What is Wrong with the Railways ? 



539 



absolutely insisted upon, traders would quickly 

 make proper provision for speedy release of 

 wagons, railway earnings would be considerably 

 increased, and traffic generally would be more 

 quickly handled. 



England, with 24,000 miles of railway, has 

 about one and a half millions of wagons ; 

 America, with 240,000 miles of railway, has two 

 and a quarter millions of cars ; Germany has 

 52,000 miles of railway and 558,000 freight cars. 



American cars are, of course, much larger 

 than English wagons, but the proportion is 

 greatly less in tonnage per mile of railway. 

 Both in America and Germany wagon demur- 

 rage is rigorously enforced, the wagons in con- 

 sequence being quickly cleared. 



Scottish railways finished their gigantic fight 

 for wagon demurrage a few years since, and 

 they have now a tight grip on this very import- 

 ant matter. Why do not the English railway 

 companies throw off this lethargy and become 

 masters on their own property? The present 

 system is really one of undue preference, and 

 the largest traders obtain the most. To a small 

 extent only is demurrage recovered ; that is on 

 what is known as on foreign wagons. Thus if 

 a Midland wagon is sent to a G.C. station the 

 G.C. must recover demurrage, but if G.C. 

 wagons go to G.C. stations demurrage is seldom 

 asked for; the same with all other companies. 



This state of things is diametrically opposed 

 to every interest of the shareholders. We should 

 have thought also that it would have been im- 

 possible to find even a board of railway directors 

 to maintain it. It can surely not be that any of 

 those entrusted with the carrying on of our rail- 

 ways are directly or indirectly interested in the 

 manufacture or purchase of goods wagons? 

 And yet, if not, why should the 24,000 miles of 

 railways in this country need 1,500,000 wagons 

 while the 52,000 miles of German railways need 

 only 558,000 freight cars? 



We are really at a loss to understand the 

 situation, and are almost ready to endorse the 

 opinion expressed in the report of the Viceregal 

 Commission on Irish Railways, which decided 

 that there was no hope for Irish development 



"until the railways ceased to be commercial 

 undertakings." And we cannot but sympathise 

 with the citizen of Leek who wrote recently that 

 " the commercial interests of the town have been 

 strangled by bad railway communications, which 

 are about as bad as they could possibly be"; 

 otherwise " without doubt the population of 

 Leek would have doubled long ere this." But it 

 is of value to dwell for a moment upon the case 

 for the railways as shown by the Irish com- 

 panies. 



So far back as 1836 the administration of the 

 Irish railways had become a byword, and a 

 public inquiry was granted and amaglamation 

 of the various companies was recommended ; the 

 railway interest in Parliament was sufficiently 

 powerful to prevent reform. Again, in 1865, 

 and yet once more in 1885, Commissions sat and 

 considered evidence which revealed the utter 

 incapacity of the Irish railway director. Amal- 

 gamation was in each case the proposed remedy, 

 and, as so often in the vexed history of Ireland, 

 nothing was done — until 1906, when the Vice- 

 regal Commission sat under the chairmanship of 

 Sir Charles Scotter, and, to everyone's surprise, 

 a majority report advised State purchase and 

 control as the only way out, and recorded the 

 damning fact that " Irish development will not 

 be fully served by the railways until they cease 

 to be commercial undertakings " — and this after 

 the altruistic endeavours of an army corps of 

 directors ! The history of the Irish railway 

 system shows that no real attempt has ever been 

 made by the various railway companies to carry 

 out their duties to the public. Apparently they 

 have never been regarded as a commercial asset 

 to the country, but as private preserves for the 

 innumerable officers and directors. 



In considering the verdict of the Viceregal 

 Commission one must reflect that Socialism in 

 any form is repugnant to the commercial tradi- 

 tions of this country, and yet so flagrant has 

 been the maladministration of the railways in 

 Ireland and so glaring the neglect of their trust 

 that the elimination of the director was held to 

 be the only way out of the slough of mismanage- 

 ment. 



MOTORS AND RAILWAYS. By S. F. EDGE. 



Your article headed " The Death-knell of 

 British Railways." I have read this with con- 

 siderable interest, and I cannot say altogether 

 with surprise, as for some years after studying 

 railway balance-sheets, I have come to the con- 

 clusion that most of them, if they had been 

 private businesses and dealt with in the same 

 drastic way that a private business is dealt with, 



would look very unpleasant investments for 

 money. 



One must not forget that railways have had 

 tremendous disadvantages to fight against. 

 First, the frightful legal costs to enable them 

 to do anything. Second, the tremendous first 

 cost of their land, owing to the demands of 

 landowners when railways are first constructed, 



