The whole question of the future introduction of trunk lines, exclusively for fast passenger traffic, is fraught with the highest interest, but it would be foreign to the subject matter of this paper to enter more fully on it, the author merely desiring to state his opinion that if the future trade and wealth of our country require their construction, and if a very high rate of speed much above our present is to be attained, their gauge will have to be seriously considered and settled, not by the reasons which caused the adoption of the present gauge, but by the power required to carry on the traffic—­in fact, to adapt the rail to the engine, and not, as at present, the engine to the rail.  High speed requires great power, and great power can only be obtained by ample fire-grate area, which for a steady running engine means a broad gauge.  The Gauge Commissioners of 1846 in their report esteemed the importance of the highest speed on express trains for the accommodation of a comparatively small number of persons, however desirable that may be to them, as of far less moment than affording increased convenience to the general commercial traffic of the country.  The commercial traffic of England has grown and prospered under our present system, and if its ever increasing importance demands high speed passenger lines, we may rest assured that the ingenuity of man, to which it is impossible to assign limits, will satisfactorily solve the problem.

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SCREW STEAM COLLIER FROSTBURG.

[Illustration:  NEW STEAM COLLIER.]

Our diagram shows the screw steam collier Frostburg, built by Henry H. Gorringe (the American Shipbuilding Co.), Philadelphia, Pa.  Length, 210 ft.  Beam, 33 ft.  Depth, 17 ft, Register tonnage, 533.  Carrying capacity on 14ft., 1,100 tons, and 100 tons coal in bunker.  Cubical contents of cargo space, 55,168 cub. ft.  Carrying capacity on 16 feet draught, 1,440 tons.  Engines, compound surface condensing.  High pressure 26 in. diameter, low pressure 48 in. diameter, stroke 36 in.  Two boilers, each 13 ft. diameter. 10 ft. long, and one auxiliary 5 ft. diameter and 10 ft. high. 100 lb. working pressure.  Sea speed with full cargo, 11 knots.

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A thirteen year old girl, who is perfect in other ways, but who has simply little blue spots that puff out slightly where her eyes should be, is said to be living at Amherst, Portage County, Wisconsin.

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DESTRUCTION OF THE TARDES VIADUCT.

The railroad from Montlucon to Eygurande, which is being constructed by the state engineers, crosses the valley of the Tardes in the environs of Evaux (Creuse).