72 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



LMabch, 



on friction on railways, which were published iu tlie Manchester 

 (riiardian of Feb. 12, 1825. ■*' 



In the full heitfht of the railway madness, newspaper, mag^azine, 

 and review articles on railways were brouffht forth in plenty, and 

 supplementary articles on railways added to the encyclopaedias. 



All this gave the public mind a more hoi)eful and trustful feeling 

 as to railways, though there was no want of foes, who treated 

 railways and locomotives as new, idle, and worthless dreams. 



In any history of this time it would not be right to leave out 

 Thomas Gray's book. We have shown in our seventh chapter, 

 and still more here, that Gray's was neither tlie first nor the only 

 book on railways ; and that it did not do all the work for railways, 

 as was so lately said by some of his friends. Yet, on the other 

 hand, it must be acknowledged that it did great good ; and this 

 we can tell, not only from the several editions through which the 

 book went, each time coming out greater in bulk, but likewise by 

 the way in which it is named by other writers of the time. In 

 these latter days, Gray had been forgotten, and all those who wrote 

 with him — 1825 was forgotten ; but when Gray was again brought 

 forward, his friends had their share of forgetfulness, for they for- 

 got the works of others. 



The copy we have before us is the second edition, printed in 

 1821, and sold by Baldwin and Cradock. Tlie numlier of pages is 

 only sixty, and the work shows much carelessness, being made into 

 two chapters, between which are some notes or extracts. 



In his preface he not only throws out the hint of a common 

 chain of railways, but he speaks plainly of a railway between Li- 

 verpool and Manchester: — " Here I would suggest the propriety 

 of making tlie first essay between ALmchester and Liverpool, 

 which would employ many thousands of tlie distressed population 

 of that county." 



He proposed the use of steam locomotives, or coaches, to carry 

 passengers and goods ; and proposed likewise to carry tlie mails, 

 fish, and agricultural produce. 



One great object Gray had in bringing forward liis Iiook was to 

 set forth the means of relieving the then distress, by employing 

 the people on great works ; and nothing could have been better 

 chosen than railways. In this he showed more judgment than 

 those law-makers who, in 1847 and 18t8, after one of the greatest 

 dearths we have known in these times, did all they could to hinder 

 the working-men from being employed on railways, by stopping 

 railway works altogether, so far as in them lay. He sliowed great 

 judgment, too, in looking to the dividends on tlie raihvays first 

 made, as a great spur to setting others going. Here, again, the 

 law-makers have done what they can to cut down dividends. 



Gray was quite right as to the fish trade on railways — that it 

 would lead to a greater trade inland, and to a greater employment 

 of fishermen. Already, the fish carried is above +0,000 tons yearly ; 

 and Birmingham, which in 1829 consumed 400 tons, in 1847 con- 

 sumed 5,000 tons. "2 



Again, he says, " Farmers sixty miles from London would be 

 able to procure manure for their land at much less trouble and 

 expense than those now distant ten miles." This is now well 

 known. 



The second chapter of Gray's book upliolds the system of useful 

 and reproductive employment. 



From the power of the press we may go on to that of money ; 

 but as we shall afterwards see how sharelndders went into railway 

 undertakings, it is not needful to say nnn-e here, than that they 

 were fully alive to the worth of the railway system, and cpiite wil- 

 ling, if they were not hindered, to carry it out to the greatest 

 length which their means would enable tliem to di>. 



As the last proof of how high railways stood in [mblic feel- 

 ing, we may give Canning's words in 1825, to the gentlemen of 

 Bristol, showing how far-seeing was that great statesman, and how 

 much beyond the dwarfs of this time: — •" It would appear that the 

 whole machine of society has received an accelerating impulse, 

 and that this country is beginning a course of prosperity whioli 

 will exceed all that has gone before, as much as the present ex- 

 ceeds all past expectations."'^ 



Thus it seems that everything was ready in 1825 to launch the 

 railway system for a prosperous voyage ; and it will be for us to 

 see what was further done, and why this end was so long delayed. 



4 I C. Macliireo, HuilvvayB, p. 6.'). 



42 ContrlbuLions to Railway StatiBtics, by Hyde Clark— Art. 

 perty, by S. Smiles, p. 22. 



43 The Finger-Pobt, p. 43. 



(To be continued J 



Fish." lvailvV4iy Pro- 



REVIE'WS. 



Ohnermitions on the Siinitiiri/ Condition of Maidstone, with a view 

 to the i/ifnidiirtion of the Art /or Promitiug tlie. Piibtic Health. By 

 Jou.v WiiicHcouu, Jun., F.S..V., .\I. last. B..V. Loudon: Long- 

 mans, 1849. 



