was very early reached. It was found that to meet the circum- 
952 DISCUSSION ON 
stances of the South Australian narrow gauge lines the largest 
cylinders that could be put into the engines were fourteen or 
fifteen inches in diameter, and when these engines were tested by 
loading them to their limit and working them at their greatest 
power at a uniform speed up a gradient, the average maximum 
power obtained was equal to three hundred and twenty horses at 
thirteen and a-half miles per hour, whereas in this country there 
were engines working daily which could give a maximum average 
power of one thousand and twenty horses at a mean speed of 
twenty miles per hour. This difference of capacity was something 
to look forward to in connection with the standard gauge which 
the three feet six inches gauge could never hold out. It was 
ascertained by the Great Western Railway of England that the 
cost of working the seven feet gauge was less than on the four 
feet eight and a-half inches gauge for equal speeds, but he was 
unable to say whether that would apply to the three feet six inches 
gauge. The cost of working in South Australia on the narrow 
gauge was less than on the broad, but for very different speeds 
and accommodation. In railway expenditure as in other things, it 
was speed which killed. One matter that the author appeared to 
favour in his paper was the abolition of fencing upon light lines. 
If trains travelled at night, that would in his opinion, be a risky 
thing to do; for day travel fencing might be abandoned, but dur- 
ing the night and in hot parts of the country cattle are attracted 
by the cool ballast and frequently trespassed on an unfenced line 
lying down between the rails and endangering the safety of the 
trains. 
Mr. H. Deane said that the name “ Light Railway ” was not 
a scientific term, but a popular one, and it was generally employed 
in a very loose manner, but was always supposed to imply the use 
of a minimum of material in structure and permanent way with 
the minimum of labour in fixing, and light rolling stock. He had 
heard many people say when asking for a railway in their district, 
“all we want is a tramway just laid along the road.” That how- 
