ALL-RED MAIL ROUTE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1918, 28 November 1913, Page 7

ALL-RED MAIL ROUTE.

WILL BE READY IN 1915,

ENGINEER'S FORECAST.

By Tofoeranh—Press Assoclation-CoDiTiirht "Times" —Sydney "Sun" Special Cables. London, November 2G. Mr. Long, tho American engineer, who has been studying Blacksod Bay (Mayo), the proposed terminal of the All-Red steamship route, states that the port will bo ready in 1915. Tho great All-Red Route scheme is intended to provide a rapid sun-ice fror.i Great Britain to Australia and New Zealand, via Canada, ft is calculated by the promoters that tho jimrnoy from London, to Sydney will by this route be mado in twenty-five days, and tho journey to Auckland in three, days less. One of tf.o outstanding features will be the provision of a channel ferry between Great Britain and Ireland, and this portion of tho project, states tho "Daily News," has nanpassed the theoretical stage. A start with tho All-Red scheme will bo made at tho Irish end. A contract, tho value of which is put at a million and n half, has been* given to Messrs. Perry and Co., the well-known contractors, to build

A railway from Coliooney (Sligo) to Biacksod Bay, via Ballina, and A harbour at Blacksod Bay. Towards this railway the Government have promised a contribution of ,£135,(100. Tho actual running length of the line will be 88 miles, and work will be starved ou the lino and the harbour before the end of the year. 'The contract time for tho completion of the railway and harbour is three years; but it is hoped that considerably less time will be occupied. As far ns nossible it is intended to employ local labour. It'is proposed, to join up Coliooney with the .Sligo, Leitrim, and Northern Counties Sail way, thus making <i through route from Sligo to Belfast and Londonderry with the Midland Great Western line, giving direct communication with Dublin and with tho .Great Southern and Western, giving a through service to the South of Ireland, for all the park of the country express services will bo run to Black foil Bay. By means of The channel ferry through trains will bo run from England to Blacksod Bay. It will be possible to travel in the train straight from England to Ireland, without changing, the train being taken bodily on to the ferry. The work of the- ferries will, it is understood,"proce«d practically simultaneously with the work of building tho harbour and the railway. The difficulty of the difference in gauge between (he English and Irish lines will, it is said, bo surmounted by means of hydraulic apparatus which will substitute an liish for the English bogie. This expedient is said to have been adopted in America before tho lines there were standardised. The next step, so far ns the All-Red Route scheme is concerned, .will bo the running of quick boats from Blacksod Bay to Halifax (Canada). Progress is also being made with this part of the plans. New 25-knot steamers are to be built, and it is hoped to save two clear days in tho carriage of mails and passengers to Canada. The third stage of tho scheme—the train journey over tho Grand Trunk and Canadian Pacific lines to Vancouver, and the steamer voyage thence to Australia and New Zealand—is still somewhat in tho air, but the promoters are hoping to be able to prove that their plans lire practical, this being the condition on which the. Governments concerned have 'promised subsidies.