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OUR RAILWAYS IN 1858 . It is a favourite modern theory that profit in the progress of society , as men multipl y and . are obliged to employ more labour in , procuring subsistence , has a continual tendency to fall , and this tendency , accordiijg 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 conveys-men and . commodities from where they are not wanted to where they ' -are wanted , is tantamount to the discovery of new 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 enownous train is quietly conducted into a new path , shunted till another has passed , or sent forward in a new direction ; breaks which stop , and buffers which gradually bring the long multitude
of coupled carriages to a stand-still withotit the least shock , and signals which direct the hundreds of trains when they must stop , or when move on , are only specimens of the many extraordinary parts of the rail , which never fail to excite admiration . Yet this gi-ea , t invention , so wonderfully successftil as a mechanical contrivance , and so remarkable as ajneajis of saving labouiy 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 1-5 to 25 per cent , per annum , the railway— -the great means of enhancing the
general rate of profit , of which banking profit is only a part , and out of which it is paid—has not yielded , on the whole , more than an average of 3 ^ per cent ., and many railways have paid no divir dends at all . So great a mechanical success , combined witli so great a pecuniary disappointment , is nqt to be found in the anualjs 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 . earnestl y honestly , and zealously ; 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 iu the concern with the expectation of getting large returns without trouble , and which they could not or would not take means tb secure ^—did their work hastily , unthinkingly , very greedily , and very often very fraudulently . \ These different results acid another to the many great lessons which facts are continually impressing on mankindthough they are as continually disregarded—that success , contimioxis success , is only to bo obtained by earnest , honest , 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 , hi knowledge , earnestness , and integrity , and distrust and despise ignorant meddlers , pretenders to knowledge , who are only greedy of power and wealth . They are now forced on our atteiitipn by the official aocount fust ' , published , the latest that can bo prepared of the traffic of all the railways in England , Wales , Scotland , and Ireland , in tbo half I -year ended . Juno 30 th , 1858 , compared with n summary of the tniflic in the half-year ended Juno , 1857 , which brings under noti . ee one immediate cause of the pecuniary failure of pur railways .
The total receipts from all sorts of tralhc on all the lines in the homo empire , in the six months ended June , 18 / 38 , was 11 , 180 , 924 * ., and ended June , 1857 , 11 , 401 , 0102 . 5 a diminution in tho first hall of 1858 , nu compared to 1857 ' , of 330 , 986 / . ; a noble income , nevertheless-- n groat revenue worthily gained . On the Septeh rails the decrease was only 727 £ , which was entirely for goods , tho receipts for passengers having increased . On
the Irish rails there was an increase of 8 , 0467 . ; 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 decline was greater on the carriage of goods , on all the railways , from 6 , 147 , 172 * . to 5 , 925 , 510 * ., or 221 ^ 662 / ., than on the passengers , from 3 , 314 , 737 ? . to 5 , 205 , 4147 ., or 109 , 3237 . Further , the decline in the receipts from passengers was wholly of the first and second class , together 117 , 3317 ., while- the receipts from the third class were 11 , 4177 . 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 be expected , like the success of all other useful contrivances , from serving the great multitude well , rather than the aristocratic few . It . may be still further noticed , that tlie receipts from the carriage of minerals was greater in 1858 than in 1857 , and that tlie entire falling-off in thie receipts for goods , was in general merchandise and live stock . It appears , however , that this alteration in the receipts , which does not accord ' . with the quantitiescarried- —for less minerals and naore live stock were carried in . 1858 than in 1857— -must have originated from an alteration in the rates of carriage . . MM l i -l- > l-i H * ' H-i l- » . - ' . . . ¦ . ^ oa ai oo on ¦ on oc oo en ¦ .. ^~\ rt- e * - ' . c * rt" e" * " c +- c +- e-t- —« , £ . £ . .- e . p . e . 2 . as . ¦ S * 5 e H : ¦ BjP ? R ^ a M = 1-1 > . fcH 1 H » l- » . ,+ X k-i ' M |_ t ' ' : ti t ^ l _ J eoa . oo oo oo . zc 3 P SR ' . ¦ Py ci or cjf ti oi zi * iL & ! ¦ r _ j ( X " vi 00 - ^ ¦ OS > SJ 00- ^ rpQ • : : : : ¦ : ' _ i _ L ' , O . ¦ ' fe ! ^ ¦ ¦ ' ¦ ' " ¦ ' P e « o »—i >—i oc ^* o * " 0 ¦' ££ ¦ ' 3 § oS JSJ 5 ' . - *¦ ¦ > > - >¦* - * < = * e I ? * " SP ^ ; ^ co S 3 § & sa £ ' £ a- ¦ ¦ . ¦ ¦ ¦ S 3 " ¦¦• ¦ ¦ . -, s : V Ofe ^ . ¦ co - < * rt ¦•¦'• ¦ . \ do ¦ JTj it ii ii S .. M-JS-&& 88 s § as § ^ td ti s n gwg ' W | I pa-— -w g— - g § "' g go pd ¦ F ¦ O B ^ K ¦ ' I < l =- < ,-j MM S WH * ^ " , l > SO ft « m w . MS s ¦ p-2 §' % * m 'it Bi" | . » p \ . ' ¦ 1 $ ' liti .. _ ., n $ - ^ g . , i . . -T— ~ f > fc . ft ) I . § p II II IP | * I P bd p C . fn- ¦ i * - * s ^ r *; js aa § " 3 SI B " S 5 > i ojn Pi * " i ^ P 3 S ' as gK tsS . us n td f * a 1 ___ ^ r—r That tho truffle of tho half-year of 1858 wns ovon less profitable than tho mere diminution of receipts
Commebgwl
COM MEECIA L .
