Mr A.B.C., of Eaglehawk, writes to the Minister for Home Affairs with reference to the phrase in the Kalgoorlie to Port Augusta Railway Agreement⁽¹⁾ 'a strip of Crown Land one-eighth of a mile in width on either side of the said Railway'. He suggests that 'either' means one of two, but not both, and presumes that that is not the intention.

The primary meaning of 'either' is 'each of two'; see the Oxford Dictionary. In Macaulay's Lays of Ancient Rome, when Horatius Codes called for two volunteers to help him, he said:

In yon strait path a thousand
May well be stopped by three.
Now who will stand on either hand,
And keep the bridge with me?

In my opinion, the meaning of the agreement is that the State agrees to grant a strip of land on each of the two sides of the railway.

[Vol. 11, p. 14]

(1)See the Schedule to the kalgoorlie to Port Augusta railway Lands Act 1918.