some members; such a large work, it was said, would bring disaster, there was no call or justification for it, and so forth.
The first moiety of the £100,000 loan, bearing 5 per cent. interest, was floated in Melbourne in January, 1874, through the National Bank of Australasia. The remainder was obtained without difficulty. The Geraldton-Northampton Railway line could now be proceeded with. Preparations were set forward, and on 22nd October, 1874, the first sod was turned at Geraldton by Governor Weld. Colonists congregated there from various parts of the country, and the work was projected with speeches and a banquet. The telegraph line from Geraldton to Newcastle was opened on 5th June, 1874. All the first operators were females; one was a half-caste native (trained and educated at the New Norcia Mission), who managed the code with ease. It was now decided to build a telegraph line to Eucla, and in December the Government accepted tenders. On 1st January, 1875, the first pole was erected by Governor Weld. Work on the pioneer railway was pushed on with as much expedition as possible, but at best it was slow. A large staff was engaged on the Eucla telegraph system, and the accounts of the explorations of Eyre and Forrest enable one to appreciate the difficulties met with. In those barren regions, amid great natural difficulties, the surveyors and contractors and their men suffered serious hardship, and several were lost in the dreary sea of scrub and desolation. It required resourceful bushcraft to obtain water in the barren places. Considering the obstacles, the work was done most expeditiously; in August, 1875, the Governor informed the Legislative Council that the wiring was completed to within a few miles of Esperance Bay, and posts were placed for a distance of 150 miles beyond that point.
The question of building a line of railway from Fremantle to Perth and Guildford, and another to York, was agitated during 1875 with more earnestness. Public meetings were held in different centres by the supporters of the railways, and were invariably attended by some who decried their advisability. Loans were proposed, and Governor Robinson communicated with the Imperial Government. It was deemed best to wait for some time. In April, 1877, a third loan—£26,000, at 5 per cent.—was raised, again in Melbourne, chiefly for the completion of the Geraldton-Northampton Railway. Mr. Price and his surveyors, and the contractors, accomplished their arduous duties on the Eucla telegraph line in 1877. On 9th December of that year telegraphic communication with South Australia, and, practically, the world, was established. England and South Australia were already connected, and Governor Ord sent congratulatory messages to the Secretary of State in Great Britain, and the various Governors of the Australian Colonies, of Ceylon, and the Straits Settlements. It was truly a new epoch. By the erection of those few thousands of posts communication between Perth and London, which in earlier days took months to complete, was the matter of less hours than previously there were months. Official administration was thus simplified and commerce facilitated. The estimated cost of the line was £32,000; but the actual cost was nearly £42,000. The total length was 748 miles 28 chains. A line from York to Beverley was opened two days earlier.
Mr. James Palmer was the contractor for the Geraldton-Northampton Railway. The distance traversed was set down as 33 miles 66 chains, and the cost £50,000. The plans, drawn up by Mr. Major, the engineer, were considered by the Surveyor-General to be narrow and unsafe. Mr. Palmer contracted for the works as laid down by Mr. Major, but upon the latter's death Mr. Lovell (South Australia) was engaged in his place, and he also condemned the plans. The rails sent out by the Crown agents were of a defective character. The position in regard to Mr. Major's designs became awkward; it had to be decided whether to follow him or Mr. Lovell. In the latter event the work must be stopped pending further advice and legislation, thus entailing loss by litigation and in time. Mr. Lovell estimated that the additional cost to the contractor would amount to £2,700, at which price Mr. Palmer would undertake the work, added to £500 per month for three months on account of the terms of the contract being prolonged. Mr. Victor, one of the superintending engineers, eventually agreed with Messrs. Lovell and Palmer that the original estimate for the construction of the line would have to be increased by £15,000, or about £500 more per mile. At a meeting of the Executive Council in September, 1875, it was decided to strengthen and improve the bridges and culverts at a cost of £1,900. Originally the gauge was fixed at 3 feet, but the Administration altered this in 1874 to a 3 feet 6 inch gauge. A Select Committee of the Legislative Council, consisting of Messrs. Lee-Steere, Randell, Shenton, Burges, and Brown, while favourable to the 3 ft. 6 in. gauge, hesitated in advising the increased expenditure that would be entailed by an alteration of the designs. The wider guage was used, and in 1877 a new loan was floated to meet the additional expenditure. On 26th July, 1879, the whole line was thrown open to traffic. The total cost, including the telegraph line and rolling stock, was £147,217 or £4,312 per mile. The gross earnings up to 30th June, 1880, represented £2,575, and the working expenses £3,999. Numerous conferences and voluminous correspondence took place between the contractor and the Government as to the settlement, and ultimately the whole subject was referred to arbitrators—Messrs. W. D. Moore and J. G. Lee-Steere—who found in favour of the contractor for £3,466 7s. 6d. and costs—£6,000 in all.
The question of constructing the Fremantle-Perth-Guildford Railway was also determined. It was first proposed that a joint stock company should build the line under a guarantee from the Government, for a certain term of years, of 6 per cent. on the capital expended. Lord Carnarvon did not like the scheme because such works sometimes fell into the hands of the Government, and entailed considerable pecuniary sacrifice. Direct Government action was preferable in his opinion, and he promised that if satisfactory evidence were given him of the necessity of the line and its probable cost, he would authorise the flotation of a loan. Governor Robinson replied that Mr. J. H. Thomas, the Director of Public Works (a new department), had prepared elaborate plans. That gentleman estimated that the cost of a line along the south banks of the river would be £99,121, and along the north side £87,098, and that the traffic would show, after paying interest and working expenses, a balance of £12,616 per annum. Memorials were prepared in the Fremantle districts praying that the southern route be followed; and in York, Beverley, Toodyay, and Northam, asking that the line be commenced at Guildford. The route on the north bank was fixed upon. On 21st April, 1879, the contract was awarded to Mr. John Robb, of Adelaide, for £74,591, and on 3rd June the first sod was turned by Governor Ord. A Loan Bill for £200,000 was sanctioned. By these works and others, advantageous as they were, the Representative Council had for the first time initiated a public debt. In the years 1872 to 1876 the debt had risen from nothing to £161,000. Since the voyage of the Success in 1827, when the officers reported on the opportunities existing for obtaining a secure harbour in the Swan River by cutting through the bar, numerous attempts had been made by various engineers to perform that work, and many proposals were formulated to make Fremantle a secure harbour. In
