262 REPORT — 1861. 



vessels to India ; and it may be fairly estimated that it would require 10 per cent, 

 of the capital of £50,000 to place the seven large steamers and barges in an effi- 

 cient state for ser^-ice. If £10,000 had been spent in this country on trials, it would 

 have srved this expense and delay. 



W' vh respect to the six small tug and thirty-three corrugated tow-boats, some 

 expjriments 'were made on the Mersey in 1859, when I expressed to Sir James 

 Mjlville gi'eat doubt as to their power of tugging strength and durability, 

 ■.nd which has been verified by the accounts received in 1861. On that occasion 

 I strongly urged test-trials of the 'Assam Nautilus,' to test the capability of 

 the small boats ; and there can be no doubt that if 10 per cent, had been spent in 

 trials in this country, they woiUd have had efficient vessels as feeders to their line 

 early in 1860. 



The capital invested is £500,000, the interest guaranteed by the Government of 

 India to the Indus Flotilla Company, which has constructed its vessels on the Euro- 

 pean system and spoon-ended type of build, contracted for on the railway or 

 speculative system adverted to in my re-view and letters to the Council in 1859. 



From the experience of the last three years, it is a matter of consideration 

 whether the revenues of India will not be burdened with the interest of the capital 

 for many years to come. 



ITie Oriental Inland Steam Company, on Bourne^ s Patent Train of Articulated 

 Barges on the Punt Type. — The plan, and page 1 of Appendix B, show the deck 

 plan of the ' Train Indus' steamer, 200 feet long and 100 II. P., towing four barges 

 300 feet long, built and tried at Kurrachee, realizing a speed of 5'23 miles with four 

 barges, and 8-56 miles ^-ith one. Passing to the Indus, the steamer was sunk, by 

 collision with the 40-feet barge ; the experimental trials costing £15,000 in India. 

 The steamer ' Sutlej ' and one barge were lengthened 30 feet, and provided with 

 iTidders, and gre now employed towing astern in the usual way. 



The ' Jumna' (No. 4 plan) shows the alterations residting from an expenditure 

 of £34,000 on trials in India and England, which consist of the addition of two 

 side rudders to the steamer, and foui- barges additional to the length of stem ; for 

 the adoption of balanced rudder, and finer lines to bow ; with an engine and screw 

 to act as bow rudder. 



At a preliminary tiial of the barges made on the Clyde, 26th September, the 

 speed varied from 6^ knots, with five barges ai-tieulated together, to 9| knots with 

 one barge, towed by the Clyde steamer ' Ruby,' of 100 N.H.P., working up to 

 neariy 800 Ind. H. P. 



_ At the request of the Directors, I was present at that trial, and made some expe- 

 riments with the djTiamometer, of which a copy will be fm-nished. I then visited 

 the 'Jumna,' at Liverjjool, at their request, and there obtained much infomiation 

 from the engineer and late oflicers of the steamer ' Ganges,' which had foundered 

 on the voyage to Calcutta, and -naU be referred to afterwards. 



[The author also presented other papers under the following heads : — " A 

 Statistical Record and Return of Experunental Trials here, and Perfomiance in 

 India." — "On Contracting for Building and Fitting River Steamers for India; 

 with Observations and Improvements." — " Obsei-vations on Steering and Towing, 

 with Improvements resulting from Tri.als and Practical Experiments." — " On the 

 Fitting and Rigging of River Steamers for Sea Service, and of Vessels suitable for 

 both."] 



On a Sledge Railway Break. By James HiGGrN". 



The author referred to the imperfect action of the ordinaiy railway breaks for 

 checking a train on the first warning of danger. His plan consisted not of merely 

 stopping the revolution of the wheels, but of placing under the carriages, over the 

 raUs, a lattice framework of iron, whose under surface, for a foot in breadth, re- 

 sembled a sledge. This sledge plate (about 16 ft. long on each side) reached do\vn 

 to within about 4 inches of the rails, and by half a tiu-n of an eccentric actuated by 

 a rod stretching under the carriages from the locomotive and worked by steam, the 

 carriages were instantly lowered and began to slide. In the case of a.xles brealiing, 

 the " sledge " arrangement would also afford support. The main advantage claimed 

 for the sledge break was, that the increased length of surface presented to the rails 



