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RAIL-ROAD, CANAL AND TELEGRAPH STATISTICS.

1. RAIL-ROADS IN PERU. II. RUSSIAN RAILWAYS. III. BRIDGES OVER THE THAMES. IV. WARD'S TELEGRAPH SIGNALS.

RAIL ROADS IN PERU.

In the Republic of Peru there are only three rail-roads, viz.: the Lima and Callao, the Lima and Chorillos, and the Tacna and Arica, having a total running distance of 56 miles.

Rail-Road from Lima to Callao.-This line, between the capital and the port of Callao, 8 miles long, was inaugurated April 5th, 1850. It cost about $550,000. The principal owner, Senor DON PEDRO CANDAMA, has the propriety for 99 years, and the exclusive privilege for 25 years. His contract with the government is one of the most advantageous which is known. Six trains run each way daily, and on the day the mail steamer sails there is always an extra train. The ascending grade averages about 60 feet to the mile, and the cars from Lima to Callao come down almost by their own gravity, with but little aid from the engine. The first locomotive ever built in Peru has recently been put in use upon this road.

The products of this rail-road reached more than $255,000 annually, in five years after its inauguration.

PRODUCT OF THE LIMA AND CALLAO RAIL-ROAD, FROM APRIL 5 To Nov.

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In the space of ten years this rail-road has conveyed 6,100,143 passengers, or more than three times the population of the republic.

A GIGANTIC CANAL.

We understand that parties are now in Washington, representing large European and American interests, urging upon government the necessity

of constructing a ship canal between Lake Erie and Lake Michigan. They look to the State of New-York to widen and deepen its great canal, and to the State of Illinois, to enlarge its canal, so that vessels may be laden, according to their theory, nine months of the year on the Mississippi and discharged on the Hudson. It is asserted, that by the time the canal could be completed, should the government enter at once upon the project, the productions of the West would swell vastly beyond their present dimensions, and give to the country great additional resources for an exchange of products for the staples and manufactures of Europe.

The canal between the two points would be about 160 miles long; the Illinois canal is 100 miles; the connection with the Mississippi River would be at Peru, the terminus of the Illinois Canal, by way of the Illinois River, which is very deep and broad nearly its whole length.

This new outlet is called for partly by the conviction, that the Southern rebellion has destroyed the commerce of the lower Mississippi and New-Orleans beyond a hope of redemption, and partly to prevent a monopoly of freight which the western road seems to impose.

RUSSIAN RAILWAYS.

From the report of the council of administration of the Great Russian Railway, recently presented to a general meeting of that widely-scattered proprietary, it appears, that on January 27th, 1860, the section from Pskow to Ostrow, extending over 49 verstes, was opened for traffic; and on November 8th, 191 verstes more were completed, making the length finished upon the Varsovian line 497 verstes. On 11th April last, the branch from Kowno to the Prussian frontier, 81 verstes in length, was finished; and on 14th June, the section from Moscow to Vladimir was executed, so that the company has now 756 verstes in full working. At the end of the current year, the entire line from St. Petersburg to the Prussian frontier will be opened for public traffic, and so unite the capital of the empire to the other great lines of Continental Europe. Thus, by next spring, the undertaking achieved will comprise 1,614 verstes, or 1,722 kilometres, (a kilometre, we beg to remind the reader, is 0.62 mile English,) executed in five years, being at the rate of 344 kilometres per annum. In France, the average length of line constructed by the Lyons Mediterranean has been 107 kilometres per annum; by the Southern, 105; by the Eastern, 994, so that the united efforts of the three great French companies have not equalled what has been achieved by the Great Russian, in presence of a climate admitting only about half the number of working days enjoyed by the West of Europe. In Canada again, observes the Russian administration, the Grand Trunk system was only executed at the rate of 225 kilometres per annum, to say nothing of the Victoria Bridge, which was not completed till a year and a half had elapsed after the opening of the remainder of the undertaking; while in British India eight companies, organized for the execution of distinct lines, extending altogether over 8,000 kilometres, have at present, after struggling on for ten years, only executed a fifth of their contemplated task, or about 1,900 kilometres.

The original estimates, which served as a basis of the concession

granted by the government, have been exceeded; and this is attributed to the rapid and unforeseen advance in the price of labor, the fall of the course of exchange, the depreciation of the rouble, the sacrifices necessary for supplying the absence of local resources, &c. Deducting from the outlay the charges for interest and exchange, the total expenses incurred for rolling stock, construction and material of way, and charges for management, amounted, in round figures, to 129,000,000 roubles, or 64,000 roubles per verste. To this must be added 18,000,000 roubles expended by the State on the Varsovian line, making the total cost of the 1,614 verstes 137,500,000 roubles, or 85,000 roubles per verste; or, in English money and measures, about £16,500 per mile; a tolerable sum, considering the nature of much of the ground traversed. The administration of the company comforts the shareholders, by stating that the average cost of the French lines (calculating the value of the rouble at 3f. 60c.) was 111,566 per verste; of the Dutch lines, 85,281 roubles per verste; of the Belgium State lines, 98,095 roubles per verste; of the line from Berlin to Potsdam, Magdebourg, 95,828 roubles per verste; on the Cologne Minden, 96,471 roubles per verste; on the Rhenish lines, 101,954 roubles per verste; and on the Aix la Chapelle, Maestricht and Hasselt line, 92,205 roubles per verste.

NEW IRON BRIDGE OVER THE THAMES.

