278 History of Inland Transport 



remainder followed in 1851, whereupon the new authority 

 ceased to exist. 1 



Once more, therefore, railway Bills were left to be dealt 

 with on their individual merits by Private Bill Committees 

 operating on lines to which, not simply John Herapath, but 

 Mr Gladstone's own Committee, had taken exception ; and 

 once more was a set-back given to the aspiration for the 

 establishment of some central authority which could organise, 

 co-ordinate or otherwise consolidate the still rapidly increasing 

 railways on the basis of a national system of rail communica- 

 tion. The difficulty might, perhaps, have been met by the 

 creation of a Minister of Communications, who would have 

 held a position somewhat similar to that of the Minister of 

 Public Works in Prussia or in France, and have discharged a 

 useful function as director-in-chief, or, at least, as adviser- 

 in-chief, in regard alike to railways, roads, rivers and canals. 

 Such a Minister, being a member of the Government, might 

 have acted or recommended without wounding the sus- 

 ceptibilities of Private Bill Committees or of individual 

 members ; he might have organised or been the means of 

 organising an efficient system of railways at an earlier date 

 and at far less cost ; and he might have saved both the country 

 from its enormous losses on the wild-cat projects of unscrupu- 

 lous schemers during the mania period and bona fide companies 

 from much of the excessive capitalization into which they were 

 driven. 



Whether or not the problems of the situation could have 

 been solved in this manner, the fact remains that it was the 

 railway companies themselves who in spite of the established 

 policy of the State, directed to the maintenance of railway 

 competition, and in spite of the disapproval of amalgamations 

 by one Parliament Committee after another brought 

 about the conveniences of through travel or through transit. 

 It was they themselves who, by amalgamation or otherwise, 

 instigated the creation of the " great " companies which both 

 ensured these conveniences and effected a complete trans- 

 formation in the general railway position, to the great ad- 

 vantage of everyone concerned. 



1 The present Railway and Canal Commission, which, however, has no 

 functions in regard to advising on railway Bills, was created in 1873 for a 

 period of years, and was made permanent in 1888. 



