OODNADATTA TO ALICE SPRINGS RAILWAY.

No. 3 of 1926.

An Act to provide for the Extension of the Port Augusta Railway by the Construction of a Railway to Alice Springs.

[Assented to 15th February, 1926.]

BE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, as follows:—

Short title.

1. This Act may be cited as the Oodnadatta to Alice Springs Railway Act 1926.

Commencement.

2. This Act shall commence on a date to be fixed by Proclamation.

Definitions.

3. In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears—

“the Commissioner” means the Commonwealth Railways Commissioner appointed under the Commonwealth Railways Act 1917-1925;

“the Port Augusta Railway” means the Railway in the State of South Australia running from Port Augusta to Oodnadatta;

“the Railway” means the Railway authorized by this Act.

Power to construct Railway.

4. The Commissioner may, subject to this Act and to the Commonwealth Railways Act 1917‑1925, extend the Port Augusta Railway by the construction of a Railway from Oodnadatta to Alice Springs.

Cost of Railway.

5. The maximum cost of the Railway shall not exceed One million seven hundred thousand pounds.

Route or the Railway

6. The route of the Railway shall be as described in the Schedule to this Act, but the Commissioner may make such deviations not exceeding Five miles on either side of the route as are, in his opinion, necessary or reasonable for the better construction and working of the Railway.

Gauge of line.

7. The gauge of the Railway shall be three feet six inches.

Appointment of officers, &c.

8. Notwithstanding anything contained in the Commonwealth Railways Act 1917-1925, the Commissioner may appoint all such persons as he thinks necessary for the purposes of the construction

of the Railway or the working of the Railway before it has been declared open for traffic, and may authorize the employment of any persons for those purposes, and may pay to persons so appointed or employed such salaries or wages as he thinks fit.

Acquisition of lands for purposes of Rallway.

9. Notwithstanding the provisions of section eleven of the Northern Territory (Administration) Act 1910, the provisions of section sixty-three of the Commonwealth Railways Act 1917-1925 shall apply in relation to the acquisition of land for the purposes of the Railway as if after the words “Crown Lands of” and after the words “whether by” there were inserted the words “the Commonwealth or”:

Provided that no person who is a lessee of lands from the Crown shall be entitled to compensation in respect of the resumption or use of any of such lands for the purposes of the Railway.

Wages and conditions of employment.

10.—(1.) In any contract relating to the construction of the Railway provision shall be made for the payment by the contractor of not less than the prescribed minimum rates of wages and for the observance of the prescribed conditions of employment and also for the recovery of penalties for non-payment of the prescribed rates of wages or for non-compliance with the prescribed conditions of employment.

(2.) In this section the prescribed minimum rates of wages and the prescribed conditions of employment mean the standard rates and conditions prescribed by any industrial authority of the Commonwealth, and, in the absence of any such standard rates and conditions applicable to the case, mean the standard rates paid, and the conditions of employment obtaining, in the locality in which the work is performed.

Appropriation of moneys.

11. All moneys necessary for the payment of the cost of con-struction of the Railway up to and including the time of the opening of the Railway for traffic shall be payable out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund or out of moneys standing to the credit of the Loan Fund, according to appropriations made by the Parliament for that purpose.

THE SCHEDULE.

Commencing at the end of the Port Augusta Railway at Oodnadatta and distant 478½ miles from Port Augusta, the route runs in a northerly direction to about 502 miles, thence in a generally north north-westerly direction to the Border between the State of South Australia and the Northern Territory at about 599 miles (120½ miles from Oodnadatta). The Overland Telegraph Line is crossed at about 535½ miles.

After crossing the South Australian Border the route continues in a generally north north-westerly direction, being about 10 miles to the west of Charlotte Waters Overland Telegraph Station at about 600 miles, crossing the Finke River at about 631 miles, and reaches Heavitree Gap at the southern edge of the Macdonnell Ranges at about 774 miles.

From Heavitree Gap the route continues in a northerly direction and ends at the township of Stuart at about 776 miles (about 297½ miles from Oodnadatta), situated upon the western bank of the Todd River, distant about 2 miles from Alice Springs Overland Telegraph Station.