RAILWAYS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM—COAL AND IRON.
Thanks to the very valuable tables of railway statistics prepared by
Mr. John Cleghorn, the secretary of the North-Eastern Railway, and
compiled from the returns of the Board of Trade for the years from 1859
to 1865, both inclusive, we are able to present to our readers, in an
abbreviated shape, a number of details respecting the railways of the
United Kingdom, of a very interesting and instructive character.
Prefacing them with the remark that on the 31st December, 1852, the
capital invested in British railways was £264,165,672, yielding a
gross revenue of £15,710,554, we proceed to state that on the 31st
of December, 1859, the amount of capital paid up was £334,362,928,
and that there were then 10,002 miles opened for traffic. The number
of passengers carried in 1859, exclusive of journeys made by 49,856
holders of periodical tickets, were 149,757,294, of whom 19,204,151
were first class, 44,351,903 were second, and 86,201,240 were third.
The receipts from passengers, luggage, parcels, horses, carriages,
dogs, and mails, were £12,537,493. Merchandise, 22,005,737 tons;
minerals, 51,756,782 tons; live stock, 12,805,613 head. Receipts from
these sources, £13,206,009. Total receipts, £25,743,502. The number
of miles run by passenger trains was 49,753,344; by those for goods,
minerals, and cattle, 43,762,452; total, 93,516,796. The Board of Trade
did not furnish returns of working expenses for 1863, but we know that
their proportions to receipts were about 45 per cent.
On the 31st of December, 1860, the capital paid up was £348,130,327.
Miles opened for traffic, 10,433. Passengers conveyed in 1860
(exclusive of 47,894 holders of periodical tickets), 163,435,678,
of whom 20,625,851 were first class, 49,041,814 were second, and
93,768,013 were third. Receipts from passenger traffic, &c.,
£13,085,756. Merchandise, 29,470,931 tons; minerals, 60,386,788 tons;
live stock, 12,083,503 head. Receipts from these sources, £14,680,966.
Total receipts, £27,766,622. The miles run by passenger trains were
52,816,579; by those for goods, minerals, and cattle, 49,427,113;
total, 102,243,692. The total working expenses were £13,196,368; their
proportion to receipts, 47 per cent.
On the 31st December, 1861, the capital paid up was £362,327,338. Miles
opened for traffic, 10,869. Passengers conveyed in 1861 (exclusive of
52,079 holders of periodical tickets), 173,721,139, of whom 21,917,936
were first class, 51,146,672 second, and 100,656,531 third. Receipts
from passenger traffic, &c., £13,326,475. Merchandise, 30,638,893 tons;
minerals, 63,604,434 tons; live stock, 12,870,683 head. Receipts from
these sources, £15,238,880. Total receipts, £28,565,355. The miles run
by passenger trains were 54,055,476; by those for goods, minerals,
and cattle, 51,085,964; total, 105,141,440. Total working expenses,
£13,843,337; their proportion to receipts, 48½ per cent.
On the 31st December, 1862, the capital paid up was £385,218,438. Miles
opened for traffic, 11,551. Passengers conveyed in 1862 (exclusive of
56,656 holders of periodical tickets), 180,429,071, of whom 23,105,351
were first class, 51,869,239 second, and 105,454,481 third. Receipts
from passenger traffic, &c., £13,911,985. Merchandise, 30,256,913 tons;
minerals, 63,405,864 tons; live stock, 12,885,003 head. Receipts from
these sources, £15,216,573. Total receipts, £29,128,558. The miles
run by passenger trains were 57,542,831; by those for goods, minerals
and cattle, 50,518,966; total, 108,061,797. Total working expenses,
£14,268,409; their proportion to receipts 49 per cent.
On the 31st December, 1863, the capital paid up was £404,215,802. Miles
opened for traffic, 12,322. Passengers conveyed in 1863 (exclusive of
64,391 holders of periodical tickets), 204,635,075, of whom 26,086,008
were first class, 57,476,669 second, and 121,072,398 third. Receipts
from passenger traffic, &c., £14,521,528. Merchandise, 32,517,247 tons;
minerals, 68,043,154 tons; live stock, 13,029,675 head. Receipts from
these sources, £16,663,869. Total receipts, £31,156,397. The miles run
by passenger trains were 61,032,143; by those for goods, minerals and
cattle, &c., 55,560,018; total, 116,592,161. Total working expenses,
£15,027,234; their proportion to receipts 48·23 per cent.
On the 31st December, 1864, the capital paid up was £425,719,613. Miles
opened for traffic, 12,789. Passengers in 1864 (exclusive of 76,499
holders of periodical tickets), 229,272,165, of whom 27,701,415 were
first class, 65,269,169 second, and 136,301,581 third. Receipts from
passenger traffic, &c., £15,684,040. Merchandise, 34,914,913 tons;
minerals, 75,445,781 tons; live stock, 13,673,786 head. Receipts from
these sources, £18,331,524. Total receipts, £34,015,564. The miles
run by passenger trains were 66,555,219; by those for goods, minerals
and cattle, 62,575,724; total, 129,130,943. Total working expenses,
£16,000,308; their proportion to receipts, 47·03 per cent.