This is a brief review of the various sanitary measures with the 

 specific object mentioned in the title. It seems very well drawn 

 up, and well calculated to influence the autliurities and public of 

 Maidstone. 



Railway Taxation. By S. Lai.vg, Esq. London : Vacher, 1849. 



Mr. Laing, the new Chairman of the Brighton Railway, and lata 

 Secretary of the Railway Oeiiartment of tlie Board of Trade, has 

 in this pamphlet stroiily urged the gross injustice committed on 

 the railway companies by the system of taxation to which they are 

 subjected. These observations are well worthy of the considera- 

 tion of all interested in this question, now of so much importance 

 to shareholders in railway undertakings and other public works. 



Mr. Laing says, — 



In the case of the London and North-Western Railway, it appeared, by a 

 return made to parliament, that the land occupied hy the railway in the six 

 counties of Middlesex, Hertford, Bu<;ks, Northampton, Warwick, and Wor- 

 cester, was previously assessed at an annual value of 2,445/., and contributed 

 the X7i7^^^ P*^**^ ^^ ^'^<^ total rates of the parishes in which it was situated. 

 The same laud appropriated to the purposes of the railway was assessed at 

 128,007/., and paid one-third of the total rates of the parishes. 



The Brighton Kailway passes thiougli sixteen agricultural parishes between 

 London and Brighton, tlie united acreage of which is 86,508 acres. Of this 

 the railway occupies 601 acres, in respect of which occupation it pays about 

 10,000/. a-year, or li/. per acre per annum, heing one-third of the total rates 

 of these parishes. In one extreme case, that of the parisli of Coulsiion, the 

 Brighton and South-Kastern Railway Companies occupy together 58 acres of 

 poor agricultural land, out of 4,200 acres in the parish, and pay rather moie 

 than 75 per cent., or three-fourths of the whole rates. 



The inhahitants of tlie parish, who make the rate in the first instance at 

 their vestry meeting, are parties to the nuitt and every man present has a 

 direct pecuniary interest in making the rate on the railway as high as possi- 

 ble. I know an instance of two aJjoining parishes in Hertfordshire, in both 

 of which the rates were formerly !)». iu the £. One of them has been for- 

 tunate enough to have a Utile angle of its Ian I intersecteil iiy the London 

 and Birmingham Railway; while the other is tantalised by the si^iit oi the 

 line running for some distance within 100 yards of its boundary, without 

 actually touching it. The consequence is, that iu the lucky parish of North- 

 church they have got their rates down, at the expense of the railway, to 

 ls.6d. in the £; while their less fortunate neighbours in Wiggiugtou are 

 still rated at 7a. I 



If railway companies are to pay one-third o"r one-half of the rates of the 

 parishes traversed by their lines, they ought to have some proportionate re- 

 presentation at vestry and other parochial meetings. As the law stands at 

 present, the largest ratepayer in the parish has only six voles, — an enactment 

 which, however well it may work in ordinary cases, when all the ratepayers 

 have a common interest, and where any inequalities of assessment can b: at 

 once perceived, is ohviously inapplicahle to such cases as have been cited, 

 when a large proportion of the rates are paid by a railway company. 



One thing is perfectly clear, that iu atteiupting to apply the oruinary law 

 of rating to the case of railways, the Court of Queen's Bench have practi- 

 cally arrived at a result by which profits of trade are made the suhjecl of 

 assessment. 



In other respects the principle of the Court of Queen's Bench leads to 

 results contradictory to common-sense. 1 rathe, which when it went by 

 coaches along the road was never rated, becomes lateahle when it is propel- 

 led by locomotive engines along a railway. The sod of the railway no more 

 earns the profit of conveying passengers over it than did the soil of the 

 turnpike-road. That soil is first rendered v.iluable by the outlay of an im- 

 mense capital in erecting improved machinery for locomotion upon it. If 

 the Liverpool and .Manchester Railway had been worked, as was originally 

 proposed, by horse-power, there would have been no profit, and consequently 

 no rate. The profit is entirely due to the invention of the locomotive ; and 

 the capital invested in railways is in reality capita! invested in carrying out 

 the fruit of George Stephenson's invention. It enjoys none of the privi- 

 leges of capital invested in land, e.\cept that of paying taxes ; it is sub- 

 ject, as experience has shown, to the fluctuations attending commercial 

 enterprise ; it pays legacy duty like other personal estates ; it confers no 

 vote. The same Courts of Law which for purposes of rating hold railways 

 to be land, refuse to recognise them as landed secuiity for Che purpose of 

 investment. 



