IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
AGE, 38-39. QUESTION OF THE GAUGES-YULE'S SERVICES
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hand, as time passed and practical experience was gained,
its opponents were able to make an even stronger case
against the narrow gauge. The initial expenses were un-
doubtedly less, but the durability was also less. Thus much
of the original saving was lost in the greater cost of
maintenance, whilst the small carrying capacity of the rolling
stock and loss of time and labour in shifting goods at every
break of gauge, were further serious causes of waste, which the
internal commercial development of India daily made more
apparent. Strategic needs also were clamant against the
dangers of the narrow gauge in any general scheme of Indian
defence. Yule's connection with the Public Works Department
had long ceased ere the question of the gauges reached its most
acute stage, but his interest and indirect participation in the
conflict survived. In this matter a certain parental tenderness
for a scheme which he had helped to originate, combined with
his warm friendship for some of the principal supporters of the
narrow gauge, seem to have influenced his views more than he
himself was aware. Certainly his judgment in this matter
was not impartial, although, as always in his case, it was
absolutely sincere and not consciously biased.
In reference to Yule's services in the period following the
Mutiny, Lord Canning's subsequent Minute of 1862 may here
be fitly quoted. In this the Governor-General writes ; " I have
long ago recorded my opinion of the value of his services in 1858
and 1859, when with a crippled and overtaxed staff of Engineer
officers, many of them young and inexperienced, the G.-G.
had to provide rapidly for the accommodation of a vast English
army, often in districts hitherto little known, and in which the
authority of the Government was barely established, and always
under circumstances of difficulty and urgency. I desire to
repeat that the Queen's army in India was then greatly indebted
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to Lieut.-Colonel Yule's judgment, earnestness, and ability ; and
this to an extent very imperfectly understood by many of the
officers who held commands in that army.
" Of the manner in which the more usual duties of his office
have been discharged it is unnecessary for me to speak. It is, I
believe, known and appreciated as well by the Home Govern-
ment as by the Governor-General in Council."
In the spring of 1859 Yule felt the urgent need of a rest, and
VOL. I. d2
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