278 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



[AUGVST, 



MR. PARRIS'S DECORATIONS. 



A visit to a series of paintings by Mr. E. T. Parris for the deco- 

 ration of tlie dnwiiig-roonis at Redbo'urne Hall, the seat of the Duke 

 of St. Albans, has atlorded us more ])leasurc than we can well express ; 

 not sim))ly by the beauty of the paintings themselves and the mind 

 which shines in all, (of which more anon,.l but as an indication that 

 decorative art will yet be made to take its proper place in England, 

 and that we may even now triumphantly refute the statement which 

 lias been made more than once, that if we need able artists in this de- 

 partment, we miisl resort to the continent for them. England is ca- 

 pable of the highest efforts of art in every branch, if opportunity for 

 the exercise of talent be given, and fair play be but afforded the pos- 

 sessors of it, and we cry shame on those amongst us who would at- 

 tempt to gainsay it. We shall have occasion'hereafter to speak more 

 fully on this head in connexion with fresco paintings, with which it is 

 proposed to decorate the new Houses of Parliament, but at present 

 must confine ourselves to the pictures which have given rise to these 

 remarks. They consist of six large jiaintings in panels, and a variety 

 of smaller groups and compositions, to fill sarroumling compartments. 

 Paintings I'l la li'alteaii, were the task prescribed to Mr. Panis, and a 

 few rustic beauties and attendant swains beneath wide-spreading trees 

 were all that would have been needed to comply with the terms. 

 With a proper feeling of a painter, however, Mr. Parris has disdained 

 his models, and boldly taken his own jjath; he has abandoned the 

 constantly repeated nothings of that school, and in their stead, although 

 of course at much greater cost of mind, has produced a series of 

 pictures which all tell a long story of love, poetry, and thought, and 

 are in themselves most elegant and graceful. The subjects are English, 

 French, Indian, Italian, Swiss, and Grecian habits and feelings, each 

 ])icture being apiiropriated to a different country, and the manner in 

 which the artist has contrived to convey these is wortliy of the great- 

 est admiration and praise. In the panel approjiriated to Italy, for 

 example, we have in the foreground of a delicious landscape, music 

 and painting suggested to the mind by a group representing Raphaelle 

 sketching, and the Fornarina, with her guitar, gazing with rapture 

 upon the production of his pencil, while, passing down a ravine at the 

 side, is a peasant woman with a basket of fruit upon her head, in 

 whom is recognized the model of one of the most beautiful ^^■orks of 

 the divine master. In the Grecian painting we have the sun setting 

 on decaying monuments of the mental energy of her sons when Greece 

 7vas " living Greece " while a modern Greek soldier is listlessly re- 

 clining at a well, and inquiring his path of the peasants. We cannot 

 afford space to particularize the whole of the paintings, although each 

 is eminently worthy of a detailed examination ; nor can we now ven- 

 ture to add any further remark than that they reflect the highest 

 credit on Mr. Parris as a decorative artist, and will serve to implant 

 a taste and teach to think. 



KAILAVAY REPORT. 

 fourth Report from the Select Commit lee on Rnilway Commvnication. 



The select committee appointed to inquire into the state of communica- 

 tiou by railways, to whom several [jetitions were referred; and who were 

 empowered to report their opinion and observations, together with the minutes 

 of evidence taken before them, from time to time, to the liouse, have further 

 considered tlie matters to them referred, and have agreed to tlie following 

 report : — 



A considerable number of i)ctitious have been referred to your committee, 

 suggesting the justice and expediency of altering the present system on which 

 railway passengers are taxeil. 



Much evidence upon this subject was collected by the committee on rail- 

 ways dming the last session of Parbament, and your committee have also 

 entered fidly into the same inquiry ; from both \\liicli inquiries your conuuit- 

 tee are satisfied that this question is of great importance to the public at large, 

 and especially to the poorer classes of the community; and that, in propor- 

 tion as radway conununication is extended through tlie country, the unequ.-d 

 pressui'c of this tax ^vill be more se\erely felt, inasnuich as it will he found to 

 limit tlie accommodation which railways might otherwise beneficially afford 

 to the labouring classes. 



The great advantage which would result to these classes from the estab- 

 lishment of railway communication was reiieatedly urged as an argument in 

 favour of these undertakings. To convey the labourer cheaply and rapidly to 

 that spot where his labour might he most highly remunerated, was iVeqnently 

 stated to Ije one great benefit which would he derivcil from opening these 

 new channels of intercourse, while it was added that the health and enjoy, 

 ment of the mechanics, artizans, and poor inhabitants of the large towns 

 would he ]nomoted, by the facility with which they would bo enabled to re- 

 move themselves or their famihcs into healthier districts and less crowded 

 habitations. Your committee believe that ParUanieut would deeply regret to 



find that the tax imposed on railway passengers had a tendency to deprive the 

 labouring classes of these promiscil advantages, and especially when it is seen 

 that in those parts of the country where the pressure of tliis tax is most 

 severely felt, the revenue dciived from it is insignificant in amount. 



