378 History of Inland Transport 



The main functions of an English railway board are to 

 decide questions of principle and policy ; to keep close watch 

 over the interests of the shareholders in regard to all questions 

 of finance ; and to exercise a general control and supervision 

 in order to ensure the thorough efficiency of the line. Subject 

 to such general control and supervision, the working details are 

 entrusted to railway officers possessed of the skill, judgment, 

 experience and technical knowledge requisite thereto. It is 

 thus no more necessary that railway directors should be railway 

 experts than it is that the proprietor, the manager and the 

 editor of a great daily newspaper should themselves be able 

 to write shorthand, set up type, cast a stereo and run the 

 machines. They can dictate policy, attend to business details 

 and direct heads of departments without these, in their case, 

 superfluous accomplishments. Railway directors who, going 

 beyond their legitimate functions as aforesaid, sought to inter- 

 fere with or dictate to skilled railwaymen on matters of 

 ordinary detail or office routine would, in fact, cause friction 

 without necessarily promoting efficiency in operation. 



In practice it is not unusual for a retiring general manager 

 to be invited to take a seat on the board either of his own 

 or of another company ; but, generally speaking, the main 

 qualification for a railway director, apart from the extent of his 

 holding, is found in his possession, or assumed possession, of 

 good business qualities, coupled with an interest in some 

 particular part of the district the railway serves. 



The full board of the London and North- Western Railway 

 meets twice a month ; but much work is also done by com- 

 mittees which, as in the case of a county council or other im- 

 portant public body, exercise supervision over certain depart- 

 ments, or groups of departments, presenting minutes of their 

 proceedings to the board for confirmation. The principal 

 committees are the Finance Committee, the Permanent 

 Way Committee, the Locomotive Committee, the Passenger 

 Traffic Committee, the Goods Traffic Committee and the 

 Debts and Goods Claim Committee. There are, in addition, 

 various smaller committees which deal with questions arising 

 in connection with legal business, stores, hotels, refreshment 

 rooms, etc. 



The heads of the different departments concerned attend, 

 either regularly or as desired, the meetings of these various 



