COLONEL BEAUMONTasked the Secretary of State for War, If he is aware that portable narrow gauge Railways can be laid down at the rate of several miles per day, in such a country as many parts of South Africa, and that an offer from a responsible firm has been made to undertake such work; and if, in view of the extreme importance of a ready means of transport to the success of the War in Zululand, he will give his attention to the subject?
COLONEL LOYD LINDSAY, in reply, said, a suggestion had been made that portable narrow-gauge railways in South Africa might be laid down at the rate of three miles a-day; but the information in the hands of the Secretary of State did not lead him to the same conclusion.