MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE AND ART. 
67 
Equal to £35 13s. 4d. per mile of Road. 
The cost of working tho traffic so far as the goods are 
concerned, has been shewn to be rather less than 1*415 
for labour, maintenance of horses, shoeing, &c. Let 
it be put however, at lid per ton per mile, then as 
30,000 tons have to be conveyed in the course of the 
year, the cost per niilo will be £187 10s. 
The cost of working the passenger traffic, may be 
roughly estimated as follows :— 
4 Coachmen at £180 . 720 *0 0 
12 Grooms at £108. 1*296 0 0 
48 Horses keep at £50 . 2400 0 0 
Shoeing and incidental expenses 210 0 0 
0 0 
£4626 
Or £51 8s. per mile. 
The charge thus for working will be as follows 
£ s. 
Interest... 13 18 
Repairs and renewals. 35 13 - 
187 10 0' 
Working 51 8 0 
238 18 0 
.£233 38 0J £288 9 4 
The charge for station expenses will be trifling in 
comparison to that on a locomotive line, as all the 
arrangements would be more analogous to those on the 
turnpike road. If therefore, the cost of working be 
put at £300 per mile, this will leave an ample margin 
for all charges. 
The cost of the conveyance of goods on a turnpike 
road, have been put at 9Jd per ton, per mile, this 
however, includes the charge for tolls, which is sup¬ 
posed to be sufficient to pay the cost of keeping the 
road in repair, and also the annual interest of the money 
borrowed to construct it. The charge for locomotive 
power would thus be reduced to 7id per ton per mile, 
which, for 30,000 tons, would give £037 10s. per mile 
for the goods traffic only. The cost for passenger traffic 
would be about double that on the horse rail" or £140 
per mile, giving a total of £1077 10s. per mile for 
working expenses. The general comparison between 
the cost of conveying the given quantity of goods and 
passengers, by either of the three kinds of conveyance, 
will stand as follows :— 
Railroad. 
Turnpike Road. 
Interest... 150 0 
Maintenance ....... J86 6 
Cost of Working ... 1077 10 
Horse. 
£ 
175 
179 
300 
£1413 16 0 654 3 0 
Locomotive. 
£ s. 
600 0 
368 10 
153 1 
1121 11 0 
An analysis of the above table, will shew that, while 
on the turnpike road, and on the horse railroad, the 
interest of the first cost of the road will be paid by a 
charge on the traffic, amounting to one penny per ton 
per mile on goods, and per mile on passengers. 
The charge on the locomotive railway to cover the 
interest of capital, will be 3Jd per ton per mile on 
gogds, and 2d per passenger per mile. Taking, how¬ 
ever, the hist item, namely, the cost of working, the 
charge on the turnpike road will be 7£d per ton per 
mile for goods, and 1£&per passenger per mile, (this 
latter charge is too low, but 1 have teen anxious not to 
exaggerate) On 'he horse railroad, this charge for 
working would be l£d per ton per mile for goods, and 
fd per passenger per mile, wnile on the locomotive 
line, the charge for working would he less than one 
penny per ton per mile for goods, and £d per mile for 
passengers. As the traffic increases upon the road, the 
advantage which the horse road possesses over the loco¬ 
motive road, will diminish rapidly. As the interest 
of capital expended is a constant quantity, any increase 
in the traffic will diminish the charge per ton, or per 
passenger, which will be required to pay this interest. 
It is evident, however, that a large amount of business 
must be done upon a railroad, in order to cover the 
fixed and permanent charges upon it. These fixed 
charges must, in this country, bo Wavier than they are 
either in England or America, for labour is much 
dearer bore, than in either of these two countries, and 
the interest of capital is certainly higher than in Eng¬ 
land, though not probably than ’it is "in America. It 
becomes then a matter of the utmost importance to us, 
iu deciding upon the adoption of some improved system 
of internal communication, to weigh carefully the 
various circumstances which may operate in develop¬ 
ing such an interchange of products and people from 
one part of the country to another, as will defray 
all the charges upon such improved communications. 
The example of England, of the United States of 
America, and of the North America Colonies, are all 
held out to us at justifying the assumption, that where 
improved means of communication are provided, traffic 
is sure to be created; and to this, as a general rule, 
I am quite prepared to assent; but the question we 
have to consider is, what will be the probable euiount 
of such increase? Now we may at once set aside the 
example of England and the United States. The 
circumstances of those two countries are so diametri¬ 
cally opposed to those on which we find ourselves 
placed, that to reason from that which has happened 
in either of them from the construction of railroads, to 
what will follow from the construction of similar works 
here, would lead us into error. The position of the 
British North America Colonics is so far different from 
that of tho mother country, or tho United States, as to 
warrant a belief that a system which has been applied 
with success iu Canada, may possibly answer here. Is 
there then such an analogy between the present state, 
and future prospects of New South Wales, and those of 
Canada, as to justify us in expending upon our internal 
communication, a sum larger than our present neces¬ 
sities require, in the confident expectation that in a 
few years tho traffic upon such lines of communication 
will increase to an extent sufficient to enable us to 
reduce the charge for transport to a level with those 
which would be sufficient to pay the whole charo-e 
upon a cheaper system, but one fully adequate to our 
present wants. 
The North American Colonies, extending, as they do, 
from the Atlantic to Lake Superior, cover an area of 
455,000 square miles, and support a population of2£ 
millions. These colonies border fer a length of about 
1800 miles upon tho United States of America, with 
which they carry on an increasing trade, and the popu¬ 
lation of which amounts to upwards of 30 millions. 
The communication of the North American colonies 
with England and Europe can be mado in ten days bv 
steam, and in 25 or 30, by sailing vessels. The ’land, 
especially that in tho vicinity of Lakes, Erie and 
Ontario, is of good quality, well calculated for the 
growth of wheat, and other cereal crops, for which there 
is a ready demand, either in the colonies themselves, 
or in the United Mates, or in England .and Europe. 
Land therefore, especially that In the viehiity of a Rail¬ 
road. is eagerly bought up, and brought under cultivation, 
as there is a certainty that, although the price of wheat 
may be influenced to a certain extent by the quality of 
the harvest in England, or on the continent of Europe, 
the value of the crop will be sufficient at all times to re¬ 
munerate a farmer, who pays ordinary attention to his 
lond, The construction of a railway, by lessening the 
cost of conveying produce to market, encourages both in 
Canada and the United States, the settlement of the land 
in its vicinity ; thousands flock to avaii themselves of the 
advantages tlius held out to them, and the result Is an 
amount of traffic which is not only sufficient to defray 
the costj of working the railway, but also to pay the 
interest on its construction. If, however, the settler in 
Canada had to depend upon the consumption of Montreal 
and Quebec, that is if he had uot the certainty of a better, 
or at all events, a larger market for his produce, the 
amount of land disposed of would be much Jess, and the 
passenger and goods traffic upon the railways would not be 
sufficient to justify the cost of constructing them. 
In New South Wales the population, by the last Can- 
