal Cabinet settles down to work next week its first task, in accordance with election promises, will be to take steps that will relieve unemployment, still a serious problem in so many areas. Up to the present the Commonwealth Government has earned for itself a great deal of criticism because it has clearly shirked its duty in this respect, leaving the States to battle along, as best they could. It has been pointed out time and again that the finances of the Federal Government are in a much sounder condition than those of the States, and that it was unfair on the part of the National Government not to come to their aid. Faced each year with deficits, the State Governments have not felt that they would be justified in inaugurating great relief schemes. Australia looks to the Federal Government for a scheme that will have a wide appeal, and it would not be surprising if this should include a unification of railway gauges —a vast work so often shelved in the past. Rail, unification has been compared with other schemes, such as reafforestation and water conservation as a means of rapid absorption of the unemployed, and if, as is thought, a five year plan is formulated, the first undertaking would be the completion of the Fort Augusta-Red Hill-Adelaide sec-

tions, which would employ about 500 men for at least 18 months. The completion of this section would save passengers by the overland route across Australia 24 hours on the journey, as it would link Kalgoorlie, in Western Australia, direct with Adelaide, in South Australia. Officials think that this would induce sufficient additional passenger traffic to justify the outlay that would be necessary. Railway experts have always emphasised the advantage of a standard railway gauge in Australia, but the point in dispute is the contribution of each State. The wide gauge at present in use in New South Wales is the one favoured, but New South Wales would have to bear its share of the cost of converting other symptoms, It has since been suggested that the whole cost should be shouldered by the Conionwealth Government, which should regard the whole thing from a National standpoint. It remains to be seen whether the Federal Government will be prepared to endorse that view, and so take its full share in the rehabilitation of the country, It is likely that all the Railway Commissioners will attend a conference early in the new year to prepare a comprehensive plan for conversion. An additional point in favour of this scheme as part of the solution of the unemployment problem is that as the conversion proceeds the standardisation of equipment, rolling stock and replacements would assist to absorb the unemployed in the highly industrialised portions of several States, and that this work would probably continue over * seven-year period. The eventual saving in rail expenditure by such standardisation would over a 12-year period, it if claimed, equal the capital outlay.