As a body the States' Governments were hostile to the Commonwealth's proposal to get over the break of gauge question. Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia were more or less favourable, but South Australia and Victoria were definitely hostile. The first of these last two demanded that before more money was spent on constructional works, the Commonwealth should carry out its very rash undertaking to build a railway from North to South through the middle of Australia, while Victoria objected to the latest scheme on the grounds that in straightening the east-west railway ig would cut out Melbourne as a station of call, and in any case no great expenditure was necessary. The probability is that the Commonwealth—will now attempt fo do the work of unification piecemeal, and the first step will be to link up Brisbane with Sydney by a uniform gauge, enabling the transcontinental train to run_ right to the boundary of Victoria before any change is necessary. Mr. Stewart, Minister for Works and Railways, has declared that though rejected in the Conference
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.