RAILWAYS, HIGHWAYS, AND CANALS. 



the rail-road coaches pay only on the number actually carried, and 

 the road coaches on what they can carry, which is estimated at two- 

 and-a-half times the real number, as the road coaches are, on the 

 average, two-fifths full ; consequently, the mileage which the road 

 coaches pay on their trade is five times as great as that paid by the 

 rail-road coaches, or one halfpenny per mile on each passenger in 

 favour of the railway. But this is not all; for the other taxes paid 

 by coach masters are much greater than those paid by the company ; 

 and it is clear that any profit which the company can make in this 

 item must be paid out of the public revenue, and whether it operate 

 in lowering the rate of carriage, or in adding to the profits, it is a 

 bounty given to the company out of the pocket of the country. 



Mr. Graharne takes his comparison from the road between Edin- 

 burgh and Glasgow j the distance there is / forty -three miles, per- 

 formed in four hours including stoppages, and the average on the out 

 and inside passengers about 9s. ^h.d. The difference of duty, which 

 at a. halfpenny per mile is 1*. 9td. deducted from this, makes the 

 total return to the canal master 7* lOrf. ; and for this the passengers 

 are taken up and set down at or near their own houses. The rail- 

 way charge, including the same accommodation, is 6.9. 4d. for thirty 

 miles, or for forty-three miles 9*. \d. very nearly, which is Is. 3d. 

 more than the road coach, if allowance is made for the duty, both in 

 amount and mode of charging ; and even if no notice is taken of the 

 duty, the road coach is only 6d. on the forty-three miles, or about 

 three-fifths of a farthing per mile. That is to say, as matters now 

 stand, a coach could carry passengers from the middle of Liverpool 

 to that of Manchester, or thirty-two miles for less than 5d. more 

 than the railway charges ; or if the duties were equalized, in amount 

 and manner of exaction, the stage coach could carry passengers at 

 the rate of eleven miles an hour, including passages through the 

 towns and stoppages, for lie?, less than they are now carried by the 

 railway. 



Thus it appears that the public are not gainers by the railway any 

 more than the shareholders will ultimately be ; for we must not sup- 

 pose that the paying of dividends with borrowed money is any more 

 calculated to afford profit, than a sinking fund of borrowed money is 

 calculated to pay off that debt which in reality it increases. 



Mr. Grahame exposes in a very conclusive manner, that appeal to 

 vulgar prejudice on the subject of saving human food by the use of 

 steam instead of horse power, which, like many others of the same 

 class, is very sounding, just because it is very hollow, and for no other 

 reason. The fable of " the boy and the goose" cannot be too often 

 repeated to those who advance such opinions. Domestic animals 

 would be worth their keep even if they did little or no work ; and 

 instead of the 250,000 horses which are said to be connected with the 

 internal communication of this country, consuming the food of 

 2,000,000 of human beings, they really cause the production of much 

 more human food than the country could yield without them. 



Such are the leading points in the first part of Mr. Grahame's 

 essay : we shall look with some impatience for those which are yet to 

 appear. 



