380 History of Inland Transport 



duction of or opposition to Railway Bills ; the preparation of 

 evidence to be given before one or other of those oft-recurring 

 Parliamentary or Departmental Committees ; together with 

 the ever-present need of reconciling, as far as possible, the 

 conflicting interests of public, of staff and of shareholders 

 when one tries to realise the full extent of all these duties, 

 obligations and responsibilities devolving upon the general 

 manager of a great English railway company, the holder of 

 such a post would seem to occupy a position more onerous 

 than that, probably, of any other British subject, even if he 

 should not deserve to rank as a ruler of what, in the variety 

 and extent of the interests concerned interests greater far 

 than those of many a Continental State is itself the equivalent 

 of a small kingdom. 



In the chief goods manager's department there are, besides 

 himself, an assistant goods manager, two outdoor goods 

 managers, a mineral traffic manager and a large staff of clerks. 

 The chief goods manager and his assistants take charge of all 

 matters connected with merchandise and mineral traffic, 

 apart from the actual running of the trains. They arrange 

 the rates and conditions of carriage ; control the handling, 

 the warehousing, and the collection and delivery of the goods ; 

 deal with all questions of goods accommodation and goods 

 rolling stock ; negotiate the arrangements in regard to private 

 sidings for traders, and discharge a great number of other 

 duties besides. 



The main function of the superintendent of the line, in 

 whose department there is, also, an assistant superintendent 

 of the line and several assistants, is to deal with all passenger, 

 horse, carriage and parcels traffic, and, also, the running of all 

 trains, whether passenger, merchandise, live-stock or mineral. 

 All questions relating to the actual working of the line, pas- 

 senger stations, signals, etc., are referred to him, and the issue 

 of all time-tables is also under his control. 



The other heads of departments include : Secretary ; 

 solicitor (with assistant solicitor) ; chief accountant ; loco- 

 motive accountant ; cashier ; chief of expenditure depart- 

 ment ; chief of audit department ; registrar ; estate agent ; 

 rating agent ; chief engineer (with a chief clerk and two 

 assistant engineers, one for new works and one for permanent 

 way) ; chief mechanical engineer (with a chief indoor assistant 



