Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1853-07-08

he broad TO the narrow Gauge. his conclu
~, ,yss arrived at, not from The alleged supe
';or;tv of the feet 81 inch Gauge. over any
:a,arnediate one between it and seven feel ,bu
- The best means 10 their opinion of obviatnp
the difficulty of break of Gauge in England
.Rnt in connection with this part of the SUD
80, the Commissioners observe, I'VE are de.
= s;rous however OF guarding ourselves from
ha;,g supposed TO express an opinion that the
Tneason of fee, 81 is in all respects the
most suited for The general objects of the coun.
try
aThe object ofthe inquiry wassolely to devise
means whe eby under the particular circum
.,ances in which the Railways OF England were
nlaced the real or supposed difficulty resulting
from h aking G ge, might he remedied
and the Ore no opinion was expressed by the
commissioners 10 the best Gauge for a new
svstem of Railway in country were few OF
none had yet been constructed.
The publication of The testimony taken lie
fore the Gauge Commissioners. brought the
whole subject fully before Parliament.
This testimony iill singular unanin.iy oil
oninion, established tha desi a5iencss of wi
der Gauge than 1 feet 81 inches.
mo less than 10 out of 81 persons whose
testimony was required on the abstract cues
Tim as 10 aohat gauge was an itself tie best
gave opinions in favor OF greater width than
4 feet Sd inches. Parliament referred the re
mort ofthe Gauge Commissioners to the Lords
orthe Committee of Prvy Council for Trade.
"The Board Of Trade instead Of advising en-
tire uniformity ofGaugs as recommended by
the Gauge Commissioners, say: "'They are
unable altogether to concur with the Com
mssioners in the full extent Of these recon-
mendations," and further observe: "They
would therefore recommend that the lines for
which A cts have been obtained, but which
have not yet been completed, to the south of
the line from London to Bristol, should he
permitted to be CONSTRUCTED on the broad
Gauge as originally intended" And again
add: 'In suggesting therefore with some ex
ceplons TO ne specifed) the adoption of the
recommendation made ty the Commissioners
that the a feet 81 inch Gauge should be declar-
ed by the Legislature to be the Gauge 10 be
used in all Public Railways they do not con
ceive that any declaration on this point should
be understood as positive and final. The work
ing of the wider Gauge established in Ireland
and the future history of Railways in other
Countries may possibly prove the superiority
Of some other AMI intermediate Gauge. while
the advance of science and the course of ex
perence may point out practical method of
altering an existing Gauge,and Of easily effect
ing great operation VIII CHI is now generally
conceived to be so costly and so difficult as in
truth to be impracticable."
1.-The decision of Parliament was full vndi-
cation of the opinion of the most skiful En-.
glneers and Eng inc builders in the Kingdom,
and Parliament established on their recon
mendation a Gauge offs feet 3 inches for Ire
land where the question was open and unem
barrassed.
THE Statute of 9 & 10 Vic Cap. 57,enacts
that 5 feet 3 inches shall be tie Gauge for
Ireland and that all Railways soutbtcard Of
lifeline ofthe Great Western Rail,cay from
feet, and that those north Of his line creeping
NTH the Great Western, shall be ofMe Gauge
IF fe't 81 inches
"'fhs decision was althat the friends of the
broad Gauge could reasonably desire, and the
deliberate Judgment of the British Parliament
may fairly be considered as adopting Gauge
OF feet inches as abstractly the best
Then it will be seen that the reports OF the
gauge Commissioners and of the Board of
trade were very far from expressing any opIn
ion in favor ola narrow gauge as an abstract
quesion-and he evidence before them was
decidedly against it. l would call attention
to another point. You have industriously
kept up the idea that the only dispute was be
tween feet 81 inches and feet. The adop-
ton Of s feet inches by Parliament shows
that you are wrong.
In reference to the cost of trTnshlp-
ment l again quote from Mr.. Morton,
He says "the article of -four which will constl
tute most important article of freight on your
road, am informed. on good authority, is tran
shipped from cars to Uessels at Detroit, at the
rate of one CHILLING for l00bbls. Freight is
transhipred a Albany, from Canal boats 10
bargee .: he rare of two pence per ton. Al
other puinls Ia the United States, where large
amount of merchandise is to be transhipped. 1t
is done with great economy by machinery pro-
PEELED by steam, audit is believed that improve
ments will be made for the transfer of freight
on rail roads that will materially reduce the
cost, and render it on every account far less
Objectionable then at present.