Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-04-19
Australians New Capital.
From the Boston Herald.

From the Boston Herald.
The Australian parliament has a rather
difficult problem on its hands In the selec
ton of location for the future city which
is to be the capital of the Australian fed
Grafton. At the present time the federal
parliament sits in Melbourne in Victoria.
the largest city of Australia When the
Australian federation was formed New
South wales. the largest state measured
by population insisted that the federal par
lament should select territory for its can't
tai somewhere within its borders. There is
the greatest rivalry between Melbourne and
Sydney. the latter city being the largest
IN New South Wales and the second largest
in Australia. Victoria would not allow
sydney TO get the coveted capital which
Melbourne was TO enjoy only temporarily
and so the agreement was made that the
new capital should not be located within a
hundred miles OF Sydney. The Australian
senate has recently made a tour OF New
South Wales, looking over sites for the new
capital, and of course, the boomers for a
number of small towns have been doing
their best to draw attention to their own
particular locations. We believe that the
selection has now narrowed down to three
sites, all on high land, and connected with
Sydney by rail, while each one claims for
itself the best water supply and the largest
amount of rainfall during the year The
value of the land in Australia seems to be
measured largely by the annual rainfall
No matter where the senate decides to To-
cate the new capital. as long as 1t is re-
stricted to New South Wales II will be in
the southeast corner of Australia, where
the population is densest. New South
Wales and Victoria together have a smaller
area than have any Of the three other
states-Queensland. South Australia or
western Australia. At the same time
either Of them has a greater population
than the other three combined and the
population of Victoria is much denser than
that Of New South Wales. A glance at a
railroad map of Australia brings this out
very plainly. Victoria is quite well covered
with network Of these agents Of develop
ment. New South Wales, in its southeast
ern corner. is quite well covered. and there
are roads to the north stretching into
Queensland and connecting with Brisbane
and Rockhampton. and also running into
the west Of New South Wales to the OAR
ling river. In sonth Australia there are
railroads in~the vicinity of Adelaide, and
one stretches north some $50 miles 10
Oodnadatta. on the line Of the telegraph
that extends across Australia, north and
south In the northern territory of south
Australia there is short line running into
the interior. but other than this south Aus
tralia has but little railroad DEVELOPMENT
In western Australia there are some lines
stretching from Albany Perth and Gerald
ton into the country, Kalgoorlie being the
most eastern point that they touch.
Queensland has a number of short roads
which extend from the coast into the inte-
rior
At the present time there is a railroad
connection between Rockhampton on the
east coast and Adelaide on the south coast,
but there Is no connection between either
of these points and the rest Of Australia
which must cover at least four-fifths Of fits
total coast line. At the present time a road
is being constructed over the great Victoria
desert which viii connect with the line
now running from Perth to Kalgoorlie and
thus permit of railroad communication be-
tween Queensland, New South Wales and
Victoria and the cities on the southwest
coast OF western Australia. The whole
northern and northwest coast can still only
be reached by steamers. Strange as IL NAV
seem, and we do not doubt IL is true II has
been stated that. though New South Wales
Is in the southeastern corner OF Australia
one Of the sites that have been considered
In this state, IL selected. would put the
capital of Australia to the north of the
present center of population of the Austria
COZ oil