PuRCHAS. — Place of the Baihvay in Social Economy. 59 



Nini, ' you shall be payment for the •white men ' ; and with 

 these words he shot him." 



This message Dr. Shortlaud translates, " Behold a herd of 

 pigs made sacred for you." This is incorrect, as giving the 

 double meanings of rahui, " a herd," and also " made sacred," 

 which is impossible. The literal translation is. Tend, " here" ; 

 ton, " thy " ; rahui, " herd " ; poaha, " of pigs " : or, the other 

 sense would be, " Here thy pigs made sacred." Now, if they 

 were under the protection of a rahui, would not ship and crew 

 have been safe from harm ? 



Akt. YIII. — The Baihvay and its Place in Social Economy. 



By A. G. PuECHAs, M.E.C.S. Eng. 



[Read befcrre the Auckland Institute, 12th October, 1895.] 



My aim in the following paper is to direct attention to the 

 place which the railway should occupy in our social economy, 

 and to the principle by which we should be guided in dealing 

 with it. Having been familiar with the early development of 

 railways in England up to the year 1844, and having witnessed 

 the beginning of our own railways in this country, I now ven- 

 ture to state as clearly as I can certain conclusions to which I 

 have come on this important subject. 



It is hardly necessary to remind you of the origin of tbe 

 railway. The renowned George Stephenson, an English work- 

 ing-man, whose first wages amounted to 2d. a day, was the 

 inventor to w^hom the world is indebted for the locomotive 

 engine and the construction of the first railway. On the 27th 

 September, 1825, the Stockton and Darlington line was opened 

 for traffic. Only seventy years have passed since that memo- 

 rable day, but marvellous indeed have been the results of 

 what was then begun. Not England only, but the whole 

 world has felt the mighty change due to the development of 

 the new mode of locomotion. 



In that first enterprise the funds were necessarily provided 

 by private persons, who combined together to construct the 

 line and carry on the traffic ; and they naturally and pro- 

 perly required those who used the railway to pay such charges 

 as would cover all working-expenses and leave a fair margin 

 of profit on the capital employed. And the same method of 

 providing funds for railway work has continued to be the usual 

 method in Great Britain and elsewhere until comparatively 

 recent times. A large number of companies were formed. 