On the 31st December, 1865, the capital paid up was £455,478,143.
Miles opened for traffic, 13,289. Passengers conveyed in 1865
(exclusive of 97,147 holders of periodical tickets), 251,862,715, of
whom 29,663,205 were first class, 70,783,241 second, and 151,416,269
third. Receipts from passenger traffic, &c., £16,572,051. Merchandise,
36,787,638 tons; minerals, 77,805,786 tons; live stock, 14,530,937
head. Receipts from these sources, £19,317,475. Total receipts,
£35,890,073. The miles run by passenger trains were 71,206,818; by
those for goods, minerals and cattle, 68,320,309; total, 139,527,127.
Total working expenses, £17,149,073; their proportion to receipts, 48
per cent.
The length of the railways in Ireland is 1,948 miles. In Scotland it
is about 2,350 miles, with gross traffic receipts of about £4,200,000,
whilst the income derived from Irish railways did not exceed £1,800,000
in 1866. Thus the mileage of the Scotch railways is about a sixth of
the total mileage of the United Kingdom; its receipts about a ninth,
the total amount of British railway receipts for 1866, being about
£37,800,000.[11] The proportions for Ireland are about a seventh of the
total mileage—less than a twentieth of the total receipts. There are 35
separate Boards of Railway Directors in the sister kingdom, an average
of 55½ miles of railway for each Board to attend to, but, inasmuch
as the aggregate length of the nine longest Irish railways is 1,354
miles, it follows that the average length of each of the remaining 26
companies’ lines is not quite 23 miles. Each company has, besides its
separate Board of Directors, its separate Secretary, separate Traffic
Manager, separate Engineer, separate Locomotive Superintendent, and
separate Accountant. Could the London and North-Western manage to
sub-divide itself after the fashion of Irish Railway Companies, it
would require a staff of 73 of every one of these officers. It is to
be deplored that railway animosity[12] is, in its sphere, as intense
in Ireland as that which has so-called religion, for its basis. Both
inflict a fearful amount of injury upon the material interests and
development of the country.
One of the most objectionable features in Irish railway management is
the high rates of fares charged to passengers, but especially to those
of the third class; in fact rendering third class carriages in a great
measure unavailable for the persons for whose use they were specially
intended by the Legislature. We are happy, however, to perceive a
better, a larger, and a more liberal view is beginning to be taken in
Ireland on this subject, for at the meeting of the shareholders of the
Midland Great Western Railway—the second of Irish railways in extent
and importance, the Chairman made lengthened reference to the subject.
“It was,” said Mr. Ralph Cusack, “a bold policy to adopt a scale of
fares unusually low, to establish a system of excursion trains every
week to and from distant points, and to hold out special inducements
to the very humblest classes to avail themselves of the facilities
of railway travelling.” This policy, nevertheless, was adopted, but
it will not be matter of surprise that it did not find favour at the
Boards of Direction of other Companies, it being alleged to be totally
unsuited to the circumstances of Ireland, even where the population is
numerous and tolerably prosperous. The result, however, has been that,
notwithstanding peculiar difficulties arising from the embarrassed
circumstances of the railway previous to the present directors coming
into office, the experiment has already been successful, and will be
more so. As the chairman truly said, “people require to be educated
in travelling, and that could only be done by holding out inducements
that would draw the masses to the railways.” It is to be hoped that
the thirty-four other boards of directors will adopt this liberal and
enlightened policy. It will, we are convinced, prove alike beneficial
to shareholders, and to the material interests of the country.
The Board of Trade did not obtain returns of rolling stock from the
companies until the year 1860. On the 31st December of that year they
possessed 5,801 locomotive engines. By the 31st December, 1865, they
had gradually increased to 7,414. The proportions have invariably been
a little more than one engine for each two miles of railway open. On
the London and North-Western, as already stated, the proportion is
a little more than one engine a mile. The passenger carriages on the
31st December, 1860, were 15,076; but there must have been a great
demolition of them in 1861, for on the 31st of December of that year
they were only 14,609. However, they speedily recovered their numbers,
for at the end of 1862 there were 15,366, and on the 31st December,
1865, 17,997, just a shade over a carriage and a third for each mile
of railway open. “Other vehicles attached to passenger trains,”—these
comprise break and luggage vans, travelling post offices and post
office tenders, horse boxes, and carriage trucks. Their number at the
end of 1861 was 5,737; on the 31st December, 1865, 6,853, a little
less than one for every two miles. The use of carriage trucks has
greatly diminished upon railways, but the use of horse boxes has not
diminished, partly because in recent years all over England, wherever
there is hunting, a “horse and his rider” can go to the field, each
with his return ticket, thirty, forty, and even fifty miles, making
an early start in the morning, and returning in the evening in time,
at all events, for the rider’s dinner. The other “partly” is, that
horse boxes have for some years been employed in a traffic for which
they were not originally intended; for the Time books of many of the
railways contain notices that they are available for the conveyance of
the remains of persons to their last homes and resting places; and they
are frequently used for this purpose.