The income derived from the duty on railway passengers during the last 

 six vears has been, in the vears ending 



ath Januarv 1835 £6,8:^2 



1336 8,693 



1837 10,29(j 



183S 10,892 



1839 39,570 



1810 72,716 



A reference to the Appendix will show, that of the sum of £72,000 de- 

 rived from this tax during the last year, XoS.OUO was received from the five 

 following Hues, namely, the Grand Junction, Great Western. Liverpool and 

 Manchester, London and Birmingham, London and Southampton ; so that 

 those railways in Scotland and in the North of England which derive their 

 income, as connected with the conveyance of passengers, chiefly from the 

 poorer classes of society, and which suffer most from the present tax, contri- 

 bute in a very small proportion to the revenue. 



The effects of the present system of taxation are veiy clearly pointed out 

 by witnesses practically conversant with railway communication. 



' The present duty on railway passengers is fixed by the act 2 & 3 Will. 4, 

 c. 1 20, which states that " the Proprietor or Company of Proprietors of 

 every railway, aloug which any passengers shall he conveyed for hire, shall 

 pay for all such passengers at "the rate of one halfpenny per mile for every 

 four passengers so conveyed." 



Every passenger, therefore, whatever may be his fare, is taxed to the amount 

 of one-eighth of a penny per mile. It is obvious, that while the tax is the 

 same on each passenger, the proportion winch it bears to the fares of diffe- 

 rent classes of passengers must vary considerably. The operation of this tax 

 is well illustrated in the observations of Mr. Smith, the assessor of stage- 

 coach duties : •' Suppose a Une of 120 miles, and three classes of carriages; 

 suppose the first class fare to he 3d. per mile or 30s., the second class to be 

 20s., the third class tn be 10s., the duty on each passenger wotdd be lod." 

 This is a large proportion on the lowest fare, and its effect must be to pre- 

 vent railwayDirectors reducing their charges for the accommodation of the 

 poorest class of passengers. A comparison of the mileage duty with the fares 

 of different railways will be found in the Appendix, from which it will be 

 seen that the proportion of the mileage duty to the fares on the London and 

 Birmingham is l-22nd, while on some of the Scotch railways it amounts to 

 1-lOth, and in one case even to l-6th. 



By examining the fares actually paid on different railways, it will be found 

 that, while, in some cases, the first class passenger pays a tax of only SJ per 

 cent, on his fare, the tliird-class passenger is taxed 12, and in some cases 15 

 per cent. 



This inequality of taxation tends mateiially to dinunisb the profits arising 

 from the third class passengers, and thereby operates as a discouragement to 

 Railway Companies giving that accommodation which the labouring class 

 might otherwise derive from railways. The real hardship of this result de- 

 serves the greater attention on the part of the Legislature, because railway 

 communication lias superseded, and in many cases destroyed the conveyance 

 by means of waggons, vans, and carts, which afforded a cheap though dilatory 

 mode of travelling to the labourer and his family. How much the poorest 

 members of society are interested in some alteration of the present duty may 

 be seen by referring to the evidence of Captain Lawes, in regard to the hand- 

 loom weavers, and also in the answers of Mr. Lindsay Carnegie, and other 

 gentlemen connected with the Scotch railways, from whose statements it ap- 

 pears that the tax will, on some of these lines, almost put an end to the pas- 

 senger traffic, inasmuch as the Railway Directors must raise their fares to an 

 amount which will exclude the cluef part of the present passengers from the 

 line. The pressure of this tax is now for the first time felt on many lines of 

 railway ; because, in former years, the Lords of the treasury have exercised a 

 ])ower given to them by the act 2 e^ 3 Will. 4, c. 120, and have allowed many 

 of the Scotch anil some of the English railways to pay an annual composition 

 in lieu of this tax ; this indulgence, however, which was a great accommoda- 

 tion to Companies opening railway communications in the poorer districts of 

 the country, is now no longer granted, and your committee see many objec- 

 tions to the future exercise of such a power by the treasury. 



In considering the question of railway taxation. Parliament ought not to 

 overlook the facts which were elicited hy the inquiries of the committee of 

 last session, and which tend materially to increase the objections to a con- 

 tinuance of the present system. It was stated by the chairman and deputy 

 chairman of the Leeds and Selhy Railway that, in the year 1836 they raised 

 the fares on that line to an amount which diminished greatly the nuuiher of 

 passengers ; but they added, that by this increase of fare, although they les- 

 sened their number of passengers hy 12,000 in the year, yet they augmented 

 their profits by .•(;i,300. Evidence to the same effect has also been given by 

 the chairman of the Bolton and Bury Railway ; and a reference to the returns 

 of some of the railways, contained in the Appendix, will further prove the 

 same fact. 



Mherever the interests of Railway Proprietors and of the pnbbc arc at va- 

 riance, it is- prohalile th.it the community will be in some degree restricted 

 from the benefits which railway communication is capable of affording ; your 

 committee, therefore, believe it to be inexpedient to continue a system of 



