These gentlemen recommended the Russian Minister for Public Works to adopt Mr Fairlie’s 2ft Gin gauge and double bogie engines, although the railway upon which they were engaged was fast advancing towards completion, and the alteration therefore included the loss of much work already done. Their advice appears to have carried weight enough with Count Bobrinskoy to have induced him to appoint an Imperial commission to visit Wales, in order to test the merit of the Fairlie system. The occasion of the Russian visit was taken advantage of by the Home Government to appoint another commission on behalf of the Indian government. The members of the two Commissions were accom panied by the Government Inspector of Railways, and by numerous other scientific gentlemen, who took part in the proceedings and helped to eluci date the result. According to the Times the experi ments resulted in complete success. Speaking broadly, it seemed to be the general opinion that railways con structed on this principle would cost two-fifths less with a carrying power equal to that of lines constructed on the present more expensive system. If the stories told by the Times of the performances of these engines are correct, the attention of the Govern ment should at once be directed to the matter. It requires no professional knowledge to understand that a line with a 2ft Gin or 3ft gauge, with 481 b rails, must be infinitely cheaper than one with a sft Sin gauge and 721 b rails. And if the same amount of work can be done on the narrow gauge line at one-fourth less cost of wear and tear, the advantage becomes still more conspicuous. Before taking these vaunted advantages for granted, we confess that we should like to have a little more information. Mr Fairlie’s system is not altogether unknown in these parts. The Queensland Govern ment adopted both the narrow gauge and the Fairlie engine some years ago, and, if we are not mistaken, gave up the use of the latter on account of certain inherent defects. It is quite possible, however, that Mr Fairlie may since then have overcome these de fects, and rendered his engines com paratively perfect. A paragraph in a Wellington paper mentions that Dr Featherston intended to visit Wales for the purpose of personally examining the Festiniog railway. 