THE PRICE OF A TICKET. 289 



Siberia and Manchuria to Vladivostok and Port 

 Arthur at 940,000,000 odd roubles, or £99,000,000, 

 which works out at something like £16,600 per mile. 

 This will have still to be added to by the time that 

 the difficult circum-Baikal branch is completed. 



Travelling is luxuriant in the extreme, the car- 

 riages — particularly the newest ones, which have been 

 constructed for the Trans-Baikal and Manchurian sec- 

 tions — being very high and roomy, fitted with electric 

 light, a movable electric reading-lamp, and electric 

 bells, and being connected by a corridor with a smoking 

 saloon, dining saloon, and bathroom. Small plate-glass 

 flanges are fitted at right angles to the windows, which 

 prevent sparks, &c., blowing in when open, and electric 

 fans give additional ventilation when required in the 

 smoking and dining car. With all these comforts you 

 naturally expect to have to pay handsomely for the 

 privilege of travelling on the line, and it comes as a 

 surprise to you when you learn the ridiculously low 

 price of a ticket. It was originally ofiicially predicted 

 that the cost of a first-class ticket by fast train, in- 

 clusive of government tax and sleeping accommodation, 

 from Moscow to Port Arthur, a distance of something 

 like 5300 miles, would be 114 roubles, or a fraction 

 over £12, and, though this estimate has in point of fact 

 been largely exceeded, the present price of 270 roubles 

 78 kopecks, or £28, 16s., can only be described as 

 exceedingly moderate. There is, however, one thing 

 which it struck me might be altered with advantage, 

 not only to the passengers but also to the receipts of 

 the railway, and that is, the time of duration of a 

 through ticket. When it is remembered that forty-five 

 days are allowed for the journey on a through ticket 

 from London to St Petersburg, it strikes one as a little 

 absurd that twenty- four days should be the limit 



