backwardness of Western Australia in connecting her chief centres with the electric telegraph system. The Government made no move in this direction, and Messrs. Edmund Stirling and Cumming, two enterprising colonists, determined to take the matter up. They erected, on their own responsibility, a telegraph system connecting Perth with Fremantle. In February, 1869, the first post was fixed by the Colonial Secretary, Mr. F. P. Barlee, at the request of the proprietors, and on the 21st June of the same year the line was opened. Colonel Bruce, the Acting Governor, transmitted the first message to Mr. Newman, chairman of the Fremantle Town Trust; and Mr. G. Clyde, as chairman of the Perth Council, the second, also to Mr. Newman. Then the line was thrown open to the public. Colonel Bruce complimented the adventurous proprietors in his address on opening the Legislative Council in June, 1869, and said that the establishment of this system was a memorable event in the history of the colony.
The public-spirited example had an immediate effect. Communication by telegraph and railway was advocated by the more advanced colonists; there were some who considered any expense in these directions was not justified, and opposed the innovation with fervid energy. In June, 1869, proposals were made to build railways and tramways to the eastern and Canning districts. A Commission was appointed to decide on the most practicable route to the eastern districts, and in July reported in favour of a line along the Helena River. In May, 1870, the Colonial Secretary carried a resolution in the Legislative Council authorising the construction of telegraph lines from Perth to Albany, Bunbury, York, and Newcastle (Toodyay). The work was to be done by an Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company, and in June the prospectus was issued. The capital asked for was £12,000; the Government guaranteed interest at six or eight per cent., according to receipts. The Company was formed, with Major Crampton (chairman), Messrs. Leake, Carr, Shenton, Birch, Clyde, Moore, King, McKail, Clifton, Steere, and Monger as directors, and Mr. A. J. Hillman as secretary. A second company soon followed, but both were amalgamated in 1871. Tenders were invited for the construction of the lines to Albany and York in November, 1870, and others in 1871. The first posts of the eastern districts line were erected by Governor Weld at Perth on 13th February, 1871, at York on 14th March, and at Northam on 18th March. Telegraphic communication was opened with Guildford on 23rd December in that year, and with Newcastle on 3rd January, 1872. Early in 1871, and in 1874, proposals were laid before the Victorian and Western Australian Governments by a rich syndicate, offering on certain conditions to connect Cape Otway with King George's Sound, and Cape Cuvier with Java Head, by cable, so as to unite Europe to Australia. Other schemes were then drawing towards completion, and the offer was not accepted.
The year 1871 witnessed the opening of the first railway in the colony. About the middle of that year the Western Australian Timber Company opened a short line at the Vasse, Lockville, connecting their jetty with the jarrah forests. The line passed over bridges spanning the creeks, and large earthworks in the valleys. All the ironwork was made at the Victoria Foundry, Ballarat, Vic. A short line was in course of construction at Rockingham, and a tramway from the Canning to the ranges. In December Governor Weld, Colonial Secretary Barlee, and other gentlemen proceeded to the Vasse and enjoyed the unique privilege of riding on a line of railway in Western Australia. The train comprised a small locomotive and three trucks. There were no springs on the carriages, and the members of the vice-regal party were treated to a severe shaking. The length of line was twelve miles, and the train travelled at an average speed of fifteen miles an hour. It was a day of rejoicing. The tramway from the Canning to the forests on the Darling Range was opened by Governor Weld on 8th February, 1872. Messrs. Mason, Bird, and Co. owned the property, which was about nine miles long, and was built at a cost of about £300 per mile. The locomotive "Governor Weld," for the Rockingham Timber Company's railway, arrived in the colony from Ballarat in January, 1872.
Representative Government was soon celebrated by the Legislative Council in asking for a loan bill—a thing that seemed impossible in former years. In 1871 members authorised the raising of a loan of £100,000 to be used on public works. The bill was submitted to the Secretary for the Colonies for his approval, Governor Weld explaining in his despatch that as the Council had made liberal provisions to meet the liabilities incurred, he expected no difficulty in obtaining the required sum on favourable terms. After much haggling, and a pledge being given that the interest could be met, Earl Kimberley reduced the sum asked for to £35,000, which was obtained. This amount was raised by debentures at 6 per cent., and appropriated in 1872 in such varied works as:—telegraph stations, £1,870; purchase of telegraph shares, £12,000; railway surveys, Geraldton, £1,675; moorings in Gage's Roads, £1,000; improving Swan River, £2,330; jetties—Albany, Bunbury, Busselton, and Geraldton, £3,340; lighthouses, Champion Bay and Irwin, £2,500; Mandurah Estuary, £400; Albany Gaol, £885; coast surveys (joint cost of Imperial and Colonial Governments), £3,000; and Fremantle jetty extension,£1,675. In 1871 a committee was appointed by the Legislative Council, comprising the Surveyor-General, Mr. Drummond, and Mr. Gull, to report on the subject of a railway to the eastern districts, but nothing definite was arranged. Public meetings and newspapers advocated railways, not only to York and Northam, but to the mines in from Champion Bay as well. Transport, they argued, must be cheapened, both from the mines and from the colony's granaries. In July the Governor informed the Legislative Council that a private firm had offered to construct a line of railway to the mines. In December it was decided to accept the preferred services of a Melbourne engineer to survey railway lines, particularly one to run from Geraldton to Northampton, a town tapping the mining district.
With money obtained by loan, the Government in 1872 purchased the various lines of telegraph opened in the colony, and in December the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company was wound up. The line to Albany was opened on the 28th of the same month. In 1873 a telegraph line from Newcastle to Geraldton was placed under construction. The loan of 1872 was soon absorbed, and on 20th November,1873, Governor Weld called a special session of the Legislative Council to make legal provisions for another loan of £100,000 passed by the Council in July, which the Home Government had already sanctioned. This was required especially for the construction of a system of railway and telegraph from Geraldton to Northampton. With the exploration by Mr. John Forrest of the country so disastrously crossed by Eyre, the feasability of constructing a telegraph line connecting South Australia and Western Australia was proved. The Government of the former colony first took the matter up, affirming the advantage of having the continent connected by telegraph from east to west, as well as from south to north. Mr. Barlee moved and carried a resolution in the November session authorising the Government to make estimates, &c., and to lay definite proposals before the Council at its next session. In the July session of 1873 it was vainly proposed to construct a railway line from Perth to Fremantle. Strong opposition was shown by