Waggons, which comprise vehicles for the conveyance of every
description of goods and minerals, timber waggons, cattle waggons,
gunpowder waggons, bullion waggons, salt waggons, milk waggons, covered
waggons, high-sided waggons, low-sided waggons, in short the _genus_
waggon of every possible shape and conformity, were 188,623 on the 31st
December, 1860, and on the 31st of December, 1865, they had increased
to 226,407, or nearly 16¾ for each mile of railway.
The foregoing figures furnish matter for much consideration. They
show, incontestably, how unceasingly the railway system of the United
Kingdom, taken as a whole, continues its development. As new miles
of railway are opened, and notwithstanding that they are situated
principally in districts where both population and traffic are light,
as compared with the population and traffic of the districts in
which railways were first constructed, the total average of receipts
throughout the United Kingdom, only receded three times. Thus, the
average receipts per mile in 1852 were £2,141. In 1853, £2,346. In
1854, £2,510. In 1855, £2,597. In 1856, £2,659. In 1857, £2,660. There
was a considerable fall in 1858 to £2,516. In 1859, they advanced to
£2,574. In 1860, they were £2,661. In 1861, £2,628. In 1862, they fell
to £2,523. They increased slightly in 1863, to £2,528. In 1864, they
rose to £2,651; and, in 1865, they were the highest during the fifteen
years, £2,691, or £550 a mile higher than in 1852.
Although the number of passengers has increased very greatly in
the seven years, the principal increase has been, as will be seen
presently, in those of the third class. As the average distance which
each third-class passenger travels is much less than the average of
one of the second class, and still less comparatively than one of the
first class, it cannot be a matter of surprise, that the average money
value of each railway passenger should have fallen from 1s. 6d. in
1859, to 1s. 2d. in 1865, and that of the total increase of receipts
between 1859 and 1865 (£10,146,611), the receipts from passengers
_only_ has not increased more than £3,606,223, whilst the increase from
goods, minerals, and cattle, has been £6,111,466. Minerals come in
for the larger share of this augmentation. In the shape of quantity,
the advance has been 26,049,004 tons, or 50 per cent. In cash earned
the advance has also been about 50 per cent. The amount in 1859, was
£4,223,002; in 1865, £6,496,402. No doubt conveyance of coals by
railway is gaining rapidly upon conveyance by water. This is every
day becoming more evident, especially as regards London. In fact,
we have by us a return showing that during the first six months of
the present year, the sea-borne coal to the Metropolis has decreased
32,480 tons, as compared with the same period of 1866; whilst coal
carried by railway has increased 154,453 tons. In the last few years
the quantity of coal carried by railway to London, has been gradually
creeping up. Last year it was equal to that borne by water, at present
it exceeds it; and henceforward, a large increase may be looked for, as
the Midland Railway being now completed to London, that Company will
be able to carry very fine qualities of coal from collieries which are
at the shortest distance from the Metropolis of all the coal-fields of
England. This will, no doubt, diminish to some considerable extent the
metropolitan coal traffic of the London and North-Western Company. It
now carries about two-fifths (about one million tons) of all the coal
brought by railway into London.
And here, as so much has recently been said about the enormous strides
that have been made in the coal extraction from our collieries in
the United Kingdom, a few words on the subject may not be deemed
inappropriate. It is true that, as will be seen from the subjoined
summary, extracted from the _Times_ of the 13th of September last,
its production has increased with very great rapidity during the last
twelve years. In 1855 it was 64,453,679 tons; in 1856, 66,645,450
tons; in 1857, 65,394,707 tons; in 1858, 65,008,649 tons; in 1859,
71,979,765 tons; in 1860, 80,042,698 tons; in 1861, 83,635,214 tons; in
1862, 81,638,338 tons; in 1863, 86,292,515 tons; in 1864, 92,787,873
tons; in 1865, 98,150,587 tons; and in 1866, 101,630,544 tons. But is
there any real reason for the uneasiness that has been created about
failure of supply in a century or so? We believe not, and our reasons
are explained in the foot note.[13]
And now it will not be uninteresting to see what has become of all
these coals. In the first place our export of them to all parts of
the world was not very large, 8,733,327 tons in 1865, and 9,622,324
tons in 1866.[14] Secondly, they warmed (with the addition of some turf
and a little wood), cooked, and made gas for the 30,157,239 persons
who, according to the most recent returns, constitute the present
population of the United Kingdom. Thirdly, we supplied with fuel, in
1865, some few foreign, and 2,718 British steam vessels, of which 1,745
were over fifty tons register, and 973 were fifty tons each and under;
united, they represent a gross burden of 825,533 tons.[15] Fourthly,
we furnished the principal consumption of coals for the engines of our
iron-clads and our wooden-clads. Fifthly, our railway locomotives ran,
as we have seen (in 1865), 139,527,127 miles, and taking the average
consumption at about 35 lbs. a mile, which includes lighting up[16]
and time that engines are standing in steam, waiting for duty, or
acting as “pilots” (reserve and station engines), the total amount is
2,625,000 tons; and to this amount may be added the consumption in the
locomotive and carriage shops, stores, and stations, 1,375,000, making
the direct railway consumption 4,000,000 tons. Sixthly, independent
of the coal used in the reduction of our other minerals to the state
of metal, we produced, by means of 613 blast furnaces, in 1866, from
9,665,012 tons of iron ore, raised during the year, 2,576,928 tons of
pig iron in England, 952,123 in Wales, and 994,000 tons in Scotland;
total, 4,223,051 tons, which consumed at least 6,000,000 tons of coal;
and, by means of some 6,000,000 more tons, we kept at work, in 1866,
256 iron works, in which there were 6,239 puddling furnaces, and 826
rolling mills.[17] Seventhly, our agricultural steam cultivation is
beginning to count for something. And lastly, our coal assisted in the
manufacture of most of the articles of our dress, and of most of the
articles we require in our domestic economy. It is by means of the coal
that we raise that we are able to manufacture the greater portion of
the articles we export to every part of the civilised or uncivilised
world. Thanks mainly to disembowelled coal, and to its noble adjunct,
iron,[18] combined with the unceasing and undying energy of
Englishmen, the money value of our exports has risen from £115,821,092
in 1854, to £188,827,785 in 1866. The returns for the first half of
1867 show a slight falling off as compared with those for the first
half of 1856. Nevertheless, they were £88,000,000. Our colonies take
between a third and one quarter, and of that proportion India alone
takes a quantity approaching to one-half. To be sure, India has a gross
area of 1,553,282 square miles, with a population of 193,100,963,
of whom 144,674,615 belong to British India, 47,909,199 to native
and independent states, 203,887 to France, and 313,262 to Portugal.
