14 MAY 1881, Page 3

We must notice, what may prove one of the great

events of the year, the opening on Thursday of Mr. Siemens's " electric railway," from Berlin to the Cadettenhaus, about six miles off. The track is a tramway rather than a railway, but the car moved at a speed of eighteen miles an hour, and could roach a much swifter pace, if the German authorities would allow. The descriptions are not intelligible, but the motive-power is trans- mitted, from a fixed generating battery, along the rails to the tramcar. No details are given of expense, but if it is not great, the use of horses on tramways, not to speak of railways, will at once be superseded. A car travelling by itself will not frighten passing horses, as a steam tramcar does.