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PINJARRA-DWARDA
RAILWAY.
Question of Extension.
Select Committee's Report.
The -Select Committee appointed by the
Legislative Council to inquire into the
proposed extension of the Pinjarru
Dwarda railway submitted its reoort to
the Council yesterday evening. Messrs.
J. A. Greig and H. Seddon, as the major
ity of the Committee, stated that they
were of opinion, that the prospects of the
extension were not such as to warrant
its construction, but! in view of the pro
mise made to the soldier settlers and 'to
the people at Fourteen-Mile Brook, they
recommended that a railway should -be
constructed on the deviation, as pro
posed in the Government's Bill, from
Dwarda to a point south of Noombling
Estate; a distance of approximately 111
miles, so as to serve the soldier settlers
of that district, and others in the vicinity
of Fourteen-Mile Brook. They could not
however, recommend the construction of
the balance of the authorised line to
Narrogin.
'We have ascertained.' they added,
'that the present line from Pinjarra does
not pay working expenses after it leaves
the timber country. We find that at Bod
dington four trains per year would bring
in all the requirements of that station,
namely 045 tons, and four trains would
take away all that is produced in 12
months, namely 642 tons, and of that
amount 46i- tons is timber, the balance
being 34 tons of wheat and 148 tons of'
general goods. At Dwarda four trains per
week could, bring all the residents re
quire, namely 604 tons, and 10 trains per
year could take away all they produce,
namely 1,5555 tons. These stations have
been open for traffic for a number of
years, and the tonnage has not increased
through the construction -of the railway
as was anticipated. We are of opinion
that production along, the. fine 'to Nar
rogin would not increase sufficiently to
warrant the expenditure if the line Were
constructed, because 'the country on the
whole, with the exception of a few small
patches is very inferior and badly in
fested with various kinds of poison
plants.
'Our recommendation still leaves this
line at a, dead-end, but we consider it is
much more economical to work a dead
end at Noombling than to spend ap
proximately £100.000 to make a connec
tion with the Great Southern railway and
maintain another 22 miles of railway
which would not earn working expenses '
In a separate report Mr. W. Carroll
the other member of the Select Com
mittee, stated: — 'I dissent from the find
ing of my colleagues to the extent that
I am of opinion that the jine will never
have a chance of becoming a payable
proposition until it junctions with the
Great- Southern railway. The whole of
the evidence taken, 'both from local gov
erning bodies and from individual set
tlers, stresses the need for linking up
with the Great Southern railway in order
properly to develop the area to be serv
ed. The only question on which there
was not perfect unanimity was- the point
at which the junction should be made
The construction of a section of the line
from Dwarda to Noombling would not
materially assist the settlers as it would
not give them access to 'th» stock mar
keting centres on the Great Southern
railway such as Pingelly. Narrogin
Katanning, etc., without which the pro
fitable development of their holdings is
impossible.'
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