Australia took from us £13,662,650 in 1866, being an increase of
£323,409 over 1865, when her population was 1,599,580, an increase from
1861 of 333,148. In short,—let us say it again,—thanks to coal, energy,
and iron, we deal with forty-eight independent states, and twenty-two
of our colonies.[19] These seventy countries constitute, with our own
little islands, practically every portion of the inhabited globe.[20]
The percentage of the working expenses of railways to the receipts
was, for 1865, according to the returns of the Board of Trade, 48 per
cent.; in 1862 it was the highest of the seven years, 49 per cent.
But we fear that these returns are not very strictly accurate; recent
inquiries and investigations have tended to show that some of the
items charged to capital in the half-yearly accounts should have been
debited to revenue. No doubt there has been exaggeration in several
of the statements, which professional accountants have submitted to
the committee of investigation by whom they have been employed. But
whether this be so or not, the time has come when all charges must
either be made against revenue or remain unpaid. Capital can no longer
lend its friendly aid and assistance; therefore, in a year or so it
will be seen how far the percentages hitherto published have been
based on fact or on the fictions that have been alleged against them.
The subject of working expenses is an important one, as affecting
materially the question of dividend to shareholders. We therefore will
give more detailed information respecting them when we connect them, in
subsequent pages, with receipts and profits. In the meantime, we give,
on the over-leaf, a return that has just been prepared from the three
last half-yearly reports and statements of accounts published by the
twelve following companies. We are aware that as regards one company,
the London, Brighton and South Coast, the working expenses have been
stated by the present board of directors at 10 per cent. higher than
those we now publish, but we believe that these latter approach the
nearer to correctness of the two.
_Statement of Working Expenses on Receipts, for the eighteen months
ending 30th June, 1867._
NAME OF COMPANY. Rate per cent.
London and North-Western 46·63
North-Eastern 48·05
Great Western 48·65
Midland 47·26
Lancashire and Yorkshire 44·87
Great Northern 52·68
Great Eastern 53·96
Manchester, Sheffield and Lincoln 45·24
London and South-Western 53·63
South-Eastern 52·68
London and Brighton 58·86
Bristol and Exeter 49·76
We need not, at the present day, discuss the abstract question of the
value of railways to the community, but it will be well to record some
of the advantages which the population of Great Britain has obtained
by their establishment. Let us begin with passenger traffic. Previous
to 1837, the year of the opening of the line between Birmingham,
Manchester and Liverpool, the speed of stage coaches did not average
eight miles an hour. The speed of mail coaches was a little under ten.
It is true that in former times we were proud, as we ought still to
be, of the roads which the skill and ingenuity of our engineers had,
by means of what were then considered vast excavations, extensive
embankments, bridges, viaducts, and other works, carried through
the country. In one grand respect British roads differ from those
magnificent constructions of a similar nature which Imperial Rome had
accomplished when in the zenith of her splendour. Those were made
without the slightest view to commercial objects. The power which it
gave her to transport her legions from one extremity of her dominions
to another was the sole consideration with her in inducing the
formation of those great causeways, the remains of which have excited
the admiration of succeeding generations, even to the present day.
In 1837, there were fifty-two mail coaches, and about 500 stage
coaches. If we allow to each of them the full complement of passengers
that it was authorised to carry, we shall probably arrive at a
tolerably correct estimate of the number of persons who then used to
travel daily in the United Kingdom. It is true that the average loads
of mail and stage coaches was not considered to exceed two-thirds of
their number when complete, but they should be considered as carrying
full loads, to allow for passengers travelling only short stages.
Thus viewed, the number of persons travelling by these conveyances
throughout the Kingdom was (mail coaches seven, stage coaches
fourteen, exclusive of guard and coachman) 7,364, or at the rate per
annum (of 365 days) 2,687,860. If to these be added 25 per cent., as
representing aristocracy with post horses, and plebiscity in waggons,
and a few in canal boats, we arrive at a gross total of 3,359,825. To
this number may be joined, say over a million who were passengers in
river and coasting steamboats.[21] Every other traveller went by the
means of locomotion beneficently granted to us by the all-wise and
ever-provident Creator of all things human and divine.
