75 



over cargo at an expenditure of 14,500 lb. of coal to a ton; a 

 modern steamer does the same work for 300 or 400 lb. The 

 effect of this economy on haulage by land and transit by sea is 

 immense. In an experiment lately inade on the London and 

 North- Western Railway, a compound locomotive dragged a ton 

 of goods for 1 mile by the combustion of 2 ounces of coal. In 

 ocean navigation there is a much larger economy. A cube of 

 coal which passes through a ring of the size ()f a shilling will 

 drive a ton of cargo two miles in our most improved steamers. 

 The cost of transit of a ton of wheat from Calcutta to England 

 was 71^. ^d. in 1881 and 275. in 1885. The haulage of a 

 thousand miles from Chicago to New York brings a whole 

 year's supply of food for one man at a cost of a single day's 

 wage. A ton is hauled for less than a farthing per mile. The 

 fall in the prices of ocean transit from New York to Liverpool 

 has been as follows : 



India, it is needless to say, has immensely benefited by 

 these improvements. In 1 850, freight from Calcutta to Eng- 

 land was sometimes as high as £5 a ton for wheat. In 1879 

 it had fallen to 22s. Qd. for transport via the Cape and to 

 £1-10-0 via the Suez Canal. In 1849 Colonel Sykes calculated 

 that a ton of wheat costing 61^. in India could not be landed 

 in England at a less cost than 16 Is. or in other words, freight 

 was 164 per cent, of the first cost of wheat at the Indian 

 port. Mr. T. Comber, one of the witnesses examined by the 

 English Royal Commission on the value of the precious metals, 

 put in a statement which showed that the cost of carriage of 

 wheat from Jubbulpore to Bombay was reduced from 9^. 8c?. 

 per quarter in 1873 to 4^. lid. in 1887 by the development of 

 railways in India, and the sea freight from Bombay to the 

 United Kingdom was reduced from ISs. to is. 6^^., the total 

 saving in the cost of carriage from India to England being 

 13^. Sd. From the evidence of Mr, Waterfield, the Financial 

 Secretary of the India Office, it appears that the saving in the 

 cost of carriage of wheat exported from C^alcutta to England 

 was about the same. He stated that in June 1881 and June 

 1886 the prices of Cawnpore wheat at Calcutta were at the 

 same level, viz., 2*9 rupees per maund of 80 lb. The cost 

 of Indian wheat in London in 1881 was 425. a quarter and 3l5. 

 M. in 1886, showing a difference of 10s. Qd. or 25 per cent. 



