The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-11-20 00:00:00

CLe toubtiliQe Obsetkr.

NOVENBER £O, 1886.

THE RAILWAY QUESTION.

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AT the opening meeting of t! e winter
ressien o 7 that important body of enquirers
into economic subjects, the Statistic& tociety,
held the other evening at the Royal School
of Mines in London, the subject which came
np for diacussion was of more than usual
inoinent and interest, that of railway traffic,
a gigantic system which is now an altogether
indispensable part of civilisatioa. Mr. Jeans,
who introduced the matter in an able essay
dealing with the cost and conditiors of rail-
way trafrc in different countries, set, out by
!aiming hat all will allow, that the subject
of lailway,transport is cue of vast. inii:ovt-
ance—impo taut alike to 1.112 general public,
1, hose -oe.enl and itdust vial welaere is Si
cl..sely bound up ,aitli aderinate and inex- -
peeesi e transportati .11 facilities; to the
investing lab :%-e, whose ( °neer,' is to see
Fa.] r-ays • eFta'.lishe.l i a money-ma!-.ing
medium; to tha economist a.i4
wh find the p.:laic:s of railw iy devel.3pment
a fertilc flohl for philo speenlatiin ;
and to tho groat world of workers who ar,.:
maintained by railway entererise. Mr.
- Jeans then pointed: out that while the aver-
age cost of railwAys in 21 countries was
a') net £17,8:;U a mile, th.tt mean is only
about a thir.l of thi av:ra.,,e in Engla.id and
Watts, ani o'.. -half of- ;lett in Scotl
• This comparatiTely immonso outlay upon
om.tracti n the essayist :eonsidered. capable
_ of conAilerablo amelioration, and th:s
he
• in 'or:ler that capital might be earning
- all possible increment for the use and good
- pt-the commanity. The root of the railway--
problem is here, holds Mr. Jeans Engiish
- ..railways cost so. much making that they
-_ cannot -be worked-refitably without charg-
ing exorbitant rates, and this he proceeded
to prey!) by elaborate comparisons and an
array of figures. He establishes that it is
heeeasary for an average Engl.sh railway to
earn -Ll7OO per mile, in order t9,3lfir4e.
. dividend-of-low per cent.:-----" "
' that cont: oats
railways !ttL•
—a partoto f things
. see.- no adequate remedc„shaft tie
Unction of,the immense capital burden a
process which, commercial reformer though
be is, he could scarcely consider at all likely
to be regarded as practicable. So drastic
an expedient, though it should prove the
-Salvation of Commerce, would not meet IN ith
the approbation of the great army of holdeis
of railway scrip. Mr Jeans was not without
hope, - however, that very considerable
amendment might be-made in the matter cf
working expenses. Thi, re are many notable
- differences in the =tier of economical work-
ing between the various great wuil),lnies of
the United. Kingdom----cliiTeeences which are
far from being aciJunted fee by the aria-
lions in the geographical condition of the
districts railed over by the respective lints.
Systematic, general; and intelligent economy
- lilts urged as what the public had a right to
- demand in order that rates might be reduced.
- Parliamentary and legal contests, .in which
so many millions of money, afterwards to be
re-collected from . passengers and traders,-
were wasted, . werie'condemned. The adop-
tion, by elaborate . arrangement, of greater
train loads both of goods and passengers was
connselled, so that no train should ever ran
without producing profit. All these subsi-
diary suggestions, however, were only swan
matters as contrasted with the great question
of original outlay, which had made English
railways cost broadly, four times as much
as those: in America, and doable the
amount of those in Germany, Italy, and
Austria. Mr. Jