for girdling the continent with a new line of railway is that for which the Dominion government has granted a charter to the Trans-Canada Railway Company. The national character of this proposition from the Canadian standpoint, its military importance from the imperial point of view, the value, from a commercial aspect, of the remarkably short and direct route mapped out for it, and the popular interest attaching to it by reason of the high latitudes which it is likely to traverse, are attracting to it a large share of public attention.

DIRECTNESS OF THE ROUTE.

The proposed line of the Trans-Canada Railway is one of the most direct which can span the continent. Starting from deep-water termini at Chicoutimi,-the head of navigation on the Saguenay River,-at Quebec, and at Montreal, it is destined to traverse and develop the best part of the newly discovered wheat and timber lands of northern Quebec in the James Bay district, to tap the whole of the James Bay and Hudson Bay trade, to open up the valuable mineral country of northern Ontario, to cross the center of the rich wheat lands of the Peace River valley, and, finally, to reach one of the finest ports on the Pacific coast by a pass in the mountains only 2,000 feet high, as compared with 4,425 at Crow's Nest, and with 5,400 at Kicking Horse.

The most cursory glance at the line laid down on the map for the new road reveals the directness of the route and its far-northern location.

From Quebec to Port Simpson via the TransCanada Railway will be only 2,830 miles, all of the route south of the northern limit of wheat, while the distance between the same points via the Grand Trunk Railway will be about 3,400 miles, and that from Quebec to Vancouver by the Canadian Pacific Railway is 3,078 miles. The expected saving in both distance and gradients by the proposed road over existing routes from Manitoba to the Canadian seaports on the St. Lawrence is so great that the promoters have already undertaken to carry wheat from all points on its line in the Province of Manitoba to the ocean steamer at Chicoutimi, Montreal, or Quebec at rates which will save the farmers of Manitoba and the Northwest about seven cents per bushel on present cost of transportation to the seaboard. It is claimed that this saving alone will much more than pay the total interest upon the cost of the road's construction.

OCEAN PORTS.

It is admitted on every hand that the terminal seaports of the Trans-Canada leave nothing to be desired. The harbor of Port Simpson is

said to be the finest on the Pacific coast north of San Francisco. It has the additional advantage of being much nearer to Yokohama than either Vancouver or San Francisco. Nottaway, on James Bay, which is to be reached by a branch of the main line, is the only deep-water harbor on the bay, and with some dredging might be used by vessels drawing thirty feet of water. The coast line of James and Hudson bays, tributary to this railway, will be about four thousand miles. Chicoutimi, on the Saguenay, can be reached by vessels of any draught, and Quebec has magnificent docks, which have cost the government millions of dollars, with deepwater berth and elevator facilities for steamers of any draught. The new bridge now building over the St. Lawrence at Quebec will enable the Trans-Canada road to make use of St. John and Halifax for winter ports if ever those of Quebec and Chicoutimi should be blocked by ice.

GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES.

From both Quebec and Chicoutimi to Roberval, on the western shore of Lake St. John, the railway is already built. For sixty miles northwest of Roberval, the line has been laid out, and construction was commenced before the fall of the present winter's snow. For this first section of sixty miles from Roberval, the government of the Dominion submitted to Parliament a subsidy bill, which was duly ratified, granting a subsidy of $3,200 per mile, to be increased to $6,400 per mile should the cost be in excess of $15,000 per mile. The same grant is expected from the Canadian government for the whole length of the line, besides generous land grants from the governments of the different provinces through which the railway is to pass. Both the provinces of Ontario and Quebec have been asked to give a grant of 20,000 acres of land per mile for those portions of the Trans-Canada Railway which are to run through their territory.

Many of the far-northern lands through which it is proposed to construct the new railway, and which are capable of great development, are almost valueless at the present time for want of the means of communication. In illustration of this, it may be mentioned that an American syndicate has already offered to the prime minister of Quebec the sum of $37.500,000, or $1.50 per acre, for 25,000,000 acres of forest and mineral lands in the far north of that province which are to be traversed by the railway. This offer was promptly declined by the premier, though it would have furnished him with more than enough ready cash to pay off the entire public debt of the province; and in acquainting the legislature with the fact, Mr. Farent declared

pool to Yokohama via the Trans-Canada is only 9,830 miles, against 12,089 miles via New York and San Francisco.

CLIMATIC CONSIDERATIONS.

