172 REPORT—1858. 
vided always the one necessity of all insurance against risks, and sufficient numbers, 
be supplied. This little Society was founded at Warwick in July Jast (1858), the Lord 
Lieutenant, the High Sheriff, Lord Warwick, Lord Willoughby, and several magi- 
strates and gentlemen of the county, as well as two or three gentlemen from Coventry 
and Northampton, being present, and vouching for the working of the Coventry and 
Northampton Dispensaries for more than twenty years. To this Society the follow- 
ing towns have already applied for information :—Bath, Bradford, Conway, Hereford, 
Southend, and Tadcaster. It is called the “Society for promoting the principles of 
Royal Victoria Self-supporting Dispensaries.” Honorary Secretary.—H. S. Smith, 
Esq., Southam; Bankers—Messrs. Greaves, Greenway, and Smith, Warwick. The 
committee meets at the Warwick Arms, at Warwick. 
The advantages to members are, that the Dispensaries are founded on the princi- 
ple of Provident Insurance. Practice is afforded to medical men, and emulation ex- 
cited. Many cases, no doubt, are brought under their notice which would otherwise 
have been neglected, till too late for remedies to be applied; to say nothing of the 
great facilities afforded by these institutions for obtaining statistics of disease, and of 
their tendency to promote sanitary improvements. 
Clubs can be taken in en masse, and cholera cases are attended gratis. The pay- 
ments to medical men, when divided by the number of cases, appear to be about 1s, 
at Northampton, but are considerably higher, about 3s. 4d¢., at Coventry; the other 
expenses are salaries to Dispenser and a boy, and the purchase of drugs, leeches, and 
instruments. The variation arises from calculating attendance on every child in one 
instance, and not in the other. In each case the medical men have divided £750*, 
[Coventry £1 less, Northampton £1 more, ] and are satisfied. The number of visits 
made at patients’ abodes in severe cases is not mentioned. 
At Coventry each family selects its medical man for the year; so that it becomes 
unnecessary to enter every slight case among the children for a proportional division 
among the medical men at the end of the year. 
On the Financial Prospects of British Railways. 
By Samue. Brown, £.R.G.S., FSS, 
Mr. Brown gave a summary of the leading facts showing the extension and present 
position of the railway system of the country. In doing so he confined himself prin- 
cipally to the reports presented by Captain Galton to the Board of Trade, which re- 
ports bring down the information to the end of 1856. He also quoted from a Par- 
liamentary document which has recently appeared, showing that the total amount of 
capital and loans for railways in the United Kingdom, authorized by Acts of Parlia- 
ment previous to 31st December, 1857, was £387,051,735, of which £7,732,496 was 
authorized to be raised by shares and £2,614,316 by loan last year. Previous to the 
year 1857, £281,114,152 was to be raised by shares and £96,458,773 by loans. On 
the 31st of December last— 
Dividend on Interest 
Capital raised. in 1857. Per cent. 
Ordinary share .... ....000 £178,624,394 ote 6,391,746 oae 3°579 
Preference share.........+ , 58,126,627 ae 2,706,157 55 4°655 
MiQANMS teegsneasecues cacoeess a 78,406,237 wee 3,240,683 awe 4°133 
Potalesiedsisvecersts 315,157,258 12,338,586 3°915 
The companies then retained power to raise £72,194,678 by existing shares, by new 
shares, and by loans, £283,957,225 was the ainount stated to be expended in the 
construction of railway works. The length of line open for traffic on 31st December 
last was 9447 miles (2681 miles single and 6356 double lines); 993 miles of railroad 
were being constructed at the end of the year, and 3554 miles of line were authorized, 
but not then commenced. ‘The total length of lines for which companies had obtained 
powers prior to 31st December, 1857, was stated at 13,562. In reference to the im- 
portant consideration of the relative amount of loans, preference and ordinary share 
capital, Mr. Brown remarked that it was evident that whatever the state of the money 
* Less the sum paid for drugs—at Coventry, £251; Northampton, £166, 
