770 



RAILWAYS. 



tvveen several in this country, constructed under 

 similar circumstances, suggests an inquiry into the 

 causes of such a disproportion. The following 

 have been enumerated as the most prominent : 



1st. Excessive parliamentary expenses incurred 

 through contests carried on during one, two, or 

 even more sessions, in obtaining a bill. This cause 

 of expense arises out of competition between op- 

 posing lines, which is sometimes real, but more 

 frequently fictitious, and is instituted by interested 

 parties, not perhaps in their own names, hut in 

 those of the landowners. In many cases this 

 charge alone, even in very long lines, has exceeded 

 1,000 per mile. The following statement will 

 afford some notion of the sums which have been 

 expended under this head. In some cases the 

 amount contains the expenses of surveying, and 

 other disbursements, which necessarily precede the 

 Act of Incorporation. On the other hand, it ex- 

 hibits only the costs defrayed by the companies 

 obtaining the act, exclusive of those incurred by 

 the different parties opposing the bill in parlia- 

 ment. 



Statement of expenses incurred in obtaining 

 Acts of Incorporation for the following rail- 

 ways : 



London and Birmingham . 72,868 



Great Western . . . 88,710 



London and Southampton . . 39,040 



Midland Counties . . 28,776 



Birmine'lmm and Gloucp<ter . . 12,000 



Great North of England . . . 20,526 



Grand Junction .... 22,757 

 Bristol and Kxoter . . 18,592 



Total . . . 303,269 



The total estimated cost of these eight railways 

 was 11,595,800; the above item amounted to 

 two and a half per cent, of that sum, or nearly 

 500 per mile. If the same ratio be applied to 

 the 1,475 miles, for which acts were obtained in 

 1836 and 1S37, the amount spent in those two 

 years under this head would be 729,500. The 

 most extravagant, however, of the above cases, has 

 been far surpassed by the charges attending the 

 contest between the parties supporting the five 

 several lines from Brighton to London. The amount 

 has not been published, but it must have been very 

 great ; and the event was, that the government 

 was obliged to employ an official engineer to re- 

 port upon the several lines, and upon that which 

 appeared to him the most expedient. This source 

 of expense, it is obvious, would be in a great 

 measure avoided by the government undertaking 

 the responsibility of the undertaking. 



2nd. The enormous demands for compensation 

 by proprietors, through, or near, whose land the 

 proposed line passes, and who withhold their as- 

 sent, till purchased by the company on the most 

 ruinous conditions. There are instances in which 

 this species of extortion has amounted to 10,000 

 per mile. One case was the subject of a trial in 

 the court of chancery, in which a nobleman in the 

 county of Essex obtained from the directors of the 

 eastern counties railway, in consideration of his 

 withdrawing his opposition to the bill, 20,000 for 

 land belonging to him required by the company ; 

 and 100,000 for the injury done to his estate. It 

 is true that the avowed object of the individual in 

 question was to oblige the company to select an- 

 other line, and that the purchase might have been 

 avoided 'by the adoption of that line. The latter 

 course, however, was not followed, and an action 

 having been brought to compel the fulfilment of 

 the contract, the court decided in favour of the 



validity of the deed, and the equity of the elm... 

 One of the grounds of his lordship's objections to 

 the railroad passing through his property is worthy 

 of record: the following is a quotation from the 

 vice-chancellor's judgment." It further appeared 

 from his lordship's affidavit, that his lordship was 

 very partial to the old English amusement of fox- 

 hunting, which was a source of high gratification, 

 not only to himself, but to all the gentlemen in the 

 county. His lordship's high feeling naturally 

 prompted him to stand forward as a champion 

 against any violence of that healthful recreation, 

 in which they had all so long participated." The 

 contrast afforded by the United States of America 

 is very^striking. Mr Fripp, in his account of the 

 New York and Erie railway, mentions, that " be- 

 sides the support granted by the State Loan, dona- 

 tions of great value have been made to the com- 

 pany by individuals owning lands on the route of 

 the railway. These donations consist of many 

 thousand acres of land : for instance, 50,000 in one 

 county only, proffered by the proprietors for the 

 purpose of inspiring confidence in the stock, pro- 

 viding for dividends, and the payment of interest, 

 and to secure the speedy construction of the road." 

 The circumstances of the two countries, it is true, 

 are very different, but the fact deserves notice, as 

 it exhibits one of the causes of the superior cheap- 

 ness in the construction of railroads in the latter 

 country. 



A remarkable instance of the prevalence of the 

 same system of extortion in France is afforded by 

 the adjudication of the jury of expropriation upon 

 a part of the Versailles and St Cloud railway. In 

 one case, the lessee of a field at Versailles de- 

 manded 849 for one acre of land, and produced 

 documents, signed by some architects of that place, 

 in support of his estimate. It was, however, re- 

 duced by the jury to 16. Another proprietor 

 claimed 265 for the suppression of a right of way 

 across his land : the company offered him 10 francs 

 for it, and the jury awarded him nothing. The 

 whole amount claimed was reduced from 61,926 

 to -25,626. 



A fair estimate of the proportion which the cost 

 of land and compensation bears to the total ex- 

 penses of the railway, may be formed from the 

 average results of two of the principal lines al- 

 ready completed :* 



land nd Per cent. Av>3go 

 Total Cost. Compensation. Proper. 



Grand Junction . 1,512,150 211,230 14-01 137 

 London & Birmingham 4.553 557 622.507 13-7 f 



If the same proportion be applied to the rail- 

 ways which have been actually commenced since 

 the year 1830, and of which the estimated cost 

 amounts to about 40,000,000, the sum payable to 

 owners of lands and houses will be 5,500,000 ; 

 and if one-fourth (a very moderate allowance) be 

 added for deficient estimates, the total amount will 

 be nearly 7,000,000. The effects of the diver- 

 sion of so large a capital into a new channel, of 

 the unexpected acquisition of a large amount of 

 ready money by the agriculturist, of the destruc- 

 tion of houses in the suburbs of towns, and the 

 impetus thereby given to the building trade, are 

 well worthy of consideration, apart from the other 

 consequences attending the construction and ope- 

 ration of railways. 



3rd. Extravagant expenses are often incurred by 



* The exact proportion on the Liverpool and Manchester 

 line cannot be given, but it rather exceeded the above aver- 

 age. 