In 1837 the population of the United Kingdom was 25,650,426 persons,
so that, assuming our calculation to be correct, the number of
travellers journeying only by road was little more than an eighth
of its population. As already stated, seven years previous to 1837,
the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (31 miles long) had been opened
for traffic. But during all that period it was simply a local line
unconnected with any places except its two termini, and its then
comparatively unimportant intermediate stations. Nevertheless, by the
substitution of steam for horse power, the number of passengers (about
21,600 per annum), previous to the opening of the railway, at once
quadrupled, notwithstanding that the speed had only increased in the
ratio from nine to seventeen miles an hour, the number of trains being
six a day in each direction.
By 1837, when the average speed had increased to 25 miles an hour,
this quadrupling had increased seven-fold: at the present time the
maximum running speed on this portion of the London and North-Western
Railway is forty miles an hour—the average speed of trains is about
twenty-seven miles, and on week-days there are sixteen trains in each
direction, on Sundays six. Yet there are now three competing lines to
that of the London and North-Western between Liverpool and Manchester.
Adding the 604,000 passengers of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway,
the proportion of land travellers to the whole population of the
kingdom, in 1837, was not quite a sixth. The passengers who travelled
on only thirty-one miles of railway were nearly one-sixth of all that
travelled by all the mail coaches, stage coaches, post cars, post
chaises, private carriages with post horses, waggons, and canal boats,
over all the high roads, post roads, and the canals of the United
Kingdom.
Observe the onward progress of land passenger development. No railways
of the slightest importance were finished between 1830 and 1837, but
by the year 1843—two years and a-half after the Great Western line
had been completed between London and Bristol—1,902 miles of railway
had been opened for traffic, and in the year terminating at that
date, 23,466,896 passengers were carried by railway. These were, of
course, exclusive of those conveyed by mail and stage coaches, and
other conveyances. Their numbers could not have diminished, on the
contrary, they must have increased, seeing that these conveyances then
began to be used in subordination, as it were, to railways, and not as
the arterial and leading means of passenger communication. Travellers
went shorter distances by them—nevertheless what used to be called the
“post horse duty,” that is the tax levied upon public conveyances and
horses employed in passenger traffic, never diminished—on the contrary,
it increased slightly during several years. For some time past it has
been modified in many of its features, so that a comparison between its
amount, and what it was in 1837, cannot be instituted. But the fact is
notorious, that even now, with upwards of 14,000 miles of railway open
throughout the kingdom, many more horses are employed in connection
with passenger traffic than there were in 1837.
The number of persons who travelled by railway in the year ending 30th
June, 1843, was 23,466,896: the number estimated by road, 3,359,825,
total 26,826,721.
As the estimated population of the United Kingdom in June, 1843, was
27,033,692, it follows that it and the number of persons who had
travelled in the previous twelve months, both by rail and by road, were
not far from equal. In fact the number of persons who travelled by
railway may be considered to represent the _excess_ of travelling in
1843 over that in 1837. Let it here be noted, that in 1843, the third
class passengers formed not more than a fourth of the total number
carried, they being 6,891,844. We shall see presently how marvellously
these numbers have progressed, not only absolutely, but in comparison
with the travellers of the two other classes.
Twelve months more, on the 30th of June, 1844, with 2,050 miles open,
the railway passengers exceeded the total population of the kingdom by
407,799; the numbers being respectively 27,763,602, and 27,355,803,
and third class passengers had risen to be almost exactly one-third
of the whole. We exclude travellers by road, not because they were
less numerous than previously, but because their numbers become every
year less important in comparison with the total passenger movement
of the empire. For any purposes of computation that may result from
these statements, they may fairly be taken for what they were in 1837,
3,359,825.
It was in 1848 that the greatest number of miles in any one year were
opened for traffic,—1,191; the nearest approach to it was in the
previous year,—780. In 1863, the number was 771. The smallest number
was in 1843,—91 miles. The following year, 196; and in 1855, 236. The
average from 1837 to 1866, both included, has been 690.
In the twelve months ending the 30th June, 1848, with an estimated
population of 28,015,685, the number of persons travelling by railway
had increased to double that of the population, 57,965,071, of whom
29,083,782 were third class,—1,068,097 more than the population, and a
few more than one-half of the whole number carried.
“The cause of this augmentation of third class passengers is,” says
the late Dr. Lardner, in his treatise upon Railway Economy, edition
of 1850, “easily explained. Previous to 1846, the carriages provided
for third class passengers were frequently without roofs or windows.
