Trans-Frontier Railway Lines.

The lines Quetta—Sistán and Sistán the Persian Gulf, suffice to meet the present emergency and to secure the immediate safety of India. Any line stopping short of Sistán will fail to do this as it will leave a means to the enemy of turning our system of defence.

To meet coming events, whose shadows loom darkly across Persia and Turkey-in-Asia, this eastern or Baluchistan section must be supplemented by a Persian section and a Turkish section. Insomuch as these sections and their component parts must be gradually carried out and vary in importance and in urgency, the order in which it is conceived that they are required is given below—