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Show GENERAL STRACHEY. il!3 OH NERVATION!) ON NIRROW (! Al'GK BAIL WAYS AND IKKIOATION. Lieut. Gen. riictiard Striicbuy, of tho Euiiliah euyiueyra, who ib now uu a visit to our cuuutry lor the purpose ol inspecting our ayLem ol narrow , Kiiajio railwayn, mid lu atudy the j advuntaea of our mouuiuiaouB rtgionB lor irrigation, was fur several yearB at the head of the public works admiaiBtiation in British India, aud was one of the principal Buppurlera ot the policy in iDtriulucing u narrow gauge syateni of railways in thai country, statea in reference to mm Blructiou of railwaje, that the broard five feet six inch klik6 bad hctn shown by experience lo be no costly as to bring a cousltiutiy increasing burden on the finances aa the broad auge lines were extended, hardly uuy oftheeo producing a Buflieient net income to cover tho interest on the capital outlay. The average coet of the broad gauge- linea in India was about17,000, or $eo,QQ0 per mile. The cost of an average mile of the narrow nietr gauge lines is about 6,000, or $30,000. These lines were first begun in 1S71 and being made at ibe rate of about three hundred miles a year wilh an expenditure ol about two millions sterling or ton millions of dollars yearly. Their operation so fur as it has hitherto gone, has heen eminently satisfactory, both in a financial point of view, anc in supplying the want of the couutrj i hey traverse for means of transport. By meana of tbeso far cheaper rail roads, the almost unlimited exteusior. of these essential elements of progres linn hpon ronrWful nrirtaihlp. wlmrr.ve the old broad guage syatwm, by means -J ol its great cost and the financial burdens it caused, has virtually J brought railway extension in Europe j to a stop. The general's tour over the Denver and Rio Grando railway. south and west, though brio, has j been one of much interest to him, and he regards the building of the ( road over the La Veta Pass as a grand piece of bold, and most success-ful success-ful engineering, and construction. Another subject to which General ytrachey has devoted much attention and Btudy, and one which is of the greatest importance to the people oi our great west, is the extension of irrigation works which have received a development in Hindostan which is very productive of the greatest advantage to the country. He remarks re-marks that theae works are carried out on a very lare Bcale, diverting the entire waters of some of the chie! feeders of tho -Ganges, the Tnmna, and Lully, and other great riven ol upper India, the canals drawn . from which extend over lengths of several hundred miles, being suited for navigation as well as lor irriga- tion. He seems to think it well worthy of the consideration of the I enterprising citizens of the great plains of Colorado, and other ilLUllttli nikuaieu aa nuvvut. n-- comparatively dry tracts might not be J fertilized and enriched by diverting in . a somewhat similar manner the waters of the fina streams that now run almost to waste across them. Denver News. |