132 SECTIONAL ADDRESSES. 



absolutely blocking tlie progress of internal wealth in those countries. 

 On the other hand, where railways are efficient and harbours well equipped 

 with shipping facilities, we find consequent prosperity. 



The comparison of travel to-day, both by land and sea, with my early 

 journeys in Europe nearly fifty years ago emphasises in my mind how 

 much we are indebted to the engineer, in the way of personal safety and 

 comfort and also prompt delivery of our products. A journey in the 

 Balkans in the winter of 1881 when sleeping cars and restaurant cars were 

 almost unknown, and when the largest vessel sailing from Mediterranean 

 ports was in the neighbourhood of 4,000 tons, compares very unfavourably 

 in speed and personal comfort with the facilities which are available to-day. 

 The comfort and safety of modern travel is to my mind one of the glories 

 of modern civilization. The 40,000 to 50,000 tons Atlantic liner, 

 embracing as it does almost every class of engineering skill, is not only an 

 example of artistic beauty, but is one of the fijiest instances of human 

 power combating the forces of nature. To be on one of these vessels 

 driving into a gale at twenty knots is an experience never to be forgotten, 

 and we are glad to realize what a large share the shipbuilding firms of 

 Glasgow have had in the development of these large Atlantic liners. 



Railway transport has also made great progress in all measures affecting 

 personal safety and the efficient carrying of our various products. The 

 railway engineers have every reason to be proud of their management of 

 the complex organisation represented by the great railway systems all 

 over the world. We are personally much safer travelling in an express 

 train than we are crossing the streets of a great city, and I think we may 

 justly be satisfied by the fact that in no country do the railways afford 

 more comfortable or more rapid travelling facilities than in our own. The 

 railway engineer has still some very interesting problems to face. Heavier 

 and more powerful locomotives are the natural outcome of the demand 

 for heavier freight trains. The civil engineer of a railway company 

 cannot deal with this problem without strengthening bridges and improving 

 the condition of the permanent way. All these developments involve 

 large capital expenditure, which it is not convenient for many railway 

 companies to undertake at the present time. 



The question of the railway companies developing motor services to 

 meet the competition of road transport has been the subject of legislation 

 during the present year. I think the public acquiesce generally in the 

 feeling that as the railway companies pay such a large proportion of the 

 rates of the districts through which they have travelling facilities, it is 

 only right they should develop road transport in connexion with their 

 traffic in view of the serious competition which they have to face. 

 Transport by road has undoubtedly been very much facilitated by the 

 large sums which the Ministry of Transport has had available for the 

 purpose of remaking and generally improving our main roads, and careful 

 study has been devoted of late years to the selection of suitable materials 

 for this purpose. Consequently in the last ten years there has been an 

 immense improvement in the quality and design of our main roads, more 

 so than in any previous decade. 



It appears to me that one question which has hardly been touched to 

 any eoctent at present is the desirability of increasing very largely the 



