be exempt from the operation of the same law.

Viewing Roads as civilizers, I have for many years turned my studies to the process of cheapening their structure, and especially in our Colonies. The result I have arrived at is, that a simple light rail with a light Engine is the cheapest, the most easily constructed, and the cheapest and most easily worked road—being perfectly fitted for curving valley lines in mountainous countries. I therefore beg respectfully to offer to your attention the enclosed statement and plan, which was last year forwarded to Ceylon by the Secretary for the Colonial Office, and laid before the Government there. It was published in the "Columbo Overland Observer" in September, 1861, and was reprinted in similar terms, with his own name attached, by Mr. Fitzgibbon, the Engineer to the Dun Mountain Copper Company in New Zealand, without acknowledgment. I enclose a copy.

Should your Excellency deem it desirable to sanction this system in New Zealand, Ten miles of permanent way complete, with one light Locomotive and Twenty Vehicles can be delivered in England free on board, for the sum Thirteen thousand five hundred pounds, or £1,350 per mile.

Thoroughly responsible parties would undertake this under my superintendence here.

I have the honour to be,

Sir,

Your most obedient

Faithful Servant,

WILLIAM BRIDGES ADAMS.

To His Excellency

Sir George Grey, K. C. B.

&c., &c., &c.,

Governor of New Zealand.

(Circular—Enclosure 2.)

Mr. W. BRIDGES ADAMS, of London, the earliest advocate for the proportional adjustment of power and weight to the requirements of local traffic on railways, has produced a system of rails, engines, and trains, adapted for Branch lines and Colonies, at a very small comparative cost. The rail is five inches in depth, equal to that of the ordinary English standard, but weighing only from 25 to 28 pounds per yard. It is fish-plated at the joints and secured by transverse trenails of hard wood between longitudinal timbers of small scantling, which give great vertical and horizontal stiffness, and is trenailed down to cross ties at intervals of nine feet. The gauge of way is three feet 6 inches,

but may be wider if preferred. The engine is on four coupled wheels, the total weight being eight tons, equally distributed. It is adapted for speeds of fifteen to twenty miles per hour, and carries fuel and water for that distance. It will be seen that the engine being only one fourth of the ordinary modern weight, will not crush the rails which are one-third the ordinary weight, while the bearing surface of the timber sleepers on the ground or ballast, is little less than the ordinary area. It may be laid where needful without ballast, will be perfectly efficient in dry weather, and will be little liable to disturbance in rain.

In economizing traction, it is important so to construct the vehicles that they may be convertible to various uses, as for example the conveyance both of cotton bales and passengers. It is also important that the weight of the vehicles should not exceed one half the weight of the load. The vehicles on this system weigh one ton and a quarter, and the load is two tons and a half. Moveable seats are provided so that the wagon becomes an open carriage, capable also of being covered in, and by a peculiar construction of springs, it will carry a few passengers as easily as a heavy load of goods, the power of the springs varying with the load, and saving the road from damage. The axles run loose in their boxes, and the wheels of the carriage run independently on their axles. One carriage will carry forty passengers. If required, first class bodies can be applied on the same frames.

The engine and train are adapted to work curves of three to four chains radius, and will ascend slopes of one in twenty, with a gross load of twenty tons, and one hundred and sixty tons on the level. There may occasionally be a need of passing up a steep slope, but with their trains adapted to sharp curves there is no difficulty in skirting hills, instead of ascending them pursuing the valley lines. Assuming a continuous gradient of one in one hundred, the gross load will be sixty-five tons. If merely short runs of one per hundred, the load may be taken at one hundred tons and the net or paying loads at sixty tons. The same rails may be used for horse traction, but in such case it will be needful to provide a good road for the horses feet. The engine, with its wheels set further apart, and increased in diameter, can be applied for the conveyance of passengers at thirty miles per hour.

The cost of laying down the rails must of course vary with circumstances and localities. In the plains of Australia and India it could scarcely exceed one to two hundred pounds per mile. Bridges are not included in the estimate, but as the heaviest portion of the train does not exceed ten cwt. per foot run, very light bridges—which may be exported—will suffice. The sides of ordinary roads may be taken advantage of.

The weight of ten miles of line, one engine, and twenty vehicles, including rails, sleepers and fastenings, will not exceed seven hundred and eighty tons—equal to the transit in one train of eight hundred passengers, or fifty tons nett of goods, so that the freight may be calculated. The cost of this delivered in England will be at the present time £—