Note Footnote b: — Chapter VI

Having regard to the fact that the public debt of Queensland is higher than that of any other Australian State per head of the population, the policy of abstention from further borrowing from 1903 until 1909 has been vindicated in a most gratifying manner. A pregnant fact is that more than one-half the entire public debt has been invested in railways which in 1908-9 returned £883,610b in net earnings, all available for the payment of interest on capital, or equal to about £3 7s. 6d. per cent. per annum, which meant that our railway system was almost self-supporting, besides being the source of a large indirect gain to the Treasury by providing facilities for transport over 3,498 miles of line. It is no exaggeration to assert that directly and indirectly the railways assist the Treasury to the amount of the annual interest charge on the entire public debt of the State. Instead of the railways being a burden upon the taxpayer, as in former years, they have undoubtedly now become the backbone of the public credit. Seven years ago the interest charge on railway capital falling on the taxpayer amounted to £513,128. To-day, as shown by official figures, there is practically no such burden, and the existing state of the investment not only forms a complete justification for the railway policy of the past, but also for the vigorous way in which the construction of new lines is being pushed forward. With a continuance of good management it is apparent that the time is within measurable distance when the Railway Commissioner will, unless rates be reduced, hand to the State Treasurer a large annual surplus which will be available for lightening the public burdens.