The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-09-16 00:00:00

RAILWAY REFORM -AND NELLED
TOO!

At a meeting of the Sheffield Railway Company,
held, last week, to consider what steps should be taken
to counteract the arrangenient between the Midland
awl limat Northern Companies, whereby the coal .4
the ti,,ath Vi, hire (.'X tenflill4 I ,ver 100 miles
it eountet) was shut out if the botm,,e market, Sir
Edward AVatkin said there haul been a grit rise in the
value of railway property, alla, as far as be e.Qxlorsee,
there was every appearance of continued prosperity.
That prosperity would bring competition and capital
only npoll isle coiuliti,in, imul that was tint railways
should be nuan:c;ol not as separate soil., of a dis-
Jo!, dOl n schit,e, but managed au •Mc systs
a guy.f. Masa,- ~•oliug on a.tiocos.-iy :dud
everywhere. Wherever aniudganuati. au haul been tried it
Lad afro ol the trade of the conatrc,
dilifieuuf. the ti-at eller. nnul largely inn:eased
the dividends to the railway proprietors. It might be
wise to tarry the principle if the amalgamation of
capital much further, and that railway poulaut ty shuadd
be managed a.: regarded traffic as if it were one pro-
perty. Ile knew that he should be asked the question,
would he make a railway oumpany carry on competi-
thai with itself 1. Would ,e 1 every manpany to
'Dube a through cu-,,,fe whu•re there was ni.t sufficient
traffic u ith al/i alter company ? lie imuulul answer that
subject to a peomiary equivalent, whieh could be
quickly settled, he wmild. He had always been
opposed tuu the policy of making the railways
of England into a tort of heptarchy. Ile had
always believed that railways should be a high
road for the convenience of all parties, ant there-
fore he hail always aalvocated a universal system of
this uugh routes awl return tickets available by all
routes, which would serve the public without increasing
the mot, and would, if rightly managed, go in the
direction of a diminutiu in of expenses. The public
must bear in Mina that it was only by a diminution in
expenditure that they could expect any diminution in
the pity of doing their work. Take their case in
Manchester For twelve years they haul been urging
upon the London and North-Western I 'mnpany to let
return tickets be available by 'both routes, and to divide
the traffic. For twelve years they bast been hammering
at the door of Eustuarsquare, and they could not get the
smallest concession ounferred upon the travelling public.
Ile thought that railway directors must lay their minds
ti this, that they must work railways upon the only
sound principle that of mu operation. He hoped
that these views which he haul always taken
would be ranied out, and that they might pass frcm
these disputes and differences, which were, be trusted,
only quarrels of the day, alll WOrk iota sounder tousle
of management. If they did this, he was sure that the
trade of the country usual be largely stimulated, and
travellers would be better *co uniumulateul. There were
all kinds of expenses consequent upon what they called
comisutition. lie was sure that the working expenses
would diminish and the dividends would increase, and
he should hope from that tune new prosperity and new
security would arise, for sound prosperity always gave
security, which could never attach to an unsound state
of things, however profitable for the tune being. With
this state of things they would be able to carryout what
he haul hoped for a long time to see done • • namely, to
shorten the hours of labour: to increase the ray, and to
i do Siomething tuuwards solacing the old age of that great
body of railway servants ix; on whom shareholders
depended for their dividends and the public for accom-
• Laudation.

Referring to the foregoing subject, the Pall Mall
Cazdte rersarki : -

Now that railway companies, having sown their will oats,
are settling domll foa IVo, glorious tint more prontalile career
than that which gained for them such an evil remitation .
then lately enjoyed, it is to lw hoped that in their prosperity
they will net forget the travelling public, who certainly have
some claim Oil their Onisideration. We only Ask for a little
more security and a little more combat. no long as the
companies were engaged in lighting with each other and
handing over their earnings to law i yers, t was perhaps natural
that they should be as careless of the interests tit their pas-
sengers asthey were of theirown. Adversity produced by reck-
lessness; demoralizes those umm whom it falls. On the other
hand, prosperity the result if prudence in decidedly of nu
elevating nature, and this lends 11A to hope that railnay
cionpanles, having, retrained their self-respect, will strive to
acquire the respect of not only those who invent in their
shares but 11100 of those sub, sit in their carriages. The for.
mer trait them with money, lad the latter trust them with
life, anal therefore the claim of the passenger is certainly not
inferior to that of the shareholder. We can hardly, perhaps,
expect that the • panics will at lint refrain from killing
us; they will probably still conti 111 l e for a time to disregard
the recommendath us of the Iloaril of Trade hispectws,
more especially as they can better afford than formerly to pay
the claims for compensation which afi,lo feint the ONNlSiiiii:ll
8111:1141101 In which they indulge, but they might withont any
h. of • li.znity contrive ti make our last moments rather I. no
uncomfortable. There is great nano for horn), iti-lit in the
arrangementsfur booking im.engers old and Winn people
WI,. are obliged to take runway tickets should be mimed that
mneeinly strogglethat en oft n takes place In the book ing-
office hefore the departure of a train in order to get- it
the little hole thningh which the head of the clerk
may be seen with a provoking expression of calmness
on .his Ito, as from the security of Ills den he surveys
the tinned' rottette There FA ltin good rea,, why the sale
of rail. ay tickets should be confined Pi railway.statirn,
or why only a few nannies Fllolilll be allowed fir their t'am-
chase, and the establishment or booking offl„., in various
porta of Loudon would ProliablY ler as advantageous to the
eimpanies arts their passengs rs. Those toll, survive their
j,,umey ,A,"ald also In, siao,l the necessity of ti4bt log fre
thrir lar-,,w at the roil it surely some ht tter sytean
atilohit lw deviied for the distribution of ea:110,1,4;i mid
portinatfloane than at prersoot lii force at most of our rail.
way stations, whack May be described as no system at all.