The third class trains were started at inconvenient hours, and were
transported at a comparatively slow rate. In fact, the companies
appeared to study the means which were most likely to discourage the
use of these cheap trains, prompted, apparently, by the apprehension
that the more affluent classes[22] resorting to them, the revenue and
profits from the other trains would be diminished.” By these means
the humbler classes were, no doubt, deprived in a great measure of
the benefit of railway transport. An Act, however, was passed in 1845
for the establishment of at least one third class train a day in each
direction, in accordance with a time bill to be previously approved
by the Board of Trade, the speed to be not less than twelve miles an
hour, and the fare for conveyance—in carriages, the dimensions, seating
accommodation, and size of windows of which must be sanctioned by the
Board of Trade—not to exceed a penny a mile. Without such approval
and sanction, a train is not considered, what is known in railway
language, as a “parliamentary train” within the meaning of the Act.
The company offending, therefore, is not allowed a remission of the
duty on the passengers conveyed by such train, to which it would be
otherwise entitled under the certificate of the Board of Trade, and it
is liable to penalties for non-fulfilment of the terms of the Act. In
two or three cases these penalties have been enforced and recovered by
decisions obtained in the courts of law.
The very great development of third class traffic, by means of cheap
parliamentary trains, has produced a marked change in the feelings of
railway managers upon this subject in the last few years. Now, almost
all the time tables show, specifically, the trains by which they can be
conveyed, and by reference, among others, to the most recent monthly
guide book of the London and North-Western Company, it will be seen
that third class passengers are now conveyed from London to Liverpool
by one particular train in six hours and a-half; to Manchester in five
hours and twenty minutes. At the institution of parliamentary trains
the time by them from London to both those cities was fifteen hours.
But this was just half the time that the coaches took in the olden time
between London and Liverpool, and it was also at just half the cost as
regards fare, irrespective of the fees to guard and coachman.
In the three last years, both the Metropolitan and the London, Chatham
and Dover Companies have carried the principle of cheap fares for
the labouring classes much beyond the penny-a-mile system. These
companies issue what are called “workman’s tickets.” It will be seen
by the subjoined notice[23] contained in the monthly time books of
the London, Chatham and Dover Company, that there are two classes of
workman’s tickets. The distance from Victoria Station to Penge is 7¼
miles.
With such facilities it cannot he a matter of surprise, that whilst
in the seven years, between 1859 and 1865, both inclusive, the first
class passengers increased 10,459,054, an average yearly increase
of 1,494,122; the second 26,431,338, an average yearly increase of
3,775,905; those of the third class rose 65,215,029, an average yearly
increase of 9,316,432. But this is not altogether the way to look at
it, for whilst the increase of third class passengers, in the four
years 1859-60-61-62, was 19,253,241—a yearly average of 4,893,310, the
increase of 1863 over 1862 was 15,617,917; 1864 over 1863, 15,229,183;
and 1865 over 1864, 15,114,688.
In 1865 the total number of passengers carried (exclusive of 97,147
residential ticket holders) was 251,862,715, thus composed—first class,
29,663,205; second class, 70,783,241; third class, 151,416,269. But to
the total number have to he added the journeys taken by the periodical
ticket holders. If 100 journeys be allowed for each such holder (a
number much below reality), it adds 9,717,400 to the gross amount, of
which two-thirds should be attributed to first class, and one-third
to second. _Per contra_, a deduction of about 5,000,000 must be made
for passengers “booked through”—that is, passengers conveyed in a
single journey over the lines of two or more companies. For instance,
a passenger booked from London to Limerick, is carried, independent of
his water conveyance, over the lines of four railway companies, and
in the returns to the Board of Trade he is included as a passenger
upon each of those lines as if he had taken a ticket upon it, yet,
in reality, he takes but one journey, although it is a long one, 464
miles. Deducting say 5,000,000 on this account, it makes the total
number of paying railway passengers about 256,500,000. In twenty-eight
years, population and land-conveyed passengers have completely reversed
their positions. In 1837 population was eight times as many as
passengers, and in 1865 passengers were more than eight times as many
as population.
As to the speed at which railway passengers are conveyed, we shall
speak when referring to what our railways have done for postal service.
“Forty shillings a ton for goods between Liverpool and Manchester.”
Yes; that was the price paid just a hundred years ago, and nobody
could reckon upon having them in less than a week from the time of
consignment. But the opening of the Duke of Bridgewater’s Canal
diminished the price to six shillings a ton, and the time to three
days. Now-a-days, the cotton spinner of Manchester would “spin a yarn”
of formidable dimensions to a goods manager of a railway that dared to
keep his goods more than a couple of hours on the road, with four or
five hours more added for loading, unloading, and delivery. Not forty
years ago, the charge was 1s. 1d. a ton a mile for goods, no matter of
what kind or quality, conveyed by waggon. Thus, if any were weak enough
to send a ton of goods from London to Manchester, the tariff rate would
be £5. 1s. 4d., although probably the carrier, as an act of amiable
condescension towards his customer, and in hopes of future favours,
might take off the odd shilling and the level fourpence, and be content
to carry for an even “fiver.” He would proceed at the top-gallant speed
of fifteen knots a day, and he would reach his port, if all were well,
in eighteen to twenty days from the time of his heaving anchor.
In process of time, the canal owners and lessees managed to more than
double the charge for the conveyance of cotton between Liverpool and
Manchester, and also to more than double the time for its delivery.
They did more; if any of their customers happened to displease or
offend them, their goods were put under ban. Canal managers were the
trade unionists of those days. Nevertheless, the quantity of cotton
carried was six times as much in 1824 as it had been in 1795.
