New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-10-03


AUSTRALIANS NEW FEDERAL CAPITAL
requiring attention. The Victorian members were
however credited by their New South wares
colleagues with a desire to postpone the
question indefinitely in order to keep the capital III
Melbourne However toward the close Of the first
federal Parliament the matter was taken in hano'
but nothing definite was done, as the senate anu
the House of Representatives disagreed on the
site. The former always insisted upon BoInna4a'
the latter finally selecting TUmut The Dill went
through all right when the site was left blank Dut
g. deadlock resulted in attempting to fill 1t IN.
Pretty nearly every town in New South wales
considered that it had a claim 10 De selected as
the capital but it not long before only Ihree
districts were left as the real candidates for the
site These were what were termed the Western
the Southern and the Southeastern The hrst
situated Just Of the Blue Mountains. was that
area surrounding Lyndhurst Tunut was the prin-
cpaI place in the second and Bombala in the third
Lyndhurst championed by most OF the New
South Wales members being close TO Sydney. Vic
torians favored Tumut and Bombala. one of the
chief reasons being that both could be reached
without having to traverse New South Wales ter
ritory. the limit of the capital area could be
made to march with the Victorian boundary.
Four commissioners were appointed to report
upon the seven chief capital sites Mr.. Hewitt,
the celebrated explorer, the Victorian representa-
tive. is in London preparing his book on the
native races for the press. New South Wales.
resentative we'll In their report the commits
sioners arranged the sites follows: First. Tu-
nut; third, Lyndhurst; sixth, Dalgety, and sew
enth. BombaIa- According to this report, there
fore apart from political reasons. worse selec-
ton could not possibly have been made than the
BombaIa district. Very severe criticisms were
made on the report. the most effective being that
by Alexander Oliver. president Of the New
South Wales Land Appeal Court, who was ap-
pointed state Capital Site Commissioner by the
New South Wales government.
Federal members during the last two years have
visited the different sites in parties which were
personally conducted each by its special advo-
cate Mr.. Sydney Smith, Mr.. Reds able lieutenant,
was the champion of Lyndhurst. Sir William Lyme,
of Turnut and the former Minister of Defence.
Mr. Chapman of Bombala- These visits occurred
so frequently that they were dertsivey termed
picnic parties in search Of the BUSH capital
1t was a difficult matter TO decide between the
sites, and members were assisted by numerous
tables and pamphlets giving exhaustive parucu-
lars about the different districts. AS far as aces
sibility went Lyndhurst stood easily first and Dali
getty last. Lyndhurst is situated on railway
connecting direct with Sydney and Melbourne, 50
that no expenditure in railway communication
would be required. Tumut is already connected
with SYDNEY bv rail. To complete its communica-
ton with Melbourne would cost $4,000 Dalgety is
thirty-two miles from the nearest railway station
the Sydney line terminating at Gonna, 10 make
that connection would cost f142O0 To link up
with the Victorian railways line would have TO
be built over very dncu b G9uR 965 70 c0s a. 200
That is TO saw that before the capital can be shifted
10 DaIgety fL656,OO0 will have TO be spent on a0so-
iutely necessary railway works. -
The next important item was that of water sup
1gravitation scheme) being f2olO Go Dalgety comes
seeond With f3SD ana 1at aS6pv Of wst
for "a 600 persons would be required. The value OF
the land T4S from hS 10 0s Was is
Dalgety, being only f. los an acre Land at Lynd-
hurst is valued at fS an acre and at Tumut Il an
The actual site was chosen by ballot. the result
of the first vote being:
Southern district p
Western district 70
The Tumut site was thus knocked out by one
vote A second ballot resulted follows:
southeastern district 90
Thus the BombaIa district was chosen by a
large majority. 1t was at first proposed to omit
the exact location from the bill, but it finally
decided to insert within seventeen miles of Dali
getty and the bill passed in that form The
senate which had previously inserted Bombala
in the bill it to the lower house, now substi-
tuted Dalgety, and the bill became Law. The
cided. and negotiations are TO be opened with the
0rigtnaiIy it was thought and all reports seem to
have assumed that the required would be
times as much. It says that the area should Ger
tainly not be less than 500 SQUARE miles. ms rs
would secure access 10 the sea at Eoen ana 10
the Victorian frontier. Although the Labor GOV
during It's snort IKE, WAS dOle 10 dCcOIt-
psh little in the way of legislation its resoiute
attempt settle the veXed question Of the capital
site deserves all praise.
If the federal government secures the 500 square
miles II asks for, Dalgety viii be far the cheapest
site from the federal point of view The resump-
ton of the land will cost Il 40 COO against f2S0t
0OO REQUIRED for the Tumut district. The absolutely
minimum cost, not allowing for any extras at all,
of making the federal capital at Dalgety' would De;
purchase ii 80 GO
Water supply
Railway WORKS 1.656OOO
-
Total i''01l''V'
II would be pretty safe to say. therefore. that a
sum OF g would hardly suffice for the estao-
lishment of the capital -
Dalgety itself is small village In ana , near
which i've two hundred people. II Is situated upon
the Sno7,y River one Of the pretuest in Australia
The views from the proposed site are extensive
and picturesque. Mount Kcsclusko 0.S2S feep
IN the Snowy range, the highest point
in Australia is fun view. forty miles TO the west
Water supply will be drawn from the Snowy River
and its tributaries rising In the Snowy Mountains;
The suggested site. which has altitude OF 26ot
feet is two miles west of Dagety, thrSY-one miles
south of Gonna and siXty-five miles west OF Two
foId Raw The soil Is poor and a considerable por-