The Railway System To-day 365 



INCREASE ( + ) or 

 DECREASE ( - ) as 



AMOUNTS PAID FOR compared with 



YEAR. RATES AND TAXES. previous year. 







1898 .. 3,425,000 .. (+) 131,000 



1899 .. 3,582,000 .. ( + ) 157,000 



1900 .. 3,757> ( + ) 175,000 



1901 .. 3,980,000 .. (+) 223,000 



1902 .. 4,228,000 .. (+) 248,000 



1903 .. 4,493,000 .. (-}-) 265,000 



1904 .. 4,736,000 .. (+) 243,000 



1905 .. 4,933,000 .. ( + ) 197,000 



1906 .. 4,965,000 .. (+) 32,000 



1907 .. 4,863,000 .. (-) 102,000 



1908 .. 4,884,000 .. (+) 21,000 



1909 .. 5,010,000 .. (+) 126,000 



1910 .. 5,102,000 .. (+) 92,000 

 Total payments in 



1 7 years 70,228,000 



These figures show a continuous increase since 1894, with 

 the exception only of the year 1907, when there was a decrease 

 of 102,000 as compared with 1906, due to the activity of the 

 railway companies in appealing against excessive assessments. 

 The advance in the total paid in 1910 over the total for 1894 

 was no less than 2,286,000, or 77-9 per cent. 



It should be remembered, also, that the figures given relate 

 to sums paid for rates and taxes, and do not include the 

 expenses incurred by the railway companies in respect both 

 to their rates and taxes departments (conducted by highly 

 skilled officers) and to litigation arising on their appeals 

 against assessments they consider unfair. The total expendi- 

 ture under these two heads has been estimated at over 80,000 

 per annum. 



Since comparisons are frequently made between English and 

 German railway rates, with a view to showing that the 

 former are higher than the latter, it may be of interest to 

 compare, also, the amount paid for taxation by the railways 

 of the United Kingdom with the corresponding payments 

 of the Prussian State railways. The length of line of the two 

 systems is approximately the same ; yet while the taxation 

 of the British system comes to 5,000,000 a year, that of the 



