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-»4« THE JLlAPEfl. [Ko.468, March 12, 18...
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OUR RAILWAYS IN 1858. It is a Favourite ...
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That tho trnfllo of tlio half-year of 18...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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-»4« The Jllapefl. [Ko.468, March 12, 18...
- » 4 « THE JLlAPEfl . [ Ko . 468 , March 12 , 1859 .
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Our Railways In 1858. It Is A Favourite ...
OUR RAILWAYS IN 1858 . It is a Favourite modern theory that profit in the progress of society , as men multiply ^ aiid are obliged to employ more labour in procuring subsistence , lias a continual tendency . to falL and . this tendency , according to the theory , is only stayed at intervals by great discoveries , of new land to cultivate , or new inventions which obtain from old land more produce by less labour . Amongst such inventions no one is more remarkable than the railway . The celerity and cheapness with which it cpnyeys men and commodities from where they are not wanted to where they are wanted , is tantamount to the .
discovery of * ew lands . It is remarkable as the parent of numerous subsidiary inventions for saving labour . The telegraph is one of its adjuncts . Turntables , by which a single hand moves the ponderous "waggon or the heavier locomotive from line to line ; springs , and guides , and catches , by which the enormous train is quietly conducted into a new path , shunted till another has passed , or sent forward in a new direction ; breaks which stop , and bunWs which gradually bring the long multitude of coupled carriages to a stand-still withoiit the least shock , and signals which direct the hundreds of trains when they must stop , or when move on ,
the Irish rails there was an increase of 8 , 046 ? . ; and on the English and Welsh rails the decrease was 337 , 604 / . As there was no similar comparative decline in the last half of 1858 , and as the weekly returns , with the prospects of trade , as far as they have gone hitherto , intimate an increase in the present half-year , the decline in the first half of 1858 , we may conclude , was due to the trade convulsion . As might be expected ^ it affected Scotch railways but little , and Irish not at all . It is to be remarked , too , that the declirie was greater on the carriage of goods , on all the railwaysfrom 6147 , 1721 . to 5925 , 5101 , or 221 , 662 * .,
would show , appears probable from the fact that more work was actually done . Though fewer passengers of the first and Second class , and a smaller quantity of merchandise were carried 72 , 580 more trains were run , and they travelled 1 , 601 , 961 miles more than in the half-year of 1857 . We give above a tabular illustration of the number of trains and passengers , and amount of goods carried in the three parts of the enijrire , or of the actual business of the rails .
, , , than on the passengers , from . 5 , 314 , 737 / . to 5 , 205 , 414 / ., or 109 , 323 / . Further , the decline in the receipts from passengers was wholly of the first and second class , together 117 , 331 Z ., while the receipts from the third class were 11 , 417 / . greater in the half-year of . 1858 than of 1857 ;— another proof of the assertion often made , that the continuous success of the rail is to l ) e expected , like tie success of all other iiseful contrivances , from serving the great multitude well , It
The continued backwardness of Ireland may be inferred from this table , which is the only additional remark we shall make on it . With a population more than twice as large , as Scotland , the number of railway trains , and of passengers , and the amount of goods carried , but ( . 'specially the number of goods-trains and the amount of merchandise , are very considerably , almost amazingly less . Ireland either needs a great deal more to be done for it by the Government , ¦ Or to be very muchmore left to its own energies .
rather than the aristocratic few . may be still further noticed , that the receipts from the carriage of minerals was greater in 1858 than in 1857 , arid thatthe entire falling-off in the receipts for goods , was m general merchandise arid live stock . It appears , however , that tliis alteration in the receipts , which does riot accord with the quantitiescarried ^—ibr less minerals and more live stock were carried in 1858 than in 1857—must have originated froni an alteration in the rates of carriage .
