THE JOURNEY FROM ENGLAND.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2048, 20 May 1890, Page 3

THE JOURNEY FROM ENGLAND.

It has been suggested (saya the London correspondent of the Argus) that in no distant future the greater part of the journey from London to Melborne will be performed by rail. Sir Edward Watkin, of Channel Tunnel fame, is developing a scheme by which it will be possible to travel from London to Kurrachee by rail, excepting over the Straits of Gibraltar. The trains will be conveyed entire over the Straits to Tangier, and there deposited on a railway to run via Algeria and Tunis to Caiaro, thence through Syria and- Basva, in the Persian Gulf, and thence down the eastern shore of the gulf until it connects with the Indian system. Sir Andrew Clarke is interesting himself in an alternative routs. Existing lines will carry his traffic to Bitlis, on the Caspian, and from thence he would construct a railway through Persian territory to Askabad. The Eussian system would be used to Bokhara, and from there to the most northerly point of the Indian railway system a new line would have to be formed. From Calcutta the projected Indo-Burmese-Malayan line would be utilised, and Sir Charles Warren is seeking permission to construct a line across the island of Singapore to the Tobore Straits. By this means London and Singapore may be placed in early communication. The gap between Singapore and Port Darwin must be bridged by steamers, but it is held that with this main break railway communication may be established before very many years between London and Melbourne and the rest of the Australian capitals.