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. - ' ' I ' L would show , appears probable from the fact that ; more work was actually done . Thougli fewer i 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 , 6 . 01 , 961 miles more than in the half-year of 1857 . : We g ive above a tabular illustration of the number : of trams and passengers , and amount of goods earned in the three parts of the empire , or of tlie actual ; business of the rails . ¦ The continued backwai'dness of Ireland may be iriferi'ed from this table , ¦ which is the only additional remark we shall make on it . With ii population more than twice as large as Scotland , the number Of railway trains , ' and of passengers , and the amount of goods ¦ carried , but e . ^ echilly the number of goods-trains and the amount of merchandise , are very considerably , almost amazingly less . Ireland either needs a great ¦; deal nioreta be done for it by the Government , or to be -very . much more left to its own energies . Not intending , ' ¦ however , at present to give a complete analysis of these minute and- elaborate tables , which , containing iio accouiit of" the finances of the railways further than tlie receipts , require to be examined in conjunction with the financial returns to make up the whole subject , we shall fbithe present only notice one other feu Uire of these , returns . From it having "been repeatedly ptated that the competition of some of the lines lias ¦ worked to their mutaal injiuy , and that the original and great trunk lines always pay , while the auxiliary and feeding "lines , about which the competition has generally taken place , are a loss , we looked at the evidence for' this assertion . The returns inform us of the receipts . on tlie trunk , lines ' separately' from tlie receipts on the lines the companies '' work in addition . Thus tho khpihof the -Great Northern , including East Lincohi- 'liire , is 283 miles 56 \ chains , Yiiul the receipts in tlie first half of 1858 were 559 , 825 / , and the length of the Ambbrgate , Nottingham , and Boston , Jlorelbrd , Midland Counties , &c , lines , which the Company also works , was 74 miles 84 chains , unii the receipts were only 37 , 6477 . So with ( lie three other lines which have hafl the most competition , as will be seen from the following table : — LEXOTII OF LINES AND UKC'KM'T . S . OK FOFE I'lllWIPAL RAILWAYS IK T 11 K HAL 1 M fcAJt JilNDlOD Jl ) NE ISJS . a i . $% * ^ tk of 3 * 2 '~ . fe £ ¦ = § -BsKSif ? . Railway . Ug f ^ « , s X : u T *\^\ i So e , ^ - ... Fi'T i" rS . r'&Sa -. * M -J £ - «** £ ' £ ; £ |^ M . , Gh . ~ i W . 7 ! h . . « ¦<¦ ' x Eu . stn . Co . 410 17 ^ 062 , 080 - S 7 ll > . { a ? , ; .: (;! 1 . 100 : Wt ) Gt ^ Vcstu : 103 20 717 , ' 100 08 iiO . ] 1 M , - . " . : . . l . ' l'' 1 - (> lfl ot . ' NorUi . ¦ asa . ooj r > 30 , 8 ~ ' 0 ' , r-i ai : ! . \<> -i ; n ! M N . Wcstn . 003 18 $ l , 510 , n-10 lWHO i : r . ' , ' . ' : i ' . ' - ' .- * L ""
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. j 1 < 1 \ « l This is tho oppocinl omtuo of ihiluw ihcnc mhlefl briupr unrtor notice . Wo presunif it mny *« ' f \ tlinttheso i ' acts do not dirtiuctly show ilm , n ' 1111 State ol ' tho oaso—that niiuiy oi' tin . rotript ^ on tho main lines are duo to tlie fci'ilurs— -thin i" ^ acodiints are not made nil to t < h «> - \ y t ' ' r ™ ( ii / lurenccs for which wo lnivu xirtcd tlu'in ; 1 U ' " tholoflfl , thcise cli / rerencos are so fiivui , « m < i * ° nuu'Uod in ovory one of llicsu lini- »* , i '"' " bullcvo they do tend to prove tin * ukom . improvitlcnou which has animated all Jhiw " ^ conipnnics in seeking to cngro ^ m'ly lj Dumiiip , tnWlic , and entering into competition . !<> obinm Li nil tlio oases tho roci-ipts on the uuxilmi-y m t » nro X'xtromely small eoinpnrod Id the ivooi |> ir i tho main lines . It is , wo Hiink , »* Mining cmrleiioe nearly as can bo ofll-rvil , Hubonlii "" ' - the general , itvot of tho gonoml dirtnpiKjin im u , tlmt tho want of pecuniary e \ xovw » i « V "" , " ' - ' JJ , to the ' rooklosB miBnmnngeniont oi lln' 0 (> ,,. J nn . d tho anisorablo lepfiulation which hws nuu »> riMod and guarantood thoir prat-oedinyw .
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346 THE LEADED [ No , 468 , March 12 , ^ 859 , » ^^^ " ... i . , ¦* ^^^ , ^^^^^^¦^^^^^¦^¦^^^^^^^^ Ft ^ M ^^ i ^ g ^^ Tjc ^ j ^^ B' ^ j ^ zsS ^ KJJi ^^ iC ^^ SCEMi ^^ SSi ^ B ^ CP ^ JSi ^ SI ^^^ SJCS ^**^^*^^^^^""^^ ^^ " ^^^ j ^^^^ Mt ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^ ^^ p ^ i ^ , ^ j ^^^^ M ^ p ^^^^^ a ^^^ ^^^^ w ^^^^ g ^^^^^^^^ M ^^^^^^^^^^^ l ^' ai »¦ ¦ —^* j ^^**^^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 12, 1859, page 346, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2285/page/26/
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