INLAND CONVEYANCE. 



statistics relating to the railways of the United 

 Kingdom. The following are a few of the par- 

 ticulars for 1876 : 



Length and Cost of Lines. Length open in 

 England and Wales, 11,789 miles ; in Scotland, 

 2721 ; in Ireland, 2148 : total in United Kingdom, 

 16,658 miles. Share capital paid up, 466,794,056 ; 

 debenture stock, ,123,000,684 ; loans, 40,428,754 : 

 total capital raised, 630,223,494 equal to nearly 

 .38,000 per mile finished and opened. The 

 average interest yielded on the whole of the 

 capital was at the rate of 4| per cent per annum. 

 Nearly .47,000,000 of the whole amount re- 

 ceived no dividend or interest whatever ; a small 

 portion received as much as 12 per cent. The 

 predominant or most general rate for ordinary 

 shares was 6 per cent. ; for guaranteed shares, 5 

 per cent. ; for preference shares, 5 per cent. ; for 

 debenture stock, 4 per cent ; and for loans, 4 

 per cent 



Traffic Receipts. Gross receipts from rail- 

 way working, 58,982,753; working expenses, 

 .32,198,196 (excluding receipts and working 

 expenses of steamboats, canals, ports, and har- 

 bours belonging to railway companies) ; propor- 

 tion of working expenses to gross receipts, 54-6 per 

 cent. Receipts by passenger trains first class, 

 -4>7 2 5>56 5 second class, .3,842,592 ; third class 

 and parliamentary, 12,985,829 ; season and 

 periodical tickets, ,1,151,248 ; mails, parcels, 

 carriages, horses, dogs, and excess luggage, 

 .3,009,060. Receipts by goods trains minerals, 

 ,13,405,283; general merchandise, ,18,630,480; 

 live-stock, ,1,204,548. Total gross receipts by 

 trains of all kinds, ,58,982,753 ; 44 per cent, 

 earned by passenger trains, 56 per cent, by goods 

 trains. The money paid by passengers per mile 

 per annum was ,284 first class, 231 second 

 class, 779 third class and parliamentary, and 

 67 season tickets, &c. : total, 1361. Total 

 number of passengers carried, 507,572,491. 



Expenses, &c., of Working. Total expenses 

 per train mile, 36-88^., against 6o-o6d. receipts 

 per train mile by passenger trains, and 75-32< 

 by goods trains. This shews that every mile 

 of railway in the United Kingdom earns on 

 an average about $s. by every passenger train, 

 and 6s. ^d. by every goods train, or 6s. 8d. on an 

 average of all kinds of trains of which the work- 

 ing expenses absorb nearly 55 per cent 



Figures for 1881. Total length of railways 

 at work in the United Kingdom, 18,175; 

 gross receipts, .66,557,442 ; working expenses, 

 34,602,616 being 52 per cent, of the receipts ; 

 net revenue, 31,954,826. The total quantity of 

 minerals carried were 174,000,000 tons; of general 

 merchandise, 70,000,000 tons. The companies 

 received 15,192,000 for carrying minerals, 

 20,145,000 for general merchandise, and 

 1,096,000 for live stock. The earnings per train ; 

 mile were for passenger trains, 4-r. ^\d. ; and for I 

 goods trains, 6^. o^d. ; the general average being 

 5-y. ifrf 1 . The working expenses were lower than 

 in any year since 1872; the companies having 

 begun to reap the benefit of the great outlay on 

 account of steel rails, now generally substituted 

 for iron ones. Over 30,000,000 were distributed j 

 by the companies in dividends or interest. One 

 small mineral line paid i6 per cent on capital; 

 the North-Eastern paid 8 per cent, on its ordinary 

 capital About 350,000 persons are employed on | 



the railways of the United Kingdom. The fastest 

 running is made by the London, Chatham, and 

 Dover Company, some of whose trains run (with- 

 out stoppages) at 78 miles an hour. 



Railway Accidents. In the year 1876, 1245 

 persons were killed by railway accidents in the 

 United Kingdom, and 4724 injured ; considerably 

 more than half the number were servants of the 

 companies ; 101 passengers were killed and 604 

 injured by their own fault In 1881, 1096 

 persons were killed and 4564 injured ; only 85 

 passengers being killed and 993 injured by 

 causes beyond their own control. There were 

 numerous cases of trains running over cattle 

 which had strayed upon the lines. 



FOREIGN RAILWAYS. The first continental 

 country that availed itself of railway locomotion 

 was the small kingdom of Belgium, where a 

 number of lines were constructed between 1834 and 

 1836. From Belgium railways spread to France, 

 where they were laid down on a plan prescribed by 

 the government, which offered special encourage- 

 ment to capitalists. The government gave the 

 land, made the bridges, and in many cases was 

 at the entire expense of the permanent way ; it 

 relinquished the property on the footing of a lease, 

 and frequently gave large subventions on the 

 plan of receiving a share in the profits after a 

 certain dividend had been paid. By one or other 

 of these arrangements the state has secured a 

 very general right of property in the existing 

 lines. Latterly, there has been a disposition in 

 companies to act on an independent footing. By 

 means of subventions, as well as a species of 

 guaranteed monopoly of traffic, the profits to 

 shareholders in some French lines reach from 10 

 to 12 per cent Within 99 years from 1852, a 

 large proportion of the French railways will lapse 

 into possession of the state. On one or other of 

 the various plans of government helping com- 

 panies, and preventing ruinous competition, nearly 

 the whole railway system of continental Europe, 

 Asia, and Africa is established ; and in a large 

 number of the foreign railway undertakings every- 

 where much British capital is invested. The 

 principal continental railways, particularly in 

 France and Belgium, are double lines, and under 

 good management ; but the rate of transit is 

 generally slower than in England, and the formal- 

 ities as to taking tickets and being allowed to 

 enter the trains are found troublesome by travel- 

 lers from the United Kingdom. 



In Canada, Nova Scotia, and Australia, rail- 

 ways have been successfully established ; but in 

 no British dependency has the railway system 

 been pushed forward with such activity or likeli- 

 hood of advantage as in India. The undertak- 

 ings have been materially assisted by government, 

 by giving the land to the companies, by subven- 

 tions in proportion to the actual outlay, and in 

 some instances by guarantees of a minimum divi- 

 dend of 5 per cent to shareholders. About two- 

 thirds of the lines now in course of construction 

 will be government lines. 



Railways in the United States date from 1830. 

 Since that year the progress of railways has far 

 outstripped that of Great Britain. All the Ameri- 

 can lines are constructed and worked by private 

 companies, but in other respects they differ mater- 

 ially from similar undertakings in England. They 



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