582 Original Articles. [Oct., 



instance, have all the advantages of internal circulation, without the 

 drawbacks of the American cars ; and, indeed, carriages to fulfil this 

 condition may easily be constructed in great variety of dimensions, 

 fittings, and doorways, so as to be suited to every description of traffic 

 on different lines in this country. The only real disadvantage — to 

 which the sub-committee have not referred — would be as regards the 

 old carriages, that the number of passengers that could be conveyed 

 with equal comfort, or in proportion to dead weight in each vehicle, 

 would be somewhat diminished. But little or no loss in these respects 

 need occur in carriages specially constructed. 



It would certainly take time, and be an expensive process, to 

 re-arrange the internal fittings of the carriages now in use ; and the 

 system would be imperfect as long as any carriage with separate com- 

 partments were allowed to run. But, looking to the requirements of 

 future years, in the course of which the traffic of the country will, we 

 hope, increase at least as heretofore, — still longer journeys will more 

 frequently be performed without stopping,— and passengers will be 

 furnished at moderate charges with all that they require in the trains, 

 and will not be obliged to leave them during a journey, — it would 

 appear that the system of internal circulation, now much required, 

 will eventually become indispensable. And this remedy is, therefore, 

 one which should be kept in view, and for which preparation should 

 be made, not only for the good of our own, but still more for the sake 

 of the next generation. It would be no hardship on railway companies, 

 but for their future good, and the best method of attaining this object, 

 if it were to be provided by legislative enactment that no passenger 

 carriages should hereafter be constructed for railway purposes without 

 the means of internal circulation, and that all existing carriages should 

 be so far altered within a certain number of years as to fulfil the same 

 conditions. We should then, within say five or ten years, have a com- 

 plete means of internal circulation in all passenger trains ; and the 

 more the subject is considered, the more it becomes evident that this 

 is a most important, if not the principal, desideratum. 



In the meantime, as a means of partial publicity, glass has been 

 inserted experimentally in different shapes — either fixed, or to open 

 and shut — in the partitions of some of the carriages on several 

 lines. The French Commissioners who reported in 1861 were, for 

 want of a better, much in favour of this expedient. They stated : — 

 " La glace dormante placee a la partie superieure des cloisons offre, 

 sur une moindre echelle, quelques-uns des avantages de la communi- 

 cation entre compartiments. Elle peut, dans certains cas, etre d'un 

 utile secours aux voyageurs, inspirer une crainte salutaire aux mals 

 intentionnes, et constituer, en tout cas, un epouvantail materiel ou 

 moral. Elle ne porte aucune atteinte ni a la commodite, ni a, l'inde- 

 pendance des voyageurs, qui seront toujours a, meme d en masquer 

 l'ouverture, s'ils le jugent a, propos. Elle peut, d'ailleurs, etre faite 

 avec une tres faible depense. Elle ne laisse en outre passer, ni les 

 paroles des voyageurs, ni les courants d'air, ni la fumee de tabac. 



" En consequence, nous pensons que, par l'application de l'article 

 12 de l'ordonnance du 15 novembre, 1846, on peut donner la securite 



