200 THE DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA
was
the adoption of a standard gauge of 3 feet 6 inches. It was properly
recognized that uniformity of gauge, at any rate, was essential for
intercommunication, and whimsical notions of construction were not
suffered to break this uniformity. Time has shown the fallacy of these
pessimistic predictions as well as the adoption of the 3 feet 6 inches
gauge.
There
was, however, one essential error in the whole scheme of construction.
The pressure of the demand of widely separated points for railway
construction was so hard to resist that the Par-
