652 
Light Railways. 
actual receipts of the light line proper, and closed their eyes to 
all that occurred beyond the main line junction. 
To avoid elaborating too far the point that all Continental 
nations believe that light lines benefit agriculture, and are justi- 
fied in so believing, let us quote the words of the Prussian Minister 
of Public Works, spoken in moving in the Legislature the third 
reading of the Light Railway Law of 1892, as to the position of 
affairs in Italy, and so, as it were, kill the two birds, Italy 
and Prussia, with one stone. 
Elsewhere the construction and working of similar light railways have 
proved a blessing to the country. A traveller to-day through North Italy, 
through Belgium, and through Holland, can satisfy himself what a blessing 
these light railways have been. It is as though irrigation canals had been 
carried through the fields, and everything was growing and flourishing under 
their fertilising streams. In North Italy, in particular, the blessing which 
they bring with them is so obvious that even the casual tourist can hardly 
fail to notice it. 
It may therefore be taken as a fact that the conviction of 
all the leading Continental nations — a conviction, be it remem- 
bered, based, not on theories, but on practical experience extend- 
ing over a series of years, which, moreover, is at the present 
moment finding its outcome in energetic action in almost every 
country in Europe — is that light railways are of great value in the 
development of agricultural districts. It may, of course, be the 
case that our circumstances in England are so different that 
a thing which has been useful in all Continental countries, even 
though so widely different in circumstances as Hungary and 
Flanders, will not be of use to us in England. But the burden 
of proving this to be a fact surely lies upon those who maintain a 
proposition which prima facie seems improbable. In the absence 
of actual English experience showing that light lines are useless 
and unprofitable, we have a right to be guided by the analogy of 
other countries who are nearest to us in circumstances and geo- 
graphical position ; and this experience shows unmistakably that 
light lines are useful and profitable. 
Assuming, therefore, that it is desirable to have such railways, 
if we can get them, the first question naturally arising is, Will 
they pay in the ordinary sense of the word ? That is, can we trust 
to ordinary commercial enterprise to provide them ? Is it likely 
that capitalists will build them as they have built the main railway 
lines, not out of philanthropy or even, in the general, to develop 
their own property, but simply in order to obtain a dividend on 
their investments ? To this point Continental experience once 
more enables us to make a tolerably complete answer. In 
Holland these lines have, in the main, been constructed as 
private commercial enterprises, and they have paid a moderate 
