134 PRESIDENTS ADDRESS-—-SECTION H. 
after some time was taken up.  Pitt-street has a width of 
60 ft. only; in those days there were places where it was 
much narrower. The tramway was laid as a single line. The 
street surface was macadam, and was badly kept, and the rails, 
owing to the wear of the roadway, projected above the surface, 
so that the complaints of the shopkeepers that it hindered traffic 
generally, and prevented carriages from drawing up at their 
doors, were probably well founded. 
The Sydney Tramway and Omnibus Company, as the name 
implies, was formed for the purpose of constructing and work- 
ing tramways, as well as of running omnibuses, but failed, 
after repeated attempts, to get Parliamentary power to lay down 
tramways. Probably the company’s want of success may be 
largely attributed to the disrepute in which the Pitt-street tram- 
way had been held, and perhaps it did not strike the legislators 
of the day that the public convenience and rights could have 
been safeguarded if proper conditions of a stringent character 
were imposed. The result has been, however, that the company 
had to confine its operations to the running of omnibuses. 
_In 1879, the exhibition year, the Government laid down a tram- 
way along Elizabeth-street, from the Redfern terminus to Hunter- 
street, on which the cars were provisionally drawn by horses. It 
was recognised, however, that horses were not suitable to drag 
heavy cars up the steep grade between Belmore Park and 
Liverpool-street—1 in 183—and steam motors were provided. 
This was the commencement of the present steam tramway 
system in Sydney. The tramway was later on extended to 
Bridge-street, and numerous extensions and branches, which 
are shown on the map, have since been carried out. The 
mileage for the city and suburbs, including North Sydney, now 
totals 52 miles 27 c., and the capital cost, according to the last 
report of the Railway Commissioners, is £1,361,768. 
In 1889 two cable tramway proposals were brought forward 
—the George and Harris-street tramway, and the King and 
Ocean-street tramway. These were referred to the Parliamen- 
tary Standing Committee on Public Works, which in 1891 
completed its inquiries, and reported in favour of the King and 
Ocean-street, and against the George and Harris-street proposal. 
During the deliberations a large number of witnesses, expert 
and otherwise, were examined, and reports prepared by Sir John 
Fowler and Mr. W. Thow, Chief Mechanical Engineer to the 
Railway Commissioners, were put in. 
When examined by the Committee I strongly urged that the 
lines should be worked electrically, instead of by cable. I 
pointed out that, seeing that there were already 3000 miles con- 
structed and working, electrical traction in America was not, as 
had been’ stated, still in the experimental stage. I also 
recommended that the steep grades on King-street, William- 
