300 Miles Without Trees or Grass

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18091, 26 February 1927, Page 17

300 Miles Without Trees or Grass

Australia’s Mighty Railway.

Building Across a Continent.

(Written for the “ Star ” by

E. J. Howard,

THERE is a tendency on the part of the New Zealand people to look upon America as r kind of wizard that is producing many things from an empty hat. This is largely due to the quiet propaganda of the movie picture man. Starting about 20 years ago, it was the kind of stuff that appealed to the small boy, and has remained with the grown man. We have a nearer neighbour, and if it wasn’t for the fact that this neighbour grows the same kind of marketable stuff, we should say a dearer neighbour, in the big continent of Australia, that is doing things. When we remember the endless arguments about inner harbours, tunnel roads, electrification, duplication, and so on, in connection with the Lyttelton tunnel, and then turn to Sydney to see that big bridge going across to North Shore, one begins to wonder what’s wrong, with Canterbury. On the West Coast we have two parts of a railway that are within a few

M.P.

miles of each other. If joined we would be connected by rail to some of the finest coal in the world. In the event of trouble in the Pacific this railway would be absolutely necessary. Australia is a vast continent, with empty spaces and desert country between east and west, but Australia saw that if she were to hold the country she would have to develop. From the Pacific to the Indian Ocean by rail looked almost a hopeless task. But they did it? From Adelaide to Perth is 1700 miles. There was a thousandmile gap between the ends of the two railways. A thousand miles of almost desert country. On one stretch of 300 miles there is not a tree or bit of grass to be seen. The Nullarbor Plains are so named because of the absence of trees in any shape or form. There is little or no water, and yet the Commonwealth decided to build one of the best pieces of railway in Australia or New Zealand. With a gauge of 4 feet 8, with roomy carriages, containing almost every modern convenience, one can travel over this railway in the utmost comfort. Three hundred miles without a or culvert, and one

travels this stretch during the night hours. Now the Commonwealth has decided to carry another railway to the interior from south to north, so that presently, they expect by 1929, this railway is to be completed from Adelaide to Darwin. One will then be able to travel from Perth to Darwin right through the centre of Australia. Besides being a railway of immense value in time of trouble in the Pacific, it will also open up valuable country from the point of view of the raising of sheep and cattle. The Mac Donnell Ranges are also rich in gold. I was in Arltupga, in the Mac Donnell Ranges, in 1900, and I have never lost faith in the country. There are hundreds of miles of country in and around the MacDonnells, carrying more gold to the ton than many of the Rand mines in Africa which are down nearly a mile deep. There is one mountain of white quartz called the White Range that is carrying gold throughout. It is a low-

grade proposition, however, and could only be worked by the most up-to-date machinery. The Rand mines had their rich jeweller shops on top, and became poorer as they went down. But the rich outcrops and the. easy gold on top enabled development work to go on and machinery to be purchased. This countrv in the interior of Australia can only be worked on a large scale. To get stores up there at present costs £2O per ton. Then there is the water difficultv. But it is an immense country, and the railway will make all the difference. The cost of transport hits the pastoralist equally as hard as the miners. If one has to drive even fat cattle 600 miles they are not in prime condition at the end of the journey. There are no diseases yet in the interior of Australia, and the only difficulty is water after transport is settled. There aer no diseases yet in the interior. and the future holds out great possibilities.