140 
MAGAZINE OE SCIENCE AND ART. 
Let a single line of stout posts be firmly 
inserted in the ground at distances of ten 
feet from each other along the present lines 
of road into the interior. Let these he 
united at the top by a continuous rail or 
sleeper about six inches square. The sur¬ 
face of this line of wooden rail should be 
about five feet above the surface of the 
earth. There need only he a single line. 
Along this continuous sleeper let a light 
semi-circular iron rail be laid of about tw o 
inches diameter. 
To travel along this fail there should be 
a strong iron wheel say of eighteen inches 
diameter, with a deep groove on its edge 
to fit the rail. Through the centre of the 
wheel should pass a strong axle not more 
than eighteen inches in length, and fitted 
with antifriction rollers to diminish the 
friction as much as possible. From each 
end of this axle an iron rod, swinging 
freely, should depend about four feet, car¬ 
rying at its end a flat surface like the scale 
of a weighing-machine, extending outwards 
from the rail on each side to receive the 
load. This pair of scales would thus hang 
about two feet from the surface of the 
ground. 
There might be two or more wheels follow¬ 
ing each other, but the principle is equally 
applicable to one wheel. The load would 
thus be suspended on the rail as it is in 
panniers over a horse’s back. If the re¬ 
ceptacles on either side were equally 
loaded, a perfect equilibrium would be 
maintained, and a very slight force eitlroi 
of horse or bullock power would be re¬ 
quired to draw the load so suspended along 
the even stuface of the elevated rail. 
In order to give a more graphic idea of 
the plan, we will suppose the electric tele¬ 
graph posts now placed along our streets, 
to be only ten feet apart, and five feet in 
height, and that the wire properly sup¬ 
ported by a strong longitudinal _ sleeper, 
were two inches in diameter. This in fact 
would constitute our railway. Along the 
surface of this a wheel or wheels are to 
travel, having loads suspended some four 
feet below their axles, and equally dis¬ 
tributed on each side of the line of rail. 
Horses should be employed to draw the 
load. They would travel on the present 
imperfect roads with ease, for it is not the 
feet of the animals which destroy a road, 
but the grinding action of the wheels of 
carriages. This latter action is done away 
with by the above plan. 
It is important to state, too, that this 
form of railway would provide at once for 
the fixing of the electric telegraph wires, 
without any additional expense being in¬ 
curred for posts, &c. The wire could he 
continued along the under surface of the 
longitudinal sleeper, by which it would be 
effectually preserved from injury. A sav¬ 
ing to the Colony of about £50 per niile 
would thus he effected. 
IVe shall not enter at present into any 
further details. We hope the scheme will 
he calmly considered by those best calcu¬ 
lated to form an opinion on its merits. We 
beg earnestly that our readers in the in¬ 
terior will take some little pains to investi¬ 
gate the principle, and to attempt its ap¬ 
plication each in his own way. By these 
means some cheap and practicable mode of 
communication with the interior may be 
discovered, and the permanent settlement 
of the country may he greatly accelerated. 
By this means we are sanguine enough to 
believe that we could lay down a practi¬ 
cable railway for horse traction of goods 
and passengers to Bathurst within three 
months, and at a cost of less than £1000 
per mile. 
At all events, whether onr plan is prac¬ 
ticable or not, we have made an attempt to 
solve the difficulty in which the country 
is placed. If it lias no other benefit, it will 
doubtless set some ingenious minds on the 
search, and eventually produce some more 
satisfactory result than the reiteration of 
the melancholy refrain of “ something 
must he done.” 
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OF 
NEW SOUTH WALES. 
We this month present our readers with 
the following highly important paper on 
Irrigation, which was read by His Excel¬ 
lency the Governor-General at the monthly 
meeting of the Society, held November 12, 
1856. 
IRRIGATION. 
The term “irrigation/’ which, in ordinary parlance, 
means the application of water to the soil for the pur¬ 
pose of developing the growth of plants, whether indi¬ 
genous or cultivated, niav, with reference to the subject 
matter of this paper, have a more extended meaning 
riven to it, and be tahen to include not only the appli¬ 
cation of water, bnt also its systematic collection, con- 
vevance, and distribution. It is a subject to which but 
little attention appears to have been paid, either by the 
Government or the people of New South Wales 
If however, we consider the character of the climate 
of this colonv. and its operation upon the productive 
power of the’ colony, and if we bear in mind the im- 
