694 



TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION G 



A great deal of interesting information is to be found in the Railway Returns 

 issued by the Board of Trade. I have plotted some of the figures given, in order 

 to show generally .the progress which has been made through the years, and at 

 the same time to exhibit the rates of change of various quantities in comparison 

 with one another. 



Consider in the first place what the railways have cost the nation. This is 

 represented financially at any instant by the paid-up capital of the companies. 

 The total paid-up capital in 1850 was 240 millions sterling. In 1908 this amount 

 had increased to 1,310 millions. The curve marked ' Total ' in fig. 1 shows the 

 total paid-up capital plotted against the year. It will be noticed that the 

 increase per annum is remarkably regular up to about 1896 and is at the rate of 

 not quite 100 millions per annum. After this date the capital increases at a 

 somewhat greater rate, but in 1900 the rate drops with a tendency to a gradually 

 decreasing value. Part of the increase immediately after 1896 is, however, due 



200OO 



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U 



a. 

 O 



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in 

 u 



£ 



5000 



ieso 60 



70 80 '"^ 90 1900 lO 



Year. _ _ 



Fig. 2. 



to nominal additions to the capital. The extent to which this process of watering 

 the stock has been carried is indicated over the period 1898 to 1908 by the 

 curve a b. In the year 1908 the nominal additions to capital amounted to 

 196 millions of pounds. 



Curves are also plotted showing the amounts of the different kinds of stock 

 making up the total. It will be noticed that the ordinary stock is a little over 

 one-third of the total paid-up capital in 1908 — viz., 38 per cent. In 1870 it was 

 about 43 per cent. 



The lower curve on the diagram shows the gross receipts, which amounted to 

 120 millions of pounds in 1908. The dotted line indicates the net revenue after 

 deducting from the total receipts the working expenditure. This, for 1908, was 

 43^ millions, corresponding to 3'32 per cent, of the total paid-up capital. If the 

 net receipts are reckoned as a percentage of the paid-up capital after deducting 

 the nominal additions the return is increased to 3.9 per cent. 'These figures prac- 

 tically represent the average dividend reckoned in the two ways for the year 1908. 



Fig. 2 shows by the upper curve the number of miles open for traffic plotted 



