SUPPLEMENTARY MEMORANDA.
A. TRANSPORT.
also seen representatives of the interstate
 and overseas shipping interests,
and, owing no doubt to the importance
of the subject, and its vital effect upon
\ustralian conditions, we have had
uggestions made to us on very many
ccasions in regard to it by the repreentative
 bodies and citizens with
vhom we have been brought into conact.
 Although, therefore, our general
wrvey of the economics of the consinent
 has not permitted us even to
ouch upon the details of this vital
-ubject, we are constrained to submit
aur general conclusions on the evidence
vhich we have received. This
nemorandum . is in the briefest pos
sible terms, sufficient only to make inselligible
 the recommendations and
suggestions which we put forward for
consideration.
Railways.
4. In spite of the competing services
if sea and road transport, it remains
rue that railways are the most suitble
 means for the haulage of heavy
roods and for carrying passengers for
ong-distance journeys, especially
vhere shipping does not afford a suffijently
 rapid means of transport, and
t is worthy of remark that Australia
as more railways in relation to popuation
 than any other country in the
vorld.
5. Practically all the railways in
Australia belong to and are worked by
he Commonwealth and State Governments.
 The statistics relating to them
are: —

1. Adequate and cheap transport is
of paramount importance to Australia’s
 welfare and future development.
 So fully was this recognized in
the past that, when the necessary
capital could not be attracted for her
railways, they were provided by the
Government; and during the post-war
period the experiment of running her
own ships was also entered upon as a
State undertaking in the hope of
giving better service to Australia at
lower freights.
2. In order to realize the extent of
Australia’s problem of transport, it is
only necessary to remember that she
ships from overseas between 5,000,000
and 6,000,000 tons of cargo each year,
and sends away a similar amount, that
her interstate shipping amounts to
more than 6,000,000 tons annually,
that she has 25,000 miles of Government
 railways,* whose cost of construction
 and equipment has been
£303,000,000, that there are approximately
 80,000 miles of properly
made roads, and that the total length
of surveyed roads in Australia probably
 exceeds 400,000 miles, that she
has 645 miles of tramways, which have
sost £265,000,000 to construct, that today
 there are nearly 600,000 motor
vehicles registered, i.e., nearly one to
every 11 inhabitants, and that there
are in use some 90 aeroplanes, which
in the year 1928 carried over 40,000
passengers, and flew over 1.100.000
miles.
3. Tt would be idle for us to pretend
to be able to deal in any detail with
such a vast and complicated subject as
this of Australian transport. To do so
effectively requires the services of
skilled technical investigators for a
long period; but, fortunately for us,
such investigations have been made in
the past and have been available to
us, and we have, in the course of our
itinerary, interviewed Ministers in
charge of transport, Railway Commissioners,
 Road Commissioners, and the
Committee of the Development and
Migration Commission which is dealing
 with motor transport. We have
* There are also 3,143 miles of privately-owned
railwavsa.

Year
ynded
30th
Tune.

Mileage
open, |

Cost of
Con~
struction
and
Equip-~
ment.

Net Earnings.
{Gross Revenue, less
Working Expenses.)

A mount.

[Per cent.
on Cost.

1017
1018
919
920
921
922
n22
924
925
926

108.
21,642 |
22,180 |
22,647
28,147
13,296
23,602
23,881
24.484
24.844
25,378 |
DE EID

00. ©.
214-8 6:1 | 2:8
220-3 6:7 | 80
224-9 6-3 2-8
281-1 73 32
235-9 6-0 2-5
Add 3-4 3-4
58°5 10:0 4-0
266+ 2 105 © 40
276°1 11-9 | 4-3
988-4 | 64 | 22
BAQ.O Q.0 ~~