It is difficult, at first sight, to understand what local traffic can be expected from a road located so far north as the projected line of the TransCanada. To arrive at a proper appreciation of the facts of the case, it is necessary to take into consideration the peculiar course and direction of the isothermal lines of northern Canada. It will surprise many people to learn that excellent grain and vegetables are raised at Moose Factory, on James Bay, where the mean summer temperature is almost as favorable as that of Montreal. Still more remarkable does it, at first

Britain and the United States never seemed further off than now, yet if it should come, the American regular army, stationed on the frontier, would raid the Canadian lines of communication, which are all quite close to the boundary line, and render Canada helpless. The TransCanada, on the other hand, would be comparatively safe from molestation, being, along all its course from Chicoutimi, between three hundred and six hundred miles from the American boundary line. This feature of the route of the Trans-Canada has been enlarged upon by writers in several of the English papers, and it is also pointed out that the eastern termini of the road at Chicoutimi and Quebec, its western at Port Simpson, and the point at which it touches James Bay, could easily be defended against all comers by British fleets; while in view of the possibility of an Anglo-Japanese alliance, it is interesting to note that the distance from Liver

sight, appear that where the projected railway is to traverse the Peace River valley, more than five hundred miles north of the international dividing line, it will still be but half-way from the boundary to the northern limit of wheat. In other words, the wheat belt of northwest Canada extends as far north from the interna. tional boundary as the distance from Quebec to Chicago. This is the country into which the great trek of American farmers is now taking place. The warm winds known as the Chinooks come across the mountains from the Japan current and alter the climate of this great area north to the Arctic, so that the climate of western Canada does not correspond with the latitude; the isotherms, or lines of equal mean temperature for any period of the year, instead of running east and west, as they were formerly supposed to do, have a tendency to run northwest and southeast, and the spring in the Peace River

country opens up as early, or earlier, than it does in Winnipeg, thirteen hundred miles to the southeast.

Perhaps the strongest claim which the promoters of the Trans-Canada are urging upon the government of Canada is that their line is des

tined to serve Canadian ports exclusively, at all seasons of the year, whereas the rival projects which are also asking government recognition and aid are using Portland, Boston, New York, and other American ports for their winter termini.

SOUTH

OUTH AUSTRALIA'S scheme for the construction of a railway across Australia is one of the biggest ventures ever undertaken by any state, and is certainly one of the most important ever offered to private enterprise in any part of the world. Put shortly, the offer is, "Build within our territory a thousand and sixtythree miles of railway, which shall remain your own property, and we will give you, as a bonus, a grant in fee simple of seventy-nine million seven hundred and twenty-five acres of land!"

Whoever earns this bonus will be the greatest private landowner of whom history has any record. He will possess in fee simple a territory larger than the whole of the United Kingdom.

WHY SOUTH AUSTRALIA MAKES THE OFFER.

Thirty years ago, South Australia earned the praise and gratitude of the world by building the transcontinental telegraph line, and not many years afterward, she began to bridge the continent with a railway also. Toward this great work, railways were built, running north from Adelaide to Oodnadatta, 688 miles, and south from Port Darwin to Pine Creek, 146 miles. Between these there remains a gap of 1,063 miles. It is this gap which it is proposed to fill with a railway built on the land-grant system.

Though circumstances have caused delay, the project of establishing railway communication between Adelaide and Port Darwin has never been abandoned by South Australia. If we cannot get the railway built upon the terms now offered, we shall, I am convinced, do the work ourselves. Possibly, in the long run, South Australia would gain by making it a state undertaking pure and simple. But the "long run is too distant an outlook.

While we are waiting until we have money enough to build the railway ourselves, some other state will certainly "jump our claim." The route from Port Darwin to the southern coast

of Australia through our territory is much the best; but it is not the only route possible. Our rich sister states of New South Wales and Queensland have rival schemes, and they are not by any means blind to the immense advantage of having such a line within their borders. The necessities of Australia call for the railway. South Australia has upon all grounds the best right to supply the want, and she does not intend to sleep upon that right.

WHAT THE RAILWAY WILL DO.

A

It will be of immense advantage to the Australian Commonwealth from a military point of view. Port Darwin, as Major-General Jervois said many years ago, is the key to the East. railway connecting a point of such strategical importance with the southern part of Australia will be invaluable for purposes of defense; indeed, it cannot be said that we are sufficiently protected against our powerful Eastern neighbors without it.

