if 



I 



,1 ! 



862 



REPORT — 1884. 



averting famines. The food-supply of India was always adequate to the wants 

 of the aggregate population if proper facilities of transport existed. The railways 

 of India were being carried forward with great practical sagacity, — were in fact 

 being made to pay ; and the water-ways were also In^ng carefully tended lor 

 irrigation and local transport. 



Tlie question of transit in the United States was next considered. Formerly 

 the rivers— and no country was so favourably placed with regard to these — had all 

 the interior carrying trade. Railways had grown from '23 miles in 1830 to 0,021 

 in 1850. In the next decade (18G0J they stood at 30,685 miles, against 10,4;}3in 

 the United Kingdom. In 1870 they had reached a total of 52,914 miles ; by 1880, 

 had increased to 93,G71 ; and at the present moment reached somewhere about 

 120,000 miles. They had, however, been overdone; during the first half of the 

 present year no less than twenty-one lines had passed into the hands of oliidal 

 receivers, and others were approaching the same unfortunate goal. These railways 

 had been constructed largely upon borrowed capital. The foreign creditor suffered ; 

 the commerce of the country had benefited ; but the system could not go on. 

 The land grants which had led to the construction of many of the lines had 

 greatly aided settlement ; but they too would come to an end. 



What was the practical lesson (Janada might learn from all this? Her 

 facilities of water-carriage were good on the eastern side of the Dominion; bad in 

 the central provinces and territories, except for purposes of internal navigation ; 

 vary fair on the west. But political necessities had rendered a trunk line across 

 the continent imperative, and the arrangements had been carried out with 

 wonderful sagacity and enterprise. The Canadian Pacific Railway might be 

 regarded as of vast importance with respect to the integrity of the United Britisli 

 Empire. It affords direct communication on British territory from the Atlantic to 

 the Pacific. Other railways could not be made imder like conditions ; but if lines 

 were laid out judiciously, in regard to the wants of the country, local capital 

 might be available. The author thought the water-ways of the country oupbt to 

 be utilised largely in the matter of grain exports, in view of cost and competition 

 with other countries. 



On a general survey of the entire question the author was of opinion that there 

 was already some tendency to reaction, and that railways would not continue to 

 monopolise transit as they had of late been doing. The question of cost would 

 intervene. The cheapest mode of transport, other things being equal, would 

 triumph. The projection of the Mancliester Ship Canal might be regarded as a 

 case in point. This argument only applied to articles of merchandise. Fur 

 personal transit, as also for the mails, facilities of transport would go on increasing 

 indefinitely. Some of the Atlantic steamers were now being adapted almost 

 exclusively for the conveyance of passengers and mails. General cargo might be 

 carried nnich more economically at less speed. Overland transit to India was now 

 coining to the front in a more practical shape than it had heretofore assumed. 

 Faster trains and slower steamboats would then be possible. The telegraph 

 would regulate the commerce of the world in articles of produce, and render more 

 economic nuides of transit possible. Narrow-gauge railways, tramways for 

 commercial purposes, and electric motors, were all tending in the same direction. 

 The paper contained a good deal of statistical detail in support of some of these 

 conclusions. 



2. Transport by Land and Water. 

 By E. Wragge and Alexander McDougall. 



3. On Land Laivs. By Emile de Laa'ELETE. 



Among the laws which regulate the social organisation of a country, there are 

 none more important than those which relate to real property. It is on these that 

 depends, firstly, to a great extent, the more or less abundant yield of food products, 



