86 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



I Mabch, 



m^inufarturc on thoir own account altosether, — if they would jiur- 

 cli ise their slii))s like other commodities at tlie market value, the 

 whole coil would he remedied at once. There are many opulent 

 firms in this country who would readily enter into competition to 

 supply irovernment with war vessels capahle of hattle with the 

 war of elements and the fury of human conflict. A system of con- 

 tract and competition, properly rejjulated, would spare the country 

 all the evils of enormcuis expenditure and worthless ships. Indeed, 

 it has been already carried out in an important part of naval ser- 

 vice — the supply of engines by private contract for the government 

 steamers. 



It is easy to suggest such apian: the discovery of its advan- 

 tages does' not reipiire much study. H»t tliere is this fatal objec- 

 tion—that it would destroy an enormous amount of government 

 patronage. Were it objected that the works required one of such 

 magnitude that they coiild not be safely entrusted to any private 

 contractor, and tliat there are no private dockyards where the 

 works could lie adequately carried on, the difficulty might he re- 

 moved by dividing the work into distinct contracts ; one for build- 

 ing the hull, another for the engines, another for the tackle, &c., ; 

 and by assigning the dockyards, basins, and shops for the con- 

 tractor's use. 



But imagine the weeping and wailing at Portsmouth and Ply- 

 mouth conseiiuent on such an arrangement ! The vested interests 

 disregarded, the .sons of noblemen thrown on their own resources, 

 the votes lost to the government ! 



Yet when John Bull sees that the system of private contract 

 works well, and greatly spares his pocket, he will insist that if it 

 become not universal, 'it shall at least be extended. Once every 

 ten years he becomes poor, and gets eager for retrenchment ; and 

 while the tit is u])on him, is tolerably severe in his demands for 

 economy. If the government would resist that demand, they must 

 adojit ti'ie alternative plan, and have a better — that is a less grossly 

 ignorant— class of dockyard officers. At the risk of appearing 

 scientific enthusiasts, we will venture to recommend that these 

 gentlemen should acquire a smattering of the science of hydro- 

 statics. It may he that they care nothing for theory — but nature 

 does. If they disregard the' laws of floating bodies because they 

 are generally expressed by the aid of mathematical symbols, the 

 winds and waves will not sympathise with their ignorance. There- 

 fore, O surveyors of the navy, when you lay down a ship's lines, 

 bestow one thought upon her metacentre. 



Mctaccntre — what is that ? A long Greek word, unknown and 

 unheard of in our dockyards. Its meaning was, however, all in 

 all to the men of profound science who designed the old French 

 vessels, now imitated by us with stupid Chinese fidelity. 



INDIAN RAILWAYS AND STEAM NAVIGATION. 



( With an Engraving, Plate V.J 



1. Report on the East Indian Railway. By R. Macdonald Ste- 



PHKNSOX. 



2. Railways in Bombay, and the Cotton Question. By John Chap- 

 man. 



3. Account of some Recent Improvements in the System of Navigating 

 the Ganges, By Albert Robinso.n, C.E. London : Weale. 



When any objection is made to the mode in which we have seized 

 hold of Iliiidostan, the common answer is, that we have done a 

 great deal of good for the country, and the people were never so 

 well oH". If this were true, it would not he a bad answer, as times 

 go; but unhappily there is very little truth in it; and were we 

 turned out of tlie country to-morrow no one would care, and there 

 would he nothing to show that we had ever been there. Our 

 readers may take a technical view of the question, but here it is a 

 very fair one. They naturally ask what public works have the 

 Indian government carried out, how many steamboats are there, 

 and how many miles of railway.'' and the answer is one which may 

 be very satisfactory to East India directors, but very unsatisfactory 

 to the Englisli public. 



Of late years, many new settlements have been founded, and 

 many of our readers have gone out to them as surveyors-general, 

 and surveyors, and proceeded in the discharge of their duties. 

 One of the first of these duties is to provide proper accommoda- 

 tion for communicating between the several parts of the settle- 

 ment; and if this is a great duty in a newly-settled country, and 

 one punctually discharged, of course we expect it should be 

 attended to in an old and cultivated country like India, We 



may say that it is not — so little has been done for the roads and for 

 steam navigation. 



