English railway manager who had a practical experience of 

 a break of gauge. Great as he found the disadvantage of it 

 on his system, he admitted that there were conditions under 

 which a break of gauge was necessary. In a discussion on 

 the subject he spoke as follows : — i( The truth was that some 

 of those who were opposed to break of gauge under any 

 circumstances had very much exaggerated the cost and 

 damages arising from a transfer from one gauge to another. 

 The delay and difficulties arising from a break of gauge 

 were not of a serious nature. With regard to the construc- 

 tion of new lines of railway on a different gauge from that 

 of existing lines, he could quite understand that there would 

 be, and were, cases in every country in which that was a 

 necessity, and even a desirable course to adopt, where, from 

 the nature or amount of traffic, the character of the country, 

 or other circumstances, narrow gauge branches would be 

 sufficient for all commercial purposes without any serious 

 disadvantages. It would then, and then only, be a question of 

 constructing railways on the narrow gauge, or of having no 

 railways at all ; and in such a position he would distinctly 

 say (although it would be a misfortune to be placed in the 

 position of choosing such an alternative) that the railway 

 should be made, notwithstanding that the evil of a break of 

 gauge was incurred." 



I think the time is close at hand when we shall see 

 country hitherto unoccupied in many parts of Australasia 

 opened up by narrow gauge railways, as although every rail- 

 way manager would do his utmost to avoid a break of gauge, 

 the Australasian colonists cannot afford to throw away, as 

 they have done in the past, millions of pounds upon unprofit- 

 able railways, that is, railways which do not pay interest on 

 their enormous capital cost. 



It is our great misfortune in these colonies that when rail- 

 way construction commenced we followed too closely the 

 practice of the Old Country. In England, where the rail- 

 ways are in private hands, they have been constructed purely 

 on commercial principles, and the one thousand millions or so 

 of capital invested brings in an average return of rather 

 better than 4 per cent. Force of circumstances compels 

 these companies to construct lines of a costly character (the 

 average cost being rather more than .£45,000 per mile), and 

 keen competition has compelled them to furnish luxuries 

 which the sparsely populated colonies of Australasia will not 

 be able to afford for many years to come. Although it may 

 be travelling outside the subject of my paper this evening, I 

 may perhaps be permitted to remark that the conditions 

 which brought railways into existence in these colonies were 

 widely different to those pertaining to the lines in the Old 



