ACROSS AUSTRALIA.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14191, 8 January 1917, Page 6

ACROSS AUSTRALIA.

ietii E AST TO WEST RAILWAY. SYDNEY, December .27. When another 113 miles of railway has been constructed, ifc will be possible to make a continuous train journey from Rbokhampton, m Queensland, to Perth, in Western Australia. At present, one may go no further west than Port Augusta, beyond Adelaide. The east to emt railway, which is being built by the Federal Government to liiuc up. Port Augusta, in South Australia, with Kalgoorlie, in West Australia, a distance of 1053 miles, has been under construction by thousands of men for years past, and is now within measurable distance of completion. The engineering difficulties ifc provided were not colossal, but it was nevertheless a i remarkable undertaking, for the line runs right Out into a desert. 5 When work ceased for the Christmas holidays, 940 miles had been completed. ■ Good progress was made during the paftt year in spite of the fact that, owing to a shortage of rails, no plate-laying was done in the western division for six v moutbs. An irrigation problem goes hand in band with that of merely building the •railway. Water has to be provided for the army of workmen, and, further, for tli« settlers whom tho Government hopes will follow the railway, and for the raiiAvaymen, whg must presently be posted out there in the wilderness. So, duriiig the year,- many bores were sunk in both the eastern and western divisions, generally with success, and several catchment reservoirs, with a total capacity of 70,000,00 gallons, were completed. Unsuitable, and even dangerous, water has been met with, but heso troubles are gradually being overcome. In the Federal Parliament, some very sharp criticism has been directed against the manner in which' this huge woric has been carried on. "An orgy of extravagI ance" it has been cabled. It was pointed • out that the original estimate of the cosit was £4,0001000 }/ Aow, £7,000,000 was I -{talked about, while railway con- , struction experts were saying that the ultimate cost jivould be over £10,00,000. Tlio cost, of the rolling-stock was originally placed at £330,000, but already it | had cost £809,000, and a still further ex- I panditure was contemplated. They, had ' now 75 engines, although the original estimate of the number required was 26. Tho traffic department of this line, said another critic, waa overcrowded with I employees. One railway officer in South | •Australia has said that the travelling office carried 12 men ; whereas, if system wero introduced, two men could do the work. m