The goods traffic of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway commenced on
the 4th December, 1830, with a train of eighteen waggons, the weight of
each of which was a little over 1¼ tons. The eighteen waggons carried a
paying weight of 51½ tons of goods, the tender, water, and fuel weighed
4 tons, and, with the fifteen persons in the train, there was a total
weight of 80 tons, which was drawn by an engine weighing 7½ tons, in
two hours and fifty-four minutes, just 10½ miles an hour.
The development of goods traffic of our first-born English railway,
although it was rapid and important, was not so striking as that of
passengers; nevertheless, it increased from 1,432 tons in the first
month to 5,104 tons in the fourth month. The coal traffic, from
which much was expected, was practically _nil_; it did not become an
important item of receipts until years afterwards. In fact, the Goods
and Mineral Traffic of railways scarcely developed itself in the
early period of their history, and, until about the year 1840, the
relative proportions of passengers to goods was as 85 to 15. A striking
illustration of this fact is afforded by the London and Birmingham
Company; in its estimates of traffic submitted to Parliament in 1833,
it was calculated that the goods traffic would produce £340,000 in the
first year after opening. It barely realised £90,000, and it was twelve
years before it had attained the sum of £340,000. But since 1840 the
change has been gradually working. In 1847, with an average length of
3,426 miles open for traffic, 16,460,599 tons of goods of all kinds
(in which are included minerals) were carried, and 3,709,030 head of
cattle. All this traffic may he considered a _new traffic_, created
solely through the influence of railways, precisely as the passenger
traffic of railways, enormous as it is, is the _excess_ of traffic over
that conveyed by roadway. Between 1830 and 1837 it was often predicted
that the canals of the kingdom would be ruined by the competition of
railways, yet in 1846, seven to eight years after the main lines of
railway which would come into competition with canals were opened, the
latter were paying the following percentages on their capital:—Grand
Junction 6, Oxford 26, Coventry 25, Old Birmingham 16, Trent and
Mersey 30! Have canals suffered since then? Certainly not; they carry
millions more tons of goods per annum than they did thirty years ago,
and if they have to carry at a cheaper rate than formerly, competition
has sharpened speed in transit, as well as despatch in collection and
delivery; and not only is more business than ever done on the canals,
but there is much more money made for distribution among shareholders.
In order to show the present state and estimation of canal property
in England, we have extracted from the _Investor’s Manual_ for August
last, a publication issued monthly in connection with the _Economist_
newspaper, a statement of the dividends that canals now pay to their
shareholders. Commencing with the least profitable, and gradually
ascending, we find that the Gloucester and Berkeley pays 2 per cent.
in addition to paying 5 per cent. on its preferential stock; the
Sheffield 2½; the Warwick and Birmingham 3; the Lancaster is leased to
the London and North-Western Railway, at 3⅝; the Barnsley Canal pays
4; the Macclesfield Canal is leased by the Manchester, Sheffield, and
Lincolnshire Railway Company, at 4¼; the North Staffordshire Railway
Company leases 116 miles of canal, which under the terms of the
lease have recently paid 4¼ per cent., it has been as high as 4½. By
comparing the canal receipts of the first half of 1865 with those for
the corresponding period of 1866, it will be seen that the former were
£45,414, the latter £52,488. The Grand Junction pays 4½, in addition
to a 6 per cent. preferential capital, on exactly the same amount as
the ordinary capital; the Rochdale pays 4¾; the Stratford and Avon is
guaranteed 5 per cent. by the Great Western Railway Company; the Peak
Forest pays 5; the Regents Canal, with its very large capital, pays
5¼; the Kennet and Avon, 6; the Forth and Clyde, 6½; the Oxford, 8¼;
the London and North-Western guarantees the Birmingham Canal 10; the
Coventry pays 13; the Stourbridge paid 14½ in 1864, but since then its
profits have diminished, nevertheless it pays 11½; the Staffordshire
and Worcestershire’s dividend was 21½ per cent. in 1864, but it has
now fallen to 15½,—strange to say, the only canal in the whole list of
canals that does not pay any dividend is close at hand, the Worcester
and Birmingham; its capital is £450,000, the sum per share paid up is
£78. 8s., yet the shares must have intrinsic value, as their price is
quoted 12 in share lists. The last and the highest is the Liverpool and
Leeds, notwithstanding that for about a third of its length it runs
parallel to three railways, and for about two-thirds to two; its goods
traffic is leased to the London and North-Western, the Lancashire,
and the Midland, until 1871 at the rate of 28 per cent. per annum.
Of course the profits of the Bridgewater and Elsemere Canals, being
private property, cannot be stated, but they are known to be very large.
If we step from 1847 to 1859, we find that goods of all descriptions
have in railway accounts become separated from minerals. Of the former,
the 10,002 miles of railway that were open for traffic at the end of
1859, had carried 27,005,737 tons, and they had yielded a receipt to
the companies of £8,373,283, so that each ton of goods carried was
worth 6s. 2¼d. to them. We shall not stop to tell the particulars of
intermediate years up to 1865; suffice it to say, that every year not
only has the gross tonnage increased, but also the amount realised upon
each ton of goods carried. This item which, as we have just stated, was
6s. 2¼d. in 1859, had risen steadily up to 6s. 7¼d. in 1865, and at the
same time the number of tons carried had increased 9,781,901 tons, the
number in 1865 being 36,787,638. In like manner the money received for
goods increased £3,784,956, the amount in 1865 being £12,158,239; but,
just as with third class passengers, the main increase has been in the
years 1863, 1864 and 1865. It was at the rate of about 2,000,000 tons a
year, and nearly one million sterling.
