2 Continuous Railway Breaks , [January, 
on the several classes of expenditure for a series of 
years 
Per cent. 
1. Locomotive power... ... ... ... ... ... 30 
2. Traffic expenses ... ... ... 28 
3. Maintenance of way and works, &c 18 
4. Miscellaneous charges, general, legal, and 
Parliamentary; rates and taxes, &c. ... 14 
5. Repairs and renewals of carriages and wag- 
gons, &c 9 
6. Compensation for personal injuries, &c. ... 1 
100 
From these statistics it will easily be gathered how far 
the Companies have a direCt pecuniary interest in keeping 
their lines safe. The amount paid in compensation for 
accidents exceeds but very little a half per cent on their 
gross receipts : to this, of course, must be added something 
for injury to the lines and rolling stock caused by accidents, 
but no data are available for the calculation of the amount. 
It thus appears that the pecuniary loss to Companies 
caused by accidents is almost infinitesimal, but the cost that 
must be incurred by them in order to provide many of the 
necessary means of safety represents by no means an incon- 
siderable outlay. But if the Companies refuse to face the 
matter boldly on public grounds, and in the interests of the 
travelling public, such alterations as may be necessary in 
the present control over the Companies must be given to 
the Board of Trade, or other Government department, by 
special legislative enactment. The Companies have been 
repeatedly warned, and they have as often neglected the 
admonitions addressed to them. The question now, there- 
fore, rests with the public, and they will assuredly now 
speak out, in their own interests, in a manner that cannot 
fail to command respeCt from the most unimpressible Boards 
of Directors. The subject has been taken up by the scien- 
tific press, whence it will, in due course, be introduced to 
the public by the daily press ; and the ball, having been 
once started, will certainly not cease to roll until the 
public have secured for themselves such immunity from 
accident on railways as can be afforded by the forced adop- 
tion of any known means of precaution or mechanical 
application. 
From the Reports by former Commissions, and by the 
