The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-14 00:00:00

nORSI: RAILROAD&

The following extract from the report of Mr. R.
A. Gray, county surveyor, to the Grand Jury of the
County of Dublin, dated April, 1860, will be read
with interest:—

" The attention of the county surveyors having
been called at the last County-at-large Sessions to
a bill before Parliament ' to facilitate internal com-
munication in Ireland by means of tramways or
tramroads,' our opinions were solicited as to what
effect the provisions of the bill would produce (if
enacted) upon the existing thoroughfares and the
interests of those concerned in their construction,
maintenance, and use. Our ideas are given on
each clause of the bill seriatim, and which, I sup-
pose, will be communicated to you by the secretary,
and some observations in addition upon the work-
ing of the system in the United States, where
it is extensively in use, may be considered desira-
ble : and I may state some Pacts respecting the sub-
ject, a knowledge of which I acquired during my
professional occupation in that country. The tram-
ways are there almost confined to the cities and
large towns, mechanical traction being found cheaper
and more suitable on the long limes of commutation
through the country. The great facilities of start-
ing and stopping vehicles drawn by horse power on
rails, gives such a decided advantage to that mode
of conveyance through populous towns, that it was
very extensively adopted, and continues to increase
rapidly. I observed that in addition to the great
advantage the proprietors have in being able
to move a comparatively very great weight
at a good speed under complete control,
the public enjoyed the benefit of accom-
modation in the vehicles, were conveyed at
very cheap rates, were taken up and let down
wherever they desired along the lines, were carried
without noise or jolting, and, as compared with any
other means of locomotion, were particularly free
troin accment.

"The rails for these conveyances are of a peculiar
eonstruction ; so contrived as not to interfere with
the ordinary traffic of the streets they traverse, but,
on the contrary, afford a surface which is invariably
taken advantage of by drivers going in the direc-
tion of the tramways. The annexed section of rail
is that in use in Sixth Avenue,New York, a crowded
and fashionable thoroughfare. It is a heavy rail,
and one that does not interrupt the crossing in any
direction or at any angle, of ordinary vehicles,
although there is a double line through the street.
There are several other sections quite as free from
objection.
" The Sixth Avenue Establishment consists of
four miles of double track, laid with a 741 b rail.
Tire rolling stock consists of 70 carriages, of about
three tons each, worked by 420 horses and mules,
the fares for the whole length being 21d for adults,
and lid for children. Notwithstanding, the
owners receive 10 per cent. The number of pas-
sengers travelling on this road, which may be taken
as an average, per annum, is five and a-half mil-
lions ; and the number carried give an idea of the
advantage the rest of the street derives from such
a multitude being thus conveyed instead of travel-
ling in ordinary carriages, and adding so much to
the wear and tear of its surface. The offitha
statements published in 1858, alluding to five lines
of tramways in New York, gives the following re-
sults :

" Second Avenue-8 miles of single track, car-
ried 4,504,645 passengers ; no accident. Third
Avenue-61 miles of double track, carried
7,945,462 passengers; six injured. Sixth Avenue
—4 miles of double track, carried 5,612,337 pas-
sengers; no accident. Eighth Avenue--5 miles of
double track, carried 6,768,203 passengers, one in-
jured. Brooklyn-21 miles of double track, car-
ried 7,705,839 passengers; five injured. Thus the
safety of the system to travellers is exemplified by
the fact that of 34 millions of people who travelled
on these roads during the year, only 12 individuals
were injured.
"In Philadelphia, where I spent the winter of
the year before I became your surveyor, there is a
population of over half a million of people; and it
is now traversed by 164 miles of tramways. Of
the great advantages of these ways public opinion
must be strongly impressed, when the inhabitants
of such a town, consisting in great part of Quakers,
proverbial for prudence and steady calculation,
have adopted them to such an extent in the short
time of little more than four years since the
first were laid down. At the beginning of this
year there were in operation in Boston 56, Balti-
more 50, St. Louis 24, and a proportionate extent
in Cincinnati, Chicago, Milwaukie, and almost every
large town in the Union. I have observed that the
enormous amount of traffic diverted from the ordi-
nary ways has produced a proportionate effect of
relieving them of so much wear and tear, and feel
that this observation will be very applicable to the
principal thoroughfares in this country in the event
of tramways being introduced on them, or in their
direction, particularly as the bill contains provi-
sions for enabling farmers and others, who now use
the ordinary roads, to use the tramways.
"I may add that the gradients and curves, which
are quite practicable in the formation of these ways,
are such that in the rural districts no unsightly em-
bankments or deep cuttings, with their consequent
waste of land, need be apprehended, and that in
most cases the grades and curves of the country
roads
and sufficient."
cFi er
the other county sur-
s.
veyors, reported in favour of the system, all of
se aresr nearly
Tait
which we would recommend to the Corporation and
their engineer.—lllorning News.

TIIE ROYAL CIIARTER.—The following addi-
tional articles were received from the Royal Charter last.
Saturday
evening :—Another portmanteau, containing
three white shirts, one red flannel shirt, one singlet, one
coat, one pair of trousers and two vests, one silk handker-
chief and one silk cravat, something like a Chinese puzzle,
and a small book of different tales, and a part of a towel
which was very rotten ; ono white shirt was marked " Gil-
bert Watson," and on the towel was "H. W."

•
A PLEA FOR SIR C. TREVELYAN.—A writer in a
contemporary says—ln the discussion upon the recall of
Sir C. Trevelyan, only one speaker alluded to the fact that
it was Mr. Wilson himself who first gave publicity to the
views of Sir C. Trevelyan. In his speech before the Legis •
lative Council on February 18, Mr. 'Wilson distinctly
stated that a claim for exemption on behalf of Madras was
" officially encouraged by men of influence," which of cour o
could only allude to Sir C. Trevelyan and his Council; and
Mr. Wilson went on to speak of that proposal with exaspe-
rating contempt, and argued against it at great length•
Mr. Wilson was, therefore, the first to make public Sir C''.
Trovelyan's views, this publicity being the one error which
is laid to Sir C. Trevelyan's charge.