of upwards of a million sterling to better his condition, but apparently throwing good money after bad! In Scotland the whole of the railways on the east coast, from the northern borders of England to Elgin, are almost wholly unremunerative, while the few lines in the south-west that pay a dividend are apparently about to sustain serious damage by new schemes which their directors contemplate for self-protection."*

These results sufficiently discredit "the plain common-sense way" of dealing with railways which was preferred to the recommendations of the Irish Commissioners and of many public officers in England. Other consequences, however, of the private monopoly system are still more conclusive of the fact, that neither the public nor the capitalists have fared so well as they would have done had the railways been placed under more complete Governmental control.

Mr Edwin Chadwick, in a recent publication on the subject of railway reform, supplies us with the means of comparing the state of the railways in this country, and in those in which they were undertaken by the State, or at least not left to private companies. He says that at the outset of the new means of communication, he, in common with other public officers, advocated in England the views which the Irish Commissioners so

* "The shares of the Edinburgh and Glasgow are now at 80 to 84, a discount of from 16 to 20 per cent.; those of the North British are at 55, a discount of 45. Yet these companies contemplate laying out about two millions in bridging, by stupendous works, the Forth, and competing for the traffic to Perth and Dundee, to which there are two lines already. The Caledonian, a few years ago, compounded with its creditors. It has now recovered tone again through better management and an improvement in traffic. But being obliged for self-protection to amalgamate with the Scottish Central, it plans a new and shorter line between Edinburgh and Glasgow, between which there are three lines already, besides the Union and Clyde and Forth Canals!"

earnestly desired to have carried out in Ireland. They objected to giving up to irresponsible private speculators the public highways and means of communication as sources of private enterprise and profit, and urged that the Government, on behalf of the public, should determine upon the lines, provide the capital for their construction, and put them up for competition to construct, maintain, and work responsibly:

"Much of this course has been taken in Belgium, Wurtemburg, France, Switzerland, and other continental States. Now, let us consider the position of the simple shareholders. In England, the net receipts, less interest on preference shares and loans, is even now under 4 per cent. on ordinary share capital; and the shareholders would have gained largely if they could have kept their money in Government securities. In Belgium, the net profits on the Government and private capital expended, average nearly 5 per cent.; in France, more than 6; in Prussia, 73, with fuel and iron much dearer. But let us look at the results to the public. It may be stated that in England, the average fares for 100 miles are-for first-class passengers, 15s. 10d.; the second class, 11s. 6d. ; third class, 7s. 6d. In Belgium, they are for the first class, 6s. 6d.; the second class, 5s. 6d.; for the third class, 3s. In France, they are 13s. 6d., 10s., and 7s. respectively; and in the German States somewhat lower. But it is reported by Captain Galton and generally admitted, that their third class is generally as good as our second class, and their second class as our first. Then, as to security, it is proved by the returns, that in France travelling is seven times, in Belgium nine times, and in Prussia sixteen times, less dangerous than in England

On

official inquiry into the causes of our railway accidents, more than nine out of ten have been pronounced to have arisen from causes under control, from want of discipline, from insufficient

* In 1853, and again in 1859, the dividends derived from the railways in Britain were calculated not to amount, on the average, to 3 per cent.-"M'Culloch's Commercial Dictionary," editions of 1857 and of 1859-60. Art. Railroads.

regulations, or from the misplaced parsimony of the directors. or the superior officers; in other words, from inferior administration. Whatever we may be as regards the past means of communication in this country, in respect to those immediately available, we are slow, and dear, and not safe."*