The London Engineer gives an account of a new proposed bridge (the Blackfriars) over the Thames, and has some reflections upon the general subject of iron arched bridges, of which we give an abstract. The whole design of the new bridge is represented as of impressive boldness and magnificence; built of mixed granite and iron, but so arranged in its architectural features, as to be most graceful in outline, though enormously massive in all its details. It consists of three arches, the centre one being of the gigantic span of 280 feet. The two side arches will be 220 feet span, each. From the springing of the largest arch to the crown will only be a rise of 22 feet. The spandrils of the outer rib on each side will be closed, but filled up with figures in bas-relief, and rich, ornamental scroll-work. The cornice beneath the parapet is of exceedingly bold and handsome design, with an iron parapet above. The piers, however, form the most massive and noble-looking feature of the whole. These will be four in number, all of granite, and of immense size, width and depth. Each, on its extremity, will be surmounted with a column of polished red granite, for which, in size and massiveness, we must look for parallels among the rock-hewn temples of Egypt. They will be columns, 40 feet in height, 23 feet in diameter at base and capital, and no less than 18 feet diameter in the column, and, though built hollow, will weigh upwards of 500 tons. Their capitals will reach to the summit of the bridge, and it is intended hereafter to surmount them with colossal groups of statuary. The whole structure will only be a few feet longer than the present bridge, but its width will be nearly double, viz.: 76 feet against 42. There will be two footways of 14 feet width, and two tramways of 8 feet each. These will be in the centre of the bridge, leaving two roadways of 16 feet each for the light traffic and omnibuses. The whole area of the road and footway will be nearly 78,000 feet. The

cost of the new bridge is estimated at from £245,000 to £250,000; which is at the rate of less than £3 6s. a foot, or, size for size, nearly half the price of the old one.

The following table shows the length, area and cost of each of the metropolitan bridges:

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The widest arch of which any authentic record exists, was that standing, in 1390, over the Adda, at Trezza, in Italy. This was a nearly semi-circular granite arch, of 251 feet span. It was subsequently purposely destroyed.

The next widest is the central iron arch of Southwark bridge, of 240 feet span and 24 feet rise.

The next is the arch of the Sunderland bridge at Wearmouth, 236 feet span; the abutments retreating, however, 2 feet on each side, so as to give a clear opening of 240 feet.

The next is a granite arch of 224 feet clear span on the line of the Washington aqueduct, United States.

The side arches of Southwark bridge have a span of 210 feet each. The next is the sandstone arch, of 200 feet span and 42 feet rise, over the Dee, at Chester.

The next is the iron arch, now nearly completed, carrying the railway across the Severn at Areley. Span, 200 feet; rise, 20 feet.

The circular arch, built of tufa, at Vielle Brionde, France, has a span of 183 feet, and a rise of 70 feet.

The span of the Staines bridge is 181 feet.

The railway viaduct at Ballochmyle, on the line of the Glasgow and Southwestern Railway, has a semi-circular masonry arch of 180 feet span, the largest stone arch yet erected for railway purposes.

The Pimlico Railway bridge has four wrought-iron arches, of 175 feet span, the largest metal arches yet applied for railway purposes, with the exception of the 200 feet span at Areley.

The central span of London bridge is 152 feet wide.

TELFORD's design, made in 1806, for a cast-iron bridge over the Thames, was for a single arch of 600 feet span and 65 feet rise. RENNIE and Mr. ROBERT STEPHENSON designed cast-iron arched bridges for the Menai Straits of respectively 350 feet and 450 feet span. A wroughtiron arch, designed many years ago by M. CALLIPE, of Paris, was to have a clear span of 656 feet.

WARD'S MARINE TELEGRAPH.

Mr. WM. H. WARD, of Auburn, N. Y., has interested the British Admiralty in a code of night signals invented by him, termed the Ocean Telegraph, which they had tested at Woolwich, England, from the masthead of ship FISGARD, August 9th, when, as it was stated, the lights reflected as signals by this method were distinctly read (or understood) at the distance of two miles. The report then given represented that the committee were apparently satisfied "with the operating with the various red, white and dark shades from the deck of the ship, so as to readily dispatch messages from ship to ship and shore, and the brilliancy of the lights;" also, that "the invention was perfect, except that the weight of the lamps exceeded 30 pounds, which was a slight drawback." Further experiments were ordered. Mr. WARD says:

"The cost for maintaining continuous communications by night does not exceed (for light) one shilling per hour, with lights that will operate in clear weather ten miles. So perfect is the arrangement and simple, that good operators can give a column of news per hour with ease. But the letters of the alphabet are 26 in number, (to indicate which takes less than a minute, at long ranges, as we find no difficulty in exceeding that number,) which are subject to innumerable changes, with only the use of two, three and four for a lengthy sentence; that is, by reserving only two letters for indicating a sentence of quite a length, as A., B., indicates stocks lower,' while A., C., 'stocks higher,' A., D., 'cotton dull,' A., E., 'grain better,' &c., will give 650 separate significations, each one referring to its proper sentence in the book of sentences for news, &c.

"With the use of three letters for indications or sentences, 15,600 changes are made, and with only four, 358,800 separate distinct indications are effected, which may be divided into classes as follows:

1st class, of only two indications or letters.

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Changes for indicating as many separate distinct sentences or words sufficient for all possible practical purposes, for all time to come; by the use of which, in connection with the said ocean marine telegraph, a steamer's news can be given, by day or night, in ten to twenty minutes, and any extraordinary message can be spelled out in a few minutes

more.

"The beauty of all is the cheapness; for a complete set of those lanterns, such as is spoken of in the Times' report on the 7th December, is only £20 sterling. The largest, at £50, are for light-houses, and work ten miles. A steamer's set will be £40. What, then, is there in the way of the accomplishment of all that can be desired by the associated press and the public?

"It would afford me much pleasure to receive orders for the Cape Race and other prominent light-houses. Mr. MACIVER and Mr. CUNARD will introduce them on their line (the CUNARD line) of steamers when

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