ANNUAL ADDRESS. Vv. 
a matter of shifting a rail, and to them the whole difficulty is 
over when an agreement is come to by the various colonies, and 
an order issued to give effect to it ; but to those better acquainted 
with the subject it is a very different affair, requiring much con- 
sideration. The matter now stands thus—Queensland has the 
3’ 6” gauge, New South Wales the 4’ 84", generally called the 
standard gauge, Victoria has the 5’ 3’, and South Australia has 
partly the 5’ 3” and partly the 3’ 6’, while Western Australia has 
adopted 3’ 6”. Tasmania being separated from us by sea need 
not be considered. 
There appears to be a consensus of professional opinion that the 
future assimilated gauge is to be the standard one of 4’ 84”, which 
is that of New South Wales. Not only is this gauge preferable 
as being that of the greater part of the world’s system, but either 
of the other possible alternatives, viz. adopting the 5’ 3” of Victoria 
and part of South Australia, or the 3’ 6” of Queensland, and the 
rest of South Australia, would be objectionable, because in the 
former case, increasing a gauge is a very much more expensive 
process than decreasing it, and in the latter, though for the reason 
just mentioned the cheapest, the capacity of the 3’ 6” gauge would 
be insufficient for main line traffic in the larger colonies. As the 
whole of the colonies concerned in the alteration must pay for it, 
the question of the most suitable gauge need not be hampered by 
other considerations than those of general ultimate economy and 
convenience, 
The non-adoption of a uniform gauge in Australia, originally, 
was undoubtedly a great blunder, (and I understand it was done 
in spite of professional advice) but it having been made, and 
thousands of miles of railway having been since constructed and 
rolling stock provided, it does not necessarily follow that the 
entire correction of that blunder is now commercially advantage- 
ous. The principal evils of break of gauge are as under :— 
1. Cost of transhipment of goods and live stock, and demurrage 
of rolling stock while transhipment is going on. 
