644 REPORT — 1882. 



really not so if the figures were properly analysed. The same argument applied to 

 goods traffic. Two hiuidred and forty-tive millions of tons was a bigh-soundiDg 

 figure, but when analysed the amount was but small. Were the railway's, as at 

 present administered, fairly remunerative to the shareholders ? The answer must 

 be in the negative. The average dividend for the entire United Kingdom was only 

 4'2y per cent. Hundreds of undertakings paid no dividend at all. The prevailing 

 system was not altogether without its advantage to a section of the travelling 

 public. No country in the world could show trains performing the journey from 

 London to Edinburgh, 401 miles, in less than ten hours. Certainlj' in no other 

 countrj' could one travel 108 miles in two linurs and a quarter, as was the 

 case daily on the Great Western between London and Batli. Another advantage, 

 although it was difHcult to perceive any real national benefit accruing from such 

 waste of power, was to be found in the fact that every morning and evening the 

 traveller for the North had a choice of three different half-empty trains, all mag- 

 nificently equipped, starting about the same time, and running at the rate of about 

 fifty miles an hour, from Euston, St. Pancras, and King's-cross. Competition, it 

 was said, was good for trade and good for the public. But here one failed to see 

 any beneficial result, inasmuch as the three companies had adopted tlie principle of 

 ' unity of administration ' as to the amount of their charges. In reality, not the 

 shareholders, but the public, must in the end pay for wastefubiess and improvidence 

 in railway management ; the loss must be recouped by placing ' the million ' under 

 contribution, taxing them in the shape of exorbitantly high fares. This was 

 systematically done by all our railway companies. Foremost among the disad- 

 vantages must be reckoned the disastrous effect upon trade. At present our 

 manufacturers are handicapped in competition with foreigners by the excessive 

 rates for the inland carriage of goods, and by the cost of commercial travelling. 

 We hear of rents badly paid, and of no rents at all — of farms even out of culti- 

 vation. And yet there may be food at one end of a line of railway wanting 

 mouths, and mouths at the other end wanting food, and it does not pay to bring 

 the one to the other. Eccentricities of charges are observable on all classes of 

 produce. The application of the principle of unity of administration, with the 

 consequent lowering of rates and fares, would tend to equalise the value of landed 

 property all over the kingdom. With cheap transi)ort, the price of all commodities 

 — food in particular — would naturally sink enormously, m favour of the consumer, 

 whereas its value to the producer would as assuredly rise. It is simply incalculable 

 what the increase in value of landed property, removed from large centres of 

 population, would be if railways were organised like the Post Office. Railways 

 have doubled the value of many an estate, and they would quintuple it if they ceased 

 to be matters of private speculation, and were managed in the interest of the 

 nation. The advantages to the public include: — 1. The possibility of a general 

 lowering of charges both for goods and passentjers. Millions who now do not 

 travel for want of means, would then come to fill the trains. That it would pay 

 to carry these milhons is quite certain. 2. The suppression, as far as possible, of 

 what are called ' accidents.' Mismanngement is the cause of nearly all of them. 

 In tbe single year 1880, the number of persons lulled on the railways of the United 

 Kingdom was 1,135, while the wounded numbered 3,959. Of this total, 546 killed 

 and 2,080 wounded were railway servants. 3. A greatly improved system of 

 postal ssrvices. If all our railways were imder unity of administration every 

 station coidd easily be turned also into a post office, when every train coidd be 

 accompanied by a travelling postal carriage for the sorting of letters as well as of 

 parcels. Tbe progress of internal trade and the movement of population thus 

 originated would probably not be less than tliat produced by the introduction of 

 the railways themselves, when superseding the old stage coaches. 4. The position 

 of shareholders woidd be improved. It must be remembered tliat we are dealing 

 with a business yielding a gross return of GGi millions sterling ; that the net 

 divisible profits now amount to nearly 32 millions ; that, imder unity, large 

 savings in administration woidd be possil^le ; that an army of directors (who 

 would clearly be entitled to compensation) would be dispensed with ; that the 

 cost of a clearing-house would be sa-\ed : that we should not be so foolish as to 