* "Address on Railway Reform. By Edwin Chadwick, C.B." Lond. 1865. Mr Chadwick's pamphlet, like most of the productions of his pen, is a very able paper, and well worthy a careful perusal. Mr Galt's "Railway Reform," Lond. 1865, is a more exhaustive discussion of the whole question raised, but, necessarily, merely skirted in the text. Any one who desires to form a judgment on this, which has recently again become a question of public interest (owing to Mr Gladstone's foresight in 1844, in reserving to Government the right to purchase, on certain specified terms, all the railways in the United Kingdom that from that time should be constructed), will find abundance of materials in Mr Galt's book, taken along with Mr Francis' "History of the English Railroad," Lond. 1851. As bearing on this question, I annex an abridgment of a letter, dated January 25, 1867, from M. Corr-Vander Marren, a Belgian official, to the Chairman of the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce :- "The telegraph in Belgium is, like the Post-office and the principal lines of railway, worked by the Government, under the direction of the minister of public works. It was first introduced by an English company, who obtained the concession of the line from Brussels to Antwerp. The Government afterwards purchased the Antwerp and Brussels line, and planned a general system of telegraphic lines all over Belgium. The tariff established by the State at the outset was calculated by dividing the country into three zones, and fixing the rates respectively at 21 f., 5 f., and 7 £. for twenty words. As the use of the telegraph increased, the tariff was reduced time after time until the 1st December 1865, when the rate off. for the whole of the country was introduced. Previous to the 1st December 1865, the tariff for simple telegrams of twenty words was fixed at 1 f. The first month, December 1865, produced an increase upon the corresponding month of 1864 of 102 per cent. on the number of telegrams, and of 15 per cent. on the produce. Taking the whole of the year 1866, we find the increase, as compared to 1865, as follows:

1865-Number of telegrams, 332,721: produce, 345,289 f.

In the figures for 1865 there is one month's application of the

We have thus been taught by experience a lesson which we would not otherwise learn, that to railways, at least, the principle of laissez faire is wholly inapplicable. Mr Drummond's benevolent scheme for the improvement of the masses of the Irish was destined to be thwarted through British selfishness and obtuseness. Its results at least were lost when, by his untimely death, the genius that had conceived and directed the project was withdrawn. Some of those who were foremost in opposing him are now, I am assured, the most clamorous for the purchase by the State of the Irish Railways. It is the old story,the good that might have been done can only be conjectured, the evil that might have been averted we must suffer as best we may.

reduced tariff. Upon the other hand, the incessant permanent increase of 17 per cent. in the telegraphic correspondence must be considered. The real figures to be compared are the following:

1865-Supposed traffic, if no reduction had taken place in De-* cember, 320,000 telegrams: produce, 352,000 f.

1866-Supposed traffic, if no reduction had taken place that year, 374,000 telegrams: produce, 411,840 f.

1866-Real traffic by f. tariff, 692,536 telegrams: produce, 407,532 f.

"As is here shown, the produce of the receipts of 1866 at the reduced tariff off. are, in reality, about the same as had been previously obtained at the 1 f. tariff. This may be considered a most favourable result, particularly when we take into account the deplorable state of prostration into which all commercial transactions were thrown in 1866. The Belgian Government has worked out the telegraphic system with great advantage to the country. The telegraph has not only paid off the whole of the cost of its plant and construction, but its tariff has been gradually reduced; and the people of Belgium are now enjoying, at less cost than any other country in Europe, the full advantage of this splendid invention. I have no doubt that in the course of two or three years the increase in the number of telegrams will bring back the profits to an extent which will justify further improvements."

The two and half millions which were wanted for testing the scheme were refused. A few years later, appalled by the magnitude of a calamity which, springing suddenly out of the unremedied and increasing evils of Irish society, prostrated all at once the Irish people, we hastened to fling away more than three times the sum in an effort to relieve our feelings of horror and distress. This money, which timeously and properly applied might have established Ireland in prosperity-which applied, as Lord George Bentinck proposed, even at the time of the famine, in the construction of a system of railways, would have permanently benefited the country -was wasted on unnecessary public works; in making roads that were not wanted; in making roads to and from gentlemen's houses; in making roads that began nowhere, and led to no place; and in drainage works, which, where they were completed, permanently benefited not the poor people, but the landed class. A large amount of the money was jobbed; and the real relieffund of the poor-to their honour be it stated-was that which was administered by the Society of Friends.

The following extract from the report of the Irish "Social Inquiry and Statistical Society" for the year 1865 may fitly close this chapter:

"The character and conduct of the railway system must manifestly affect most materially our social and industrial future, and the arrival of the period appointed by the Legislature for the possible intervention of the Government, concurring with the financial difficulties of the great majority of the companies which regulate the lines, and complaints, arising in various quarters, coerce consideration of the mode of their management, and raise the issue whether it has not been in many respects erroneous and unhappy. When we find that two Irish railways are bankrupt, that others have ceased to work, that some pay