TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION F. 649 



more wagons for the same destmation. It is particularly applicable to the 

 transfer of traffic between two or more railway companies. Transhipping has 

 as its object the handling of small consignments in as few wagons as possible. 

 The small consignments for several destinations are loaded together in ono 

 wagon to some point in the direction of the said destinations, with the intention 

 of being distributed from that point. Transhipping has always been recognised 

 as necessary ; the great step forward has been systematising it. 



Improved wagon-loads could not, however, be obtained for mineral traffic in 

 this way. As a rule, mineral wagons when loaded are full, and more cannot 

 be got into them. To obtain larger loads, therefore, it is necessary to provide 

 wagons of higher capacity. As mineral consignments can be got in large 

 quantities, there is no difficulty in this respect in using wagons of larger 

 capacity. The gi'eat economy of large-capacity wagons lies in the considerable 

 reduction in the ratio of dead-weight to paying load, and in the shorter siding 

 space required to stand the same quantity of traffic. As in the latter, in some 

 cases, the reduction is as much as 40 per cent., its value is easily realised. 



The value of larger wagons is not, however, limited to mineral traffic. 

 There has always been a quantity of goods traffic for which large-capacity 

 wagons would be serviceable, and the application of ' intercepting ' and 

 ' organised transhipping' has rendered a much more extended use possible. 



3. The Distribution of Population by Facilities of Rapid Transit. 

 By Lykden MiNCASSEY, M.A., LL.D. 



Under modern urban conditions, the prevalent and well-recognised economic and 

 social forces lead to the aggregation of population into dense communities, of 

 which London furnishes an extreme example. External immigration is generally 

 directed to the central districts, and in conjunction with natural increase of 

 population produces overcrowding with its attendant evils. Facilities for locomotion 

 furnish the only practicable countervalent in rendering practicable and inducing a 

 tendency towards suburban residence. Rapid transit — an American expression — 

 is usually used to denote the facilities for urban and suburban locomotion provided 

 by mechanical traction. Such facilities in great cities mainly consist of surface, 

 elevated, and underground railways and tramways, and of street conveyances. 

 Each extension' and improvement of such facilities shows itself in distribution 

 of the population of a city outward from the centre and development of suburbs, 

 but the economic efiect, the area of influence and the section of the popula- 

 tion served, depends on the ' quality ' of the facilities provided. The object of the 

 paper, therefore, was to show by reference to English, American, and Continental 

 experience the comparative extent to, and manner in, which in modern cities the 

 distribution of population has been so affected. 



4. Lead Mining in Yorkshire. By James Backhouse. 



The general subject of lead mining in the North of England has been some- 

 what exhaustively dealt with, botli mineralogically and geologically, by various 

 writers, but hitherto the historical side of the question for any given county has 

 not been systematically treated. 



In 1863 the late Mr. Thomas Sopwith, F.R.S., read an admirable paper 

 before this Association on the local manufacture of lead, copper, zinc, antimony, 

 &c. Tracing as he did the general history of the mining of those metals in the 

 various districts, especially of the North of England, it was obviously impossible 

 to particularise on any one metal, but as a general epitome the article Avas 

 absolutely reliable. 



In 1848 a paper was read before the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, and pub- 

 lished in their Transactions, entitled ' Thoughts on Ancient Metallurgy and 

 Mining in Brigantia and other parts of Britain,' while giving an excellent 



