Burnings on Railway Banks 



515 



well as by many more or less extensive 

 tracts of fire-stricken, withered, and stem black- 

 ened trees. Had not the rains come so oppor- 

 tunely as they did, or just before the grain 

 crops attained to burning dryness, it is diffi- 

 cult to conceive the amount of further national 

 loss which might have emanated from uncon- 

 trolled recklessness in railway fire manage- 

 ment. The rains, however, did come just in 

 time to prevent this much-dreaded calamity, 

 and such a dry season as the last may not 

 again occur for many years. Therefore, many 

 seemingly feel disposed to allow railway com- 

 panies to have their owti way in the matter of 

 fire-raising, seeing, as they too hastily con- 

 clude, that much injury does not arise to others 

 from their being so privileged ; and when it 

 does arise they should be ready, and are, no 

 doubt, always willing, to pay for damages so 

 caused ; also, that they have now become so 

 uncontrollably powerful that it is advisable 

 to avoid all possible legal interference with 

 them. Those who thus argue, however, 

 cannot have taken the trouble to estimate 

 the damages which, even in an ordi- 

 nary season, is caused to crops, and 

 more especially to plantations by fires of 

 railway origin, which amount to almost a 

 prohibition against planting either for pro- 

 fit, ornament,, or shelter near railways. 

 Nor can they be cognizant of the difficulties 

 which are thrown in the way of claimants for 

 damages ; first, by the total denial of liability, 

 on the ground that the engines have been 

 fitted up as required by statute ; next, that 

 they have statutory running powers, which, if 

 complied with, exempts them from all liabili- 

 ties, just as an authorized dealer in combusti- 

 bles and other inflammable materials, or the 

 owner of a wood-yard is not liable for the 

 destruction of his neighbour's property when 

 caused by an accidental explosion, or fire- 

 rising in his own ; and when driven from this 

 line of defence, they fall back as a last re- 

 source upon the denial of the fire having ori- 

 ginated through their means, unless witnesses 

 can be produced who actually saw it emitted 

 from their engine, and observed the kindling 

 therefrom to take place ; no easy thing to do, 

 seeing that anyone who saw such a thing 



happen would be justly censurable for not 

 stamping out the fire before it got time to 

 take hold and spread. 



In America, where forest conflagrations are 

 much dreaded in consequence of the awfully 

 destructive and uncontrollable magnitude to 

 which they are apt to attain, railway engines 

 are fitted up with very effectual, although 

 rather inelegant huge spark-catching funnels ; 

 and although it might not be advisable to 

 compel our railway companies to adopt a 

 similar contrivance, yet it is surely Avithin 

 the sphere of just legislative interference to 

 compel them to fit up funnels which will emit 

 only smoke and dust, or dust-like sparks, and 

 to have furnace-fittings which will not allow 

 of live cinders above half-an-inch or an inch 

 in diameter to pass through, and that only 

 between the lines of rails, without becoming 

 spread abroad, as is now done Avith both 

 funnel and under-ejected cinders, many of 

 which are lumps of several inches in diameter. 

 In Belgium and other parts of the Continent, 

 railway banks are cropped and cultivated in a 

 manner that never fails to call forth the 

 admiration of British travellers, which is 

 usually expressed in combination with regrets 

 that a similar practice is not prevalent at 

 home. But, although even to hope for its 

 adoption might imply the expectation of too 

 much from our railway companies, yet 

 motives of safety and economy, might induce 

 them to adopt a far more fire-resisting as well 

 as remunerative mode of cropping andmanage- 

 ment than they now practise, which may be 

 summed up as consisting of ■ — Inattention 

 to the surface-soiling of the banks when 

 they are made ; sowing them with improper 

 seed mixtures ; the total neglect of after 

 cultivation and manuring; unwarrantable 

 delay and neglect in cutting such crops as 

 are grown ; and the unskilful management 

 of the crops after they are cut. Each of 

 Avhich heads of mismanagement we proceed 

 to notice in detail as follows : — 



I. The inattention to the surface-soiling 

 of railway banks when originally formed has • 

 ever been a sin of omission,, chargeable against 

 our railway engineers and their employers. 

 How many thousands of acres of good pro- 



