110 REPORT~1853. 



in 148. Number of porters and other servants, 359,683, of whom 683 were killed 

 and 343 injured; the ratio being 1 killed in 527, and 1 injured in 1058. During 

 the years 1844-51, 7,044,469,484 miles have been travelled by passengers, and 176 

 deaths have happened through accidents from all causes. Hence one passenger has 

 been killed for every 40,025,395 miles travelled. Supposing a person to be alvyays 

 in motion on a railway, and travelling at an average speed of 20 miles per hour, in- 

 cluding stoppages, he would travel 175,200 miles yearly, and he must constantly 

 travel 228 years to be killed by accidents from all causes. The period for which he 

 must constantly travel to be killed by accidents from all causes under the control or 

 the companies is 490 years ; and he must be constantly travelling 426 years to be 

 killed by accidents from causes beyond the control of the companies ; but if the 

 person is supposed to travel 12 hours only per diem for each of the 365 days in the 

 year, then in 456 years he will be killed by accidents from all causes ; in 980 years he 

 will be killed by accidents from causes under the control of the companies ; and in 

 852 years he will be killed by accidents from causes beyond the control of the com- 

 panies. Of the 237 passengers killed in the period 1840-51, 103 were killed by 

 causes beyond, and 1 34 by causes under, the control of the companies. Of the 1416 

 persons injured, 188 were injured by causes beyond, and 1228 from causes under, 

 the control of the companies. It was a popular error to suppose that third-class 

 passengers were the principal sufferers from railway accidents, the fact being that 

 the greatest proportion of accidents took place among the first-class passengers. 

 Taking the number of persons travelling, the number of miles opened, and judging 

 of the fact by every test, it appeared from the tables that there was a gradual 

 diminution in the loss of life on railways ; and, without any wish to defend the 

 management of railway directors, Mr. Nelson considered it satisfactorily proved that 

 there was a great improvement in the railway system. As an instance of the rash- 

 ness of passengers, he stated that three persons had been killed, and seven injured, 

 by leaping from the train while in motion, for their hats. The tables show that the" 

 deaths from collisions and from trains running off the line, which have constituted 

 a large portion of the whole, have been diminishing, while deaths from passengers 

 falling from the trains had scarcely varied. The death from axles breaking in the 

 four years 1840-43 formed 8 per cent, of the whole ; but since 1844 not a single 

 death has happened from this cause ; and in regard to death from the breaking of 

 other parts of the machinery none have taken place since 1847. The deaths occasioned 

 by passengers jumping from trains while in motion have much increased since 

 1840, as well as the deaths from passengers mounting trains while in motion. The 

 deaths from causes beyond the control of the companies form 54*8 per cent, of the 

 number of injuries ; but the deaths from causes which arc under their control form 

 10'9 per cent., so that the tendency of accidents which may be considered to arise 

 from details of management is to inflict bodily injury rather than occasion death ; 

 for out of every 100 injuries about 11 deaths happen, while among the accidents 

 due to causes within the influence of the passengers themselves, for every 100 injuries 

 55 deaths take place. In the period 1840-43 the deaths from causes under the 

 control of the companies was 62*50 per cent, of all the deaths ; in 1844-47 they were 

 51 "56 per cent. ; and in 1848-51 only 43' 16 per cent., so that it was evident that the 

 class of accidents under the control of the several companies was decreasing in rela- 

 tion to the total accidents in a most satisfactory and very rapid manner. Referring 

 to the German railways, Mr. Nelson gave the following results for the years 1848, 

 1849 and 1850 : — length of railways open, 8480 miles (English) ; number of 

 passengers, 51,713,297; number of miles travelled, 1,155,436,890. During this 

 period only one passenger was killed, and 14 injured ; 53 railway employes were 

 killed, and 88 injured. 



On new Supplies of Gold. By William Newmarch. 

 The quantity of new gold produced in California and Australia to the end of 1852 

 is equal to at least 10 per cent, of the total quantity of gold existing in Europe and 

 America in the early part of 1848, or immediately previous to the first appearance 

 of the Californian supplies. We have seen also that the annual production of gold 

 from all sources, — which in 1848 was equal to 2 per cent, on the total quantity of 

 gold then existing in Europe and America, — had risen in 1852 to 7 per cent, on that 

 quantity. 



