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The Review of Reviews. 



single farmer could put three tons of hay on a 

 truck to Birmingham, Mr. Hennell replied : 

 " You will understand that I cannot answer 

 that, as I have not read all the 30,000,000 rates 

 my company has got." While this was pro- 

 bably an attempt at smartness on the part 

 of the witness, it would be interesting to 

 know how far out he was from the actual 

 figures. 



Is it, then, to be wondered at that it does not 

 pay farmers to endeavour to use the railways 

 for marketing produce, and must such a state 

 of things not inevitably drive them to use motors 

 instead of railway trucks? It is no exaggera- 

 tion to say that to-day there is no business in 

 the world which could be carried on with the 

 waste and overloading of higher officials which 

 is placidly accepted in respect of railways. And 

 where are there any prospects of improvement 

 for the unfortunate shareholders? They should 

 take serious steps towards demanding facts and 

 figures and, combining in committees, drive the 

 railways into business methods and reason, 

 and in so doing they will be performing public 

 service, since the interests of the nation are 

 bound up inseparably with the railway con- 

 venience and elficiency of this country. But let 

 no false consideration for the aged figure-heads, 

 no mercy for the unduly comfortable higher 

 functionaries, be allowed to interfere with a 

 cleansing of the .Augean stables. 



.And the most terrible part of it all is that 

 those who are responsible for railways and who 

 might therefore be expected to know how things 

 are and see that they are altered talk about 

 these things with their tongue in their cheek 

 and with an absolute lack of sense of responsi- 

 bility which is amazing. Thus the Right Hon. 

 Lord .Mlcrton, Chairman of the Great Northern 

 Railway Company, on December 20, 1907, at 

 a meeting of the shareholders to consider pro- 

 posals for a close working agreement between 

 that company and the Great Central Railway 

 Company, said : — 



" During the past few years there have 

 been, I will say, hundreds of thousands 

 of pounds spent in capital expenditure 

 by the two companies which might have 

 been saved if this agreement had been 

 made so many years ago, such as in reach- 

 ing collieries and in what is called protecting the 

 traffic by making fresh branches, all to be 

 worked over to the ^ame point for the same 

 traffic. All this necessitates engines and trains 

 where ver\- often one would do. Tlie lines are 

 blocked, your lines are crowded, trains are 

 delayed, which lead to all sorts of waste and 

 extravagance, and if it were only for the pur- 

 pose of saving the enormous waste which neces- 

 sarily goes on now, I say it would have been 



well worth your while to have made this agree- 

 ment with the Great Central many years ago." 

 Why, then, was it not done before? For cheer- 

 ful pointing out of existing evils, without any 

 attempt, or indication of attempt, at doing away 

 with them, we would call attention to the 

 remarks of Sir Alexander Henderson, M.P., 

 Chairman of the Great Central Company, at a 

 meeting of the shareholders to consider the 

 above working agreement on December 20, 

 1907 :— 



" To-day the haulage of traffic from one part 

 to another of the great City is one of the largest 

 items of expenditure, and the ever-increasing 

 congestion of their streets makes the problem of 

 economical distribution greater from day to day. 

 A West-End and a central dep6t would relieve 

 the situation as regards merchandise and 

 minerals. The duty clearly imposed on the 

 managers of both lines was to keep what they 

 had, and the consequent running of partially 

 filled passenger trains and scanty loading of 

 goods trains had undoubtedly been one result of 

 the present kind of administration." 



It was, however, reserved for Sir E. Paget, 

 Chairman of the Midland Railway, to show the 

 hand of the railway manager most clearly when 

 he termed the proposed agreement between the 

 Great Northern and the Great Central Rail- 

 ways " an unholy alliance." And yet he would 

 probably be able to point out numbers of 

 instances where the lack of co-operation meant 

 waste and both negative and positive loss. We 

 do not know what these good gentlemen really 

 think or in what way they imagine they justify 

 the trust placed in them, but we do think that 

 the public has a right to some explanation. 

 Otherwise more and more stcx:k will cease to 

 pay dividends, since it does not seem feasible 

 to further raise the existing freight rates unless 

 a very much more efficient system is assured, 

 and to be able to do this will mean very con- 

 siderable additional expense. Nor must it be 

 forgotten that the railways in this country have 

 a very large subsidy, which foreign railways do 

 not have. We refer to the /Ti, 240, 743 paid in 

 igio by the British Post Office to the railway 

 companies for carrying mails. This in itself 

 represents 3 per cent, on over ;^40,ooo,ooo of 

 railway stock ! On the Continent r.illways 

 almost invariably carry postal matter free, and 

 in addition have to allow their telegraph systems 

 to be used for Government messages. It would 

 seem that but for this special aid many more 

 shareholders would receive nothing in the way 

 of di\idcnd. Bui in any case this Post Office 

 subsidy will ensure payment of directors' fees 

 and the salaries of 120 general managers, so 

 that they arc all riglit. 



