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ICT0RIAN RAILWAYS AND ENGINEERS.
TO THE EDITOR OP THE AOB
Sir It is a great pity that tho whole of the
members of Parliament cannot take a run over to
the United Siaica by the California!! mail, it
would cost about i'25,000 if they wcio con tent to
travel as other men, ami tho colony would savo
the money in one year. In# that God-forsaken,
timtw»tinn.ruldcn country their ingenuity in over-
coming difficulties, their arrangements for tho
comfort of passengers, and their kuack of dis
pensing with lots .of items fondly cherished
hero but costly and usslcss is wonderful.
Their carriages aro lofty, well ventilated,
provided in summor with icewater, warmed
in winter by stoves, and provided with
that indispensable adjunct for long journeys,
water closets and uriuals;tbe railway Jines are
not fenced in, and in many of the large cities
the trnins mn down tho middle of the streets.
Thoy have solved tho break question, tho im
proved Westwgbouso air-break being most
efficient and universally adopted. In New \ork,
where tho traffic is so enormous, nnd iho city so
crowded that speedy locomotion by train or bus
is difficult, lire problem of rapid transit is solved
by tho elevated railroad, which, supported on
pillars above tho footways, does not intertoro
with the traffic, aud carries its passen
gers quickly and safely over crowded
streets. In the United States and Canada
tbero is a greater mileage of - railways
than in all Europe. Canada, with all her love
for tho mother country, has adopted the purely
American railway system in its entirety; and it
there was an ounce of common sense in our rail
way management here we should have adopted it
long ago. Wo are about to send toKuropo for
an engineer to report and adviso as to our do-
fences. Wa sent to India for anibydiamic engi
neer. Why not send to America for a competent
engineer ? 1 am persuaded that the result would
boa revolution in tho cost of constructing lines,
a dissipation of tbe idea of large central passenger
: stations, and a wonderful addit'.oii to the comfort
of travelling- John Bull is vorj conservative— he
stuck to tho needlcteloyraph qritb .genuine pig-
gishuess long after the Morso .system was in
routed. Victoria adopted tho Morso at once, and
Victoria is bound to adopt tho Amoricau railway
system sooner or later : the sooner it is- dono the
saving will Ire tho greater. After travelling in
the Stato9 it is simply sickening to travel on a
Victorian liuo. Apropos of American ideas
Why is it so difficult to get ico here? In Ame
rica every ,inerch:uit's office nnd every pri
vate house has a constant, supply of
icewnter in summer, and every fruiterer
nnd confectioner sells ice. With coal nt 20s. per
ton, ice ia produced there at &?. per ton, nnd it
can be made bore, and sold retail with an
enormous profit at 0.jd.,,per lb. I have no
hesitation in .saying that if tho Melbourne
Joe Company understood the art of making a
trade tbe demand for ice in Melbourne would bo
increased a hundredfold. Let thera as an expe
riment send ti supply to the shops about Mel
bourne and Ihosuburbs nnd sell it nt a reasonable
price nnd placard the city ; they will soon find
that I am right. Must a man to cool his parched
tongue go to a hotel because there only they keep
ico? Let inc commend the idea to the Rcchnbites,
Good Templars, &<, as a sphere for enterprise.
It will be nobler and belter work than nobbling
the poor grocers, and will certainly stop tbo con
sumption of ardentspirits in hot weather. There
is more drinking of grog and beer in one hot day
in Melbourne than in New York and its suburbs,
with seven times the population.— Your9, &c.,
COMFORTABLE RAILWAYS AND ICJb.
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