PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 21 
one country of Europe that the idea was developing, but 
France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Russia 
appeared to be taking part, and the matter has been 
brought before the International Congress. This style of 
coupling without the use of side buffers conduces to 
flexibility on sharp curves, for on sharp curves side buffers 
are liable to pass one another and get interlocked. It 
would be a great advantage to be able to run main line 
rolling stock over sharp curves, and if this system of 
coupling were adopted there would be no difficulty in 
transferring any of the N.S.W. bogie stock from the North 
Coast Line when completed, on to such a line as the 
Dorrigo, even if it included 2 or 3 chain curves, provided 
always that the necessary rotary movement of the bogie 
was arranged for, and proper width allowances in platform 
and other structures made. 
Permanent Way Improvements.— When I was travelling 
through America in 1894, I found the different railway 
companies in the Hastern States vying with one another to 
get traffic, and with this object altering and improving 
their roads to permit of faster passenger trains and heavier 
freight trains. Curves were being flattened toa maximum 
curvature of 2°, which is a little over half a mile radius, 
and grades to ‘5% or 1 in 200. Heavier rails were also being 
put down. In 1904 the lines in the west were now being 
improved (quite a remarkable alteration since 1894), curva- 
ture was being reduced and heavy grades cut out. The 
Southern Pacific Co. was spending £20,000,000 in improving 
and shortening their lines, one of the most extraordinary 
pieces of work being the short cut through Salt Lake. 
These improvements are naturally undertaken as traffic 
increases, but although so much has to be rebuilt now, it 
is clear on consideration that had these same companies to 
start afresh with the sparse population of old times and 