We have already referred so fully to coals and other subterranean
products, at pages 48 _et seq._, that we only add here, that the
average value to the companies of a ton of minerals was 1s. 7½d. in
1859, and that, with occasional fluctuations, it had increased to 1s.
8d. in 1865. This is a low average, and it looks as if the profits to
the railway companies from mineral traffic must be very slight indeed.
The carriage of cattle of all kinds increased from 3,709,030 head in
1847, to 12,805,613 in 1859, when each head was worth 11¼d. There was
hardly any change or fluctuation until 1863, when the number increased
to 13,029,675 head. In 1865 they were 14,530,937 head, but their value
had risen to 11½d. a head.
The conveyance of cattle by railway reminds us how enormously all
the great centres and bee-hives of our population are indebted to
the iron road and the iron horse for their daily consumption and
sustenance. “Give us this day our daily bread,” is in the prayer
that all Christians should offer up, morning and evening, and the
railways do give it in a way the stoppage of which for two or three
days would cause a famine in the land. Dr. Wynter, in the article
“London Commissariat” of his _Curiosities of Civilization_, gives the
marvellous statistics relating the daily supplies of food which come to
London. But since Dr. Wynter wrote, the population of the Metropolis
and of its outskirts has increased a fifth. Yet the great London mouth
is fed, and the great London stomach is replenished with the same
regularity as ever. As it is with London, so it is with every other
concentration of souls in the land. Demand is always increasing, yet
supply keeps pace, and never fails to be hand and hand with it. For
we have the consolation of knowing that what we are unable to produce
at home we have not the slightest difficulty in finding abroad. In
addition to the 14,000,000 of cattle of all kinds that are conveyed,
last year, from our green pastures to our slaughter-houses, we imported
237,739 oxen, cows, and calves; and as each of these animals, as he or
she steps on shore, is, according to Board of Trade computation, worth
£18. 14s. 5d., it follows that John Bull has paid for them, in meal or
malt, in money or money’s worth, £4,092,941. 790,880 was the number of
foreign sheep and lambs that came among us last year; and, as the Board
of Trade put a value upon each of them of £2. 10s. in 1865, which value
has not been diminished in 1866, the score against us on this account
would be, according to arithmetic as practised in the Statistical
Department of that branch of public service, £1,504,312; but according
to the arithmetic as known elsewhere, it is £1,977,200. The former sum
could only be correct if the value were £1. 18s.½d. per head.[24]
But we must not continue the subject in anything approaching detail;
suffice it is to say, that among other articles from abroad, we had
meat in the shape of bacon, beef, and pork, to the extent of about
1,000,000 cwt. in quantity, and £3,000,000 in value. Of butter and
cheese we had 2,000,000 cwt., of the value of £9,000,000. The use of
coffee among us is diminishing. In 1852 it was 42,000,000 lbs., in
1866, it was 10,000,000 lbs. less; but the home consumption of Tea has
risen in the same period from 54,713,000 lbs. to 102,265,000 lbs.,[25]
nearly double; but on the other hand the duty we paid for the lesser
quantity was more than double what we paid for the larger, £5,900,625
in 1852, but happily only £2,658,716 in 1866. Of foreign corn we
received, for home consumption, 23,000,000 cwt. of wheat, 8,000,000
cwt. of barley, 9,000,000 cwt. of oats, 14,000,000 cwt. of maize, and
5,000,000 cwt. of wheat flour, the aggregate value of corn amounting to
£30,000,000. Of the important article of sugar, we received 10,500,000
cwt. The strong beverages came to us to the value of 2¼ millions for
spirits, and not far short of five millions for wine. We are fond of
spices and seasonings also, 130,000 cwt. of pepper, and 24,000 cwt.
of cinnamon, cloves and nutmegs, and 1,100,000 cwt. of raisins and
currants. But the article of all others in the list, the importation of
which, in 1866, seems the most marvellous is that of eggs, 438,878,880!
14½ per annum for each inhabitant of the kingdom, ranging from “the
infant mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms” to “the last scene of
all that ends this strange eventful history, second childishness and
mere oblivion, sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything,”
and all these, independent and exclusive of all the eggs that all
the true born English, Irish, Scotch and Welsh hens lay all over the
kingdom. Truly we must be the most egg-eating nation in the world.
Housekeepers of Great Britain! we wish you to know that the President
of the Board of Trade assesses the value of each egg, when brought into
the country, at a little less than 2⅖ farthings, or about 7¼d. a dozen.
The difference between this price and the minimum of “16 a shilling
warranted” constitute the charges and profits upon them between the
time of their landing and their arrival in your kitchens. Fifteen years
ago (1852) our importation of eggs was not a fourth of its present
amount—it was 108,281,233.