Mallee - Part 2

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APPENDIX No. 8 (continued).

REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON THE PINNAROO RAILWAY, 1902.

To the Right Honourable Sir Samuel James Way, Bar onet, Chief Justice, Lieutenant-Governor of the State of South Australia and its Dependen cies in the Commonwealth of Australia.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY—

We, your Commissioners, appointed under the public seal of the State on the 14th day of January, 1902, as a Royal Commission "to inquire into and report upon the construction of a railway to Pinnaroo," have the honour to report as follows:—

1. Your Commissioners have made an exhaustive inquiry into the question submitted to them, and have obtained practically the whole of the evidence procurable respecting the rainfall, the character of the country to be served, its pastoral and agricultural capabilities, the extent to which it would be taken up if a railway were built, the most suitable railway for the country, its probably cost, and the probably return of the State both directly and indirectly. In doing this they have held seventeen meetings and have examined and reexamined fifty-five witnesses.

2. Within a week of the receipt of your Excellency's commission eight of your Commissioners visited the Pinnaroo country, and took evidence from the few settlers in the district. From Pinnaroo they proceeded to Victoria to inspect the mallee settlements in that State, and took evidence from farmers and others at Hopetoun, Warracknabeal, and Jeparit. Your Commisioners were surprised to find that so much of the mallee country in Victoria is occupied by former South Australians.

3. As the success of agricultural settlement in this State depends so much on the rainfall, it is a matter for regret that more extensive records are not available concerning the rainfall in the Pinnaroo country. The gauge at Wow Wow, in the hundred of Bews, recorded a rainfall of 15.82 inches during the year 1900, and 15.80 inches during 1901, whilst at Pinnaroo the record was 26.69 inches during 1889 (the wettest year), and 19.45 inches for the first nine months of the following year. Notwithstanding these scanty records, the official information gathered in the surrounding district justifies the conclusion that the rainfall is sufficient for the growth of cereals.

4. The evidence as to the quality of the soil was contradictory, but an overwhelming number of witnesses, many of whom are practical and experienced farmers, testified that a considerable area of the land was fit for agriculture, and their testimony is fully corroborated by a report of the late Mr. G. W. Goyder and of the South-Eastern Land Board contained in the Parliamentary Paper No. 83 of 1893, and by a recent inspection on the part of the officers of the Survey Department, who estimate the available agricultural land at from 250,000 acres to 300,000 acres.

5. An exhaustive examination of the evidence, a personal inspection of portion of the land, and of the lands at Hopetoun, where farming is carried on with a lesser rainfall, have led us to dissent from the adverse opinions expressed by some witnesses as to the value of the Pinnaroo country, and we agree with the opinions of experts that these lands can be effectually strengthened by the use of a phosphatic manures, when necessary. We believe that the four hundreds of Pinnaroo, Bews, Parilla, and Cotton, and some of the surrounding country offer fair prospects for a new, large, and successful farming settlement, and that a railway from Tailem Bend to Pinnaroo should be made to make these lands available.

6. We have obtained estimates of the ultimate direct and indirect revenue derivable from the rents of all lands, which, in the op inion of the Surveyor General, will be applied for if a railway is constructed; and also of the direct and indirect revenue of the contemplated railway, in which is included the additional revenue to existing lines, but excluding the traffic from stations between Tailem Bend and the four hundreds of Bews. Pinnaroo, Parilla, and Cotton. We have also obtained estimates of the annual maintenance of a 5ft. 3in. gauge railway from Tailem Bend to Pinnaroo, to cost not more than £171,000 for a length of ninety miles, including three miles of siding, but exclusive of rolling stock; and relying on the reports of the Railway Commissioner and the Surveyor General, and taking the lower estimate of railway revenue as a basis of calculation, we believe that the revenue will be:—

(1) From all lands applied for when the railway is available . . . . . . £4,450

(2) From railway traffic . . . . . . £11,891

                                                                                                              £16,341

The expenditure will be:—

(1) Annual maintenance . . . . . . . . . . £8,768

(2) Interest at 3½ per cent. on £171,000 . . . . £5,985

                                                                           £14,753 
                                                                         

Thus showing a net profit of . . . . . . £1,588

7. We are of opinion that any proposal submitted to Parliament for a railway should include:—

(a) That the railway should be on the 5ft. 3in. gauge, and of the cheapest possible construction, with due regard to the nature of the traffic and speed of travelling, and that the cost thereof should not exceed £171,000—the Railway Commissioner's estimate;

(b) That the speed of travelling need not exceed twelve miles per hour;

(c) That the train service should not exceed three (3) trains each way per week until the traffic shall justify an increase of such service: and

(d) That the construction of the line be offered for public tender, and that the whole of the work should be completed within twelve months.

8. If Parliament should resolve to proceed with the railway, we advise that the whole of the lands available for settlement should be temporarily withdrawn, and revalued and offered for selection after a Bill authorising the construction of the railway has become law.

9. We consider it absolutely essential to the successful occupation of this country that the settlers should be protected against the danger of sand drifts, and that legislation to that effect should be enacted.

JOHN LEWIS, Chairman (subject to dissent).

A. D. HANDYSIDE.

JOHN MILLER (subject to dissent).

R. HOMBURG.

R. W. FOSTER.

GEO. RIDDOCH.

R. WOOD.

THOMAS PASCOE, Jun. (subject to dissent).

A. A. KIRKPATRICK (subject to dissent).

JOHN G. BICE (subject to dissent).

Dissents.

We dissent from paragraph 3 because in our opinion, the evidence points to an insufficient rainfall for that country. Pinnaroo is outside Goyder's line of rainfall (vide Surveyor General's certified plan of agricultural settlements, 1880); from paragraph 4 because, in our opinion, the unsatisfactory results of the analysis of the soil is sustained by the experience of those who have attempted to grow wheat there, and by the unhealthy condition of the stock we saw at Wow Wow: from paragraph 5 because our own experience of agriculture compels us to doubt the successful occupation of these hundreds for farmimg.

JOHN LEWIS.

JOHN MILLER.

THOMAS PASCOE, Jun.

Parliament House, 7th October, 1902.