looked at the evidence for - . returns inform us of the receipts'On tJjc iruxik lines separa tely from the receipts on the lines the companies work in addition . Tlui * the length of the Great Northern , including Ktist Liiicolnsliire , is 283 miles 36 . ] chains , and . the receipts in the first -half of 1858 were 559 , 825 / , ' and , llw length oi \ thc Ambergate , Nottingham , ami Boston , ' Hereford , Midland Counties , & c , lines , which the Company also works , was 74 miles 84 cliain . s and the receipts were only 37 , 647 / . 'So with the three other lines which hnvu had the mos-l competition , as will be seen , from the following table : — LENGTH . OF LINKS AND 'KKCB [ I'TSj V- \ r ? K rKlNCiPAL KA 1 I . AVAYS IN TI 1 H HALFM ' . AK ¦ K 2 JL > 10 D JUNK 1 SJS ,
this iisstrtioHThe Not intending , however , at present to give a complete analysis of these minute and elaborate tables , which , containing no account of the finances of the railways further than the receipts , require to be examined in conjunction with the financial returns to make . up' the whole subject , we shall for the present only notice one other feature of these returns . ' . From it having been repeutecIIy stated that the competition Of some of the lines has worked to their mutual injury , and that the original and great trunk lines always pay , while the auxiliary and feeding lines , about which the com ^ petition has generally taken place , are a loss , we
are only specimens of the many extraordinary parts of the rail , ^ vhich never fail to excite admiration . Yet this great invention , so wonderfully successful as a mechanical contrivance , and so remarkable as a means of saving laboxir , lessening cost , and augmenting the general rate of profit , is itself a comparatively unprofitable concern . While the capital engaged in banking , has yielded its owners from 15 to 25 per cent , per annum , the . railway ^ - * the great means of enhancing the general rate pi ' profit , of which banking profit is only , a part , and out of "which it is paid—has , not yielded , oh the whole , more than an average of
3 J per cent ., and many railways have paid no dividends at all . So great a mechanical success , combined with so great a pecuniary disappointment , is not to be found in the annals of history . A short general explanation of the two circumstances thus placed in contrast is , that the men who did the mechanical part knew , or learned as , they went on , what they were about , and did it earnestly , honestly , and z ealously ; while the men who hastily undertook the commercial part- ^ -from the Legislature , which began to interfere with what it was totally ignorant of , to > the directors , who thought chiefly of filling their own pockets by hook or by crook , |
and to the shareholders , who embarked their money in the concern with the expectation of getting large returns , without trouble , and which they could not Qi' Svould not take means to secure— their work hastily , unthinkingly , very greedily , and very often very fraudulently . These different results add another to the many great lessons which facts are continually impressing on mankindthough they are as continually disregarded—that success , continuous success , is only to be obtained by earnest , lionest , and zealous exertions , and that . 'failure , in the end , is always the result of meddling
ignorance , haste , and fraud . These and . similar circumstances we ought always to remember , that we may place our trust in knowledge , earnestness , and integrity , and distrust and despise ignorant meddlers , . pretenders to knowledge , who we only greedy of power and wealth . They are now forced on our attention by tho official account just published , the latest that can bo prepared of the traffic of all tho railways in England , Wales , Scotland , and Ireland , in the half-year ended Juno 30 th , 1858 , compared with a summary of tho traffic in ( ho half ' -yoni * ended Juno , 1857 , which brings under notice one immediate cause of tho pecuniary failure of our railways .
The total receipts from all sorts of traffic on all tho lines in tUo homo empire , in tho six months ended June , 1858 , was 11 , 130 , 924 * ., and ended Juno , 18 S 7 { 11 , 401 , 910 ? . ; a diminution in tho first half of 1858 , us compared to 1857 ; of 330 , 0867 . ? a noble income , nevertheless- —a groat revenue worthily gained . On the Scotch rails tho decrease was only 7277 . » which was entirely ibr goods , tho receipts fw passengers having increased . On
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That Tho Trnfllo Of Tlio Half-Year Of 18...
That tho trnfllo of tlio half-year of 1858 wns oyqn loss profitable than the mere diminution of receipts
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'J'his is ( lie oppocifll c «« fG « l- liiilmv ili ^ ' tIll ' V / 1 briDff untlor fttic * :- We pru «« um « it Mii ; y ''^' that these facts -do not distinctly h m . w tlu ^ « U'lu state ( if the eW-timt inanv of tli « ' n-. H-miH n tho main lines are duo to the iW' < U-i>— -H '" i i"J accountii arc not made up to i- '"'^ ' lht ' r ;' UiUl-runces ibr which wo have used iIm-ihi u y " " tbelosH , tlicwu difl'ei-encoB *™ ^ " ' ""! , Je nuivkud in every one of Uiwhu Iiucn """' . . believe they < lo tend to prove llm un ** proviflcnco which 1 ms aJiinmtod all l ' ! ^ ' ,,,,, companies in seeking to untfmw ^ ' ' r ! ' ' . f trallle , and entering into , ooinimti lioii '" V "'" ' ' In all the cases tho receipts on ll . c ni . Mlim n iuk « arc extremely Hnuill conipim'd to Hit- r «¦« 'i ' J »¦ . tho . main liiius . It it ) , wo jlm . lc , » H / ! : l ; lu \ 0 donco nearly « s enn bo oU ' wod , bi . buin . ntu tho general fact of tho gonoml . liHiipp ;; » ' - ^ that tho want of pecuniary succocrt ih <; m ' - l , „ to tho rooklesa iMisujniioguirtoiit ol I" ; and the miserable legislation wliu-li has ««» risod and guivranteed thoir proeooding ^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 12, 1859, page 26, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12031859/page/26/
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