hold that never was there a more absurd or mischievous attempt than thus to stretch mercantile enterprise on a Procrustean bed; we scarcely use the language of figure: if we do, it is of a figure which is unavoidably suggested by a single glance at one of the maps as it is intersected by the lines prepared by the Commissioners. The dotted lines, the black lines, and the red lines, crossing each other in every direction, seem almost like the diagram of a rack upon which the Commissioners are to bind and torture the enterprise of Ireland. Prometheus, upon his rocky bed, was not bound in more rigid fetters; and perhaps, to complete the simile, there is not wanting the emblem of the vulture that preyed upon his vitals." "The plain common sense way," advocated by this vigorous writer, prevailed. The important question was decided in favour of the adventurers. There is no longer any occasion to consider the question speculatively. It has since been distinctly settled by a disastrous experience. Mercantile enterprise, instead of being fettered, was left free as the pig in Coleridge's stanza "Down the river did glide, with wind and with tide A pig with vast celerity, And the Devil looked wise as he saw how the while We may see the results in Ireland from the subjoined * For Dr Hancock's observations on these tables and suggestions as to the mode of dealing with the Railways, see Appendix V. Dr Hancock in a single sentence gives the gist of these tables. "There are at present in Ireland three railways bankrupt or winding up; two at a stand-still; six paying no dividend on the preference stock; ten paying no dividend on the ordinary shares; seven, the dividends of which were less than those paid on the Government Bonds; six paying dividends at a rate less than that of commercial interest; and but one [the Dublin and Kingstown] the shares of which were above par." The result, put otherwise, may be stated to be, that in the whole system-if it may be called a system -of 1881 miles of railway, 566 miles appear as wholly unremunerative, while 1215 miles yielded an average dividend of 3.8 per cent. Proportioned over the whole system the dividends would average 2.5 per cent. cent. In 1864 the percentage of the net receipts on the whole capital expended in the Irish Railways was, on a favourable estimate, 3.28 per cent.; and it may now be assumed to be considerably lower.* The views and the fears of the Commissioners have been verified to the letter. Some of those who derided their low estimates of probable dividends; who scoffed at a system which would, on certain conditions, pay as a whole, and yet not pay in pieces; may have lined their pockets with parliamentary and engineering expenses: but the unfortunate shareholders in the Irish Railway Companies have in many cases been ruined. The state of the railways, under the private adventure system, in England and Scotland is a little better; yet few of the railways, regarded merely as properties, *See Tables appended to a paper on the condition of the Irish Railways, by Joseph T. Pim, Esq., in Part XXXIII. (April 1867) of the "Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland." i.e., from the shareholder's point of view, are in a wholly satisfactory condition. Moreover, the dishonesty of railway management has been so gross, no shareholder can feel secure against some sudden revelation of politic fraud and concealment by his chairman and directors; can, at any moment, feel certain that his railway stock-where not paid up—is a property yielding dividends, and not merely an obligation to pay debts and calls.* Regarded as affecting the interests of the * Recent flagrant exposures of chairmen and directors of railway companies, make it unnecessary to adduce proof of the statement in the text as applicable to the present day. How things were ten or twelve years ago, may be learned from the subjoined extract from Mr M'Culloch's "Commercial Dictionary,” edition of 1857, article Railroads :-" The vast expenses which many companies have incurred in overcoming the opposition to their undertakings, and in the construction of their lines, occasioned an outlay, which, if it were to be met at all, could only be met by enforcing the severest economy in the management of the lines. And, in the case of railways, the interests of the engineers and others engaged in their management are usually opposed to those of the companies; So that it would be idle to expect that the affairs of the latter should exhibit any considerable portion of care, vigilance, and economy. The recklessness, too, with which the directors of the great or leading railways have engaged in subsidiary undertakings, or in the construction or purchase of branch lines, many of which have been attended with heavy losses, have had a powerful influence in depressing the value of their property. For a while, too, all railway companies suffered more or less from the discredit and suspicion which, however undeservedly, have attached to railway boards. It was found that some leading directors, in whose sagacity and honesty the public reposed all but unlimited confidence, had been in fact nothing but gigantic swindlers; their sole object (in which it is to be hoped they have been disappointed) having been to enrich themselves by defrauding their constituents and the public. And these disclosures also showed that, if the boards of directors associated with the parties now referred to, did not actively assist them in their fradulent schemes, they, at all events, opposed no effectual obstacle to their public, on the other hand, the railway monopolies in Britain are seen to be, yearly, becoming more and more formidable. The progress of the amalgamations which have recently set in, owing to the disastrous consequences of the system of private war long carried on by the companies against one another, may well justify alarm. Mr Joseph Mitchell, C.E., has called attention to this in a pamphlet in which he advocates the assumption of the railways by the State. He says "Till lately, there was almost no company but was at war with some other or others to preserve the property it had acquired, or improve it by aggressions on adjoining lines. Hence serious and wide-spread loss and ruin had been sustained by the holders of railway stock, through the sudden fluctuations in its value. Indeed, had not the traffic greatly increased, and the competitions been to some extent abated, the value of railway property to shareholders must have been almost wholly destroyed. But these contests have now been felt by several of the great companies to be suicidal. "Prior to 1860, and ever since, with a view to self-protection, the directors of companies have entered upon and carried out a system of amalgamations, contracts of lease, and reciprocal facilities for joint-working. And they have so combined, that thirteen great companies now divide among them almost the whole carrying business of the country. Already the London and North-Western Company extends from London to Carlisle. The Caledonian and Scottish Central, which are about to be amalgamated, will, when united, regulate the traffic from Euston Square to the extreme north. The Midland, the Great Northern, and the North-Eastern, seem destined to unite in a development. Hence the just discredit that has attached to most railway companies. Some of them put forward detailed statements of their affairs; but these, how accurate soever, obtained but little confidence. This ignorance was, however, alike prejudicial to the public interests and to those of all really well-managed companies, and was at once an incentive to and a cloak for all sorts of nefarious practices." |