Miles of Population. Number of
Railway. Inhabitants
per Mile of
Railway.
Canada 35,600 8,075,000 280
Australia 18,000 4,500,000 250
South Africa 8,800 1,300,000[{207a}] 150[{207b}]New Zealand 2,900 1,052,000 370
Newfoundland 800 250,000 320
United Kingdom 23,500 46,000,000 1,950
It is clear that railway construction has not been neglected in the Dominions, and that, measured by population, the mileage is considerable. Speaking generally, the Dominion railways are highly efficient and serve their purpose well. Extensions were being projected and many were in course of construction for the further development of natural resources and of trade and commerce.
In Australia the railways, with the exception of certain lines belonging to the Commonwealth, are owned and worked by the several States. We found them paying full interest on the cost of construction, and sound assets of the country. The cost of working was, however, greatly increasing, due mainly to increase of salaries and wages. How this stands since the war I do not know; but that expenses have further advanced goes without saying. An important railway witness whom we examined expressed the opinion that increased expenditure could be recouped by increased rates. Perhaps that is still true. If it is, the railways of Australia are happier than most of the railways in Ireland.
The railways of New Zealand belong to and are worked by the Government. For many years the Government, looking upon the railways as an adjunct to the settlement and development of the country, only expected them to return 3 per cent. interest on the capital expended. In 1909 this policy, however, was modified, 3¾ to 4 per cent. being then regarded as a proper result, and this result was accomplished. Water power in New Zealand is so abundant that the adoption of electricity for railway working has been engaging the attention of the Government. Many, well qualified to judge, were satisfied that it would prove more economical than steam locomotion.
In both Australia and New Zealand, borrowing for railway construction had been by means of general loans raised for all kinds of Government expenditure. We came to the conclusion that if loans for reproductive works, such as railways, had been segregated from others, it would have helped the raising of capital, and probably secured easier terms.
The construction of railways in Canada has, in recent years, proceeded at a rapid pace. We found that the mileage had doubled since the beginning of the present century, due, to a large extent, to the construction of two new Trans-Continental lines. The grain-growing districts of the prairie provinces, south of latitude 54 degrees, are now covered with a network of railways, and British Columbia has three through routes to Eastern Canada.
The enterprise of the principal Canadian railway companies is remarkable. They own and operate not only railways, but also hotels, ferry services, grain elevators, lake and coast steamers, as well as Trans-Atlantic and Trans-Pacific steamers. One company also has irrigation works, and ready-made farms for settlers in the prairie provinces. But Canada lies so near to us, and in the British Press its railways receive such constant attention, that I need not descant further upon them.
In South Africa, with the exception of about 500 miles mainly in the Cape Province, the railways are all Government owned, and are worked as one unified system. The Act of Union (1909) prescribed that the railways and the harbours (which are also Government owned and worked) were to be administered on business principles, and that the total earnings should not exceed the necessary expenditure for working and for interest on capital. Whenever they did, reductions in the rates, or the provision of
greater facilities, were to restore the balance. This provision also had the effect of preventing the imposition of taxation upon the community by means of railway rates. The Act contained another practical clause, designed to block the construction of lines from political considerations. Any line constructed contrary to the advice of the Railway Board, if it resulted in loss, the loss was to be a charge, not upon the general railway revenue, but upon the Consolidated Fund—a useful “brake,” which I have no doubt has often pulled up hasty and impetuous politicians.
South African railways enjoy one great advantage—cheap coal for their engines. In 1913 the average cost at the pit’s mouth was 4s. 11½d. per ton.