flourishing ports up the coast. [See Return, Appendix, R] Each line serves its own back-country, with vast pastoral and other resources, and each has its subsidiary system of goldfields besides. On the 27th parallel the railway runs from Brisbane in towards South Australia and the country of the Barcoo and Cooper's Creek, with Gympie and Maryborough on the way to the north. On the 23rd parallel we have the central line, running west from Rockhampton to Longreach and the Barcaldine district, with Mount Morgan near the coast. And on the 20th parallel the Northern Railway (also east to west) connects Townsville with Hughenden, and serves Charters Towers. Beyond these, again to the north, come the ports of Cairns and Cooktown, with their back-country stretching across to the Gulf; and the scattered and neglected mineral wealth of the Palmer and the Hodgkinson Fields, as well as Chillagoe. And what these things mean it is worth while to consider. Mount Morgan, for example, a few years ago, was one of several low hills included in the selection of a farmer named Gordon, who had found it easier to secure the freehold of his property than to make it return him a profitable living. Two wandering prospectors, named Morgan, who were his guests for a night, examined the Mount, which he suspected might contain copper, at his request; found indications of gold; and acquired his farm at the price of £1 an acre, which he thought himself lucky to get. The Morgans sold a half interest in the mine for £2000, to secure machinery; and almost at once became millionaires. With a nominal capital of one million, the mine has distributed, from its handsome block of offices on the river-front at Rockhampton, nearly five million pounds in dividends, and continues