In our last number, in a notice of Mr. Albert Robinson's book, we 

 said something as to the rise of steam navigation on the Ganges; 

 but we really cannot, in the present state of the question, dis- 

 miss it so summarily. Year by year the grievance becomes greater, 

 and we see no effort on the part of the government to give the 

 social and commercial interests of India tlie necessary facilities of 

 communication. The policy as to railways is more disgraceful and 

 narrow-minded than that of the home legislature; and that is 

 saying a great deal. 



The besetting sin of the Indian government is the exercise of a 

 red-tape system of administration, which leaves nothing to local or 

 individual action, while the general administration does not ex- 

 hibit the paternal care it professes. The railway question has 

 been badgered from office to office, till any one but the managers 

 of the companies which still keep the field would have been dis- 

 heartened, and given up the attempt to carry out their under- 

 takings. We hope they will have the revvurd of their perse- 

 verance. 



In 1845 and 1846, companies asked the permission only to lay 

 out their money in railways in India; the undertakings were well re- 

 ceived by the public, and the shares at a premium. Had the ne- 

 cessary powers been given by the Indian government, neither 

 guarantee nor contribution would have been required, and a consi- 

 derable extent of railway would now have been opened, notwith- 

 standing the disastrous panic which affected the East India mer- 

 chants. The Indian government had one of the finest opportuni- 

 ties that could be wished or invented to advance the prosperity of 

 India. Capital, which India wants, was offered, and the attention 

 of the public having been drawn to the failure of the American 

 cotton crops, there never was a better occasion for giving a 

 great impulse to tlie cultivation of cotton in India. Had the go- 

 vernment been wise and liberal, offered every facility in their 

 power, and given a temporary guarantee, the success of the railway 

 system in India would liave been decided, and the trade of India 

 would have b»en greatly promoted. 



The Indian government were too great in their notions to be 

 ruled by such considerations: they tfiought they were giving a 

 favour instead of receiving it, and acted accordingly. Instead 

 of granting charters of incorporation to those who asked for them, 

 they appointed an inspector-general to e.xamine India, and report 

 upon the plans. Meanwhile, the face of the money-market 

 altered; several of the companies, wearied out and hopeless, 

 wound up their affairs, and the others were languishing. After 

 much delay, the government came forward to otter terms to the 

 companies, and did otter terms which would have been satisfactory 

 enough in 1845, but were quite out of place in 1848. Nothing has 

 therefore been done, and the Indian government stands accused 

 before the legislature and the citizens of England, of having stood 

 in the way and impeded the welfare of India. This is the issue 

 now, and though the Indian government are haggling with the 

 companies, they are really making a bid on the question of the 

 future government of India. When the charter of the East India 

 Company comes to be renewed, it will be asserted that they have 

 done nothing for the good of India; and in particular, they will 

 be charged with the two heads we have JKst named — ^of wilful 

 injury to the progress of India, and, so far as the growth of 

 cotton is concerned, of wilful neglect of the interests of England. 

 Had they acted as they ought to have done, it would have been a 

 good plea to point to tlie busy rivers of India, the miles of rail- 

 way, tlie increase of production, the establishment of a staple 

 trade in cotton. These would be results wliicli everybody could 

 understand and nobody could gainsay, and would far outweigh 

 any Ellenborough peccadillo. Such, however, has not been the 

 case. 



If we reflect upon one great object of having improved commu- 

 nications in India — namely, the increased production of cotton, 

 we are of necessity led to the consideration of the United States, 

 now the great cotton-producing country, and equally under the 

 government of an English people. That country is supplied with 

 rivers like Hindustan — it has its Mississippi and its smaller rivers; 

 the latter, its Ganges and its Indus. The rivers of America have 

 long courses, and are embarrassed with sand-bars and other ob- 

 structions; but the steamboat isto be found everywhere. Though 

 the country is thinly peopled, the railway system is very extensive, 

 and has now been for years in operation. In the beginning, the 

 capital was got from England. The electric telegraph wires are 

 now laid throughout the length and breadth of the land. 



Thus the United States have all that Hindostan wants, though 

 there is no apparent reason for this great ditt'erence in the condi- 