It will be of even greater commercial advantage. It is said that when the Russian Siberian Railway reaches Port Arthur, mails and passengers can be landed at Port Darwin in fourteen days from London. Given our proposed railway, they should reach Adelaide from Port Darwin (about nineteen hundred miles) in three days. Result: Seventeen days from London to Adelaide. Time is money. The railway means money to all Australia.

For a time, the trade of the East must be gripped by the paw of the Great Bear. But some day, perhaps in our time-who knows?— Singapore will be the terminus of a line running from Europe through India and Burma. Singa. pore is three days nearer Port Darwin than Port Arthur. When this is accomplished,-again, of course, given our railway,—we shall not only be within fourteen days of our imperial center, but we shall have ousted our Russian rival in favor

ment on the line running from Port Augusta to Oodnadatta.

The successful bidder is given a right of purchase of the railway from Port Darwin to Pine Creek, at a price to be fixed by arbitration, and also running rights over all South Australian railways, on terms to be fixed by the railways commissioner.

As each forty miles of railway is completed, the contractor may select the land to which he is entitled, in blocks, which must be chosen alternately on either side of the railway, and abutting upon it. No two blocks may face each other, and each must be as nearly as possible in the shape of a parallelogram, running true east and west, having a width of twenty miles. The land will be granted with all gold, metals, and minerals thereon, and without any reservation except that public roads may be taken therefrom by the governor without compensation. The land is to be free from any land tax imposed by South Australia for ten years from the date of the grant. Gold fields actually proclaimed at the time of the passing of the act, and all lands in use for public purposes, are excluded from selection.

It is estimated that the railway, with equip ment, will cost about five millions sterling ($25,000,000). The government reserves the right to purchase the railway at any time, at a valuation. to be fixed by arbitration in case of disagreement.

THE ROUTE AND THE COUNTRY.

The route presents no engineering difficulties. A nurse-maid could wheel a baby in a perambulator from end to end of it. Ballast can be obtained almost everywhere, and good water has been proved to exist all along the telegraph line. The climate is eminently suited for white labor. Malaria is unknown between Pine Creek and Oodnadatta. Mr. Simpson Newland, a most reliable authority, says that

The climate is more temperate than that of a large portion of inhabited Australia, as well as more fertile and better grassed. It is indeed excellent country, and exceedingly healthy; warm, with occasional excessively hot days, but cool nights. The climate of the MacDonnell Ranges in particular is reported by the residents of years as most enjoyable, as with such an elevation it must be. Prof. Baldwin Spencer writes: "There is no finer climate in the world than that of the MacDonnell Ranges; indeed, the winter in the interior was of a most perfect kind-bright, clear days and cool nights. Admirable conditions for a consumptive sanatorium."

The only dry stretch of country along the route is that between Oodnadatta and Charlotte Waters, one hundred and thirty miles. Over this, the average annual rainfall is about five

inches; but within this belt, low as the rainfall is, some of the finest cattle and horses in Australia are bred, and most of it is at present profitably occupied by stock-raisers. The country is also artesian, and good lucern [alfalfa] is grown at Oodnadatta when sufficient trouble has been taken to use the artesian supply.

Above Charlotte Waters, the rainfall increases until it reaches an almost tropical fall at Port Darwin, as the following table shows. The record is for twenty-eight years:

The products of the Northern Territory answer to the rainfall. In the north, all the useful tropical plants, such as cotton, rice, and sugarcane,-flourish. From Powell Creek southward, the greater part of the country is admirably suited for the breeding of sheep, horned cattle, and horses. It would be unwise, perhaps, to speak too confidently of the mineral wealth of this vast stretch of country, throughout the whole of which gold, silver, copper, and other minerals have been found in varying quantities.

The reports of our government geologist, Mr. Brown, F.G.S.; of the late Professor Tate, F.G.S., and of many other competent authorities, more than hint at immense possibilities of mineral wealth in the Northern Territory. It is well known that large and payable gold-bearing reefs exist in many places, only waiting the railway to make them available for working. Nearly every mail brings to Adelaide news of fresh mineral discoveries. The man who builds this railway will earn no barren estate.

WHAT SOUTH AUSTRALIA WILL GAIN.

Objections have mostly come from outside South Australia. South Australia itself is for the scheme almost to a man. Some people say that the bonus of 75,000 acres of land for each mile of railway is too great. It is certainly magnificent; but we have in the Northern Ter ritory alone 523,000 square miles of land; that is, 335,116,800 acres. By far the greater part of this is not only idle, but an annual burden

upon the state. After giving 79,000,000 acres for the railway, we shall have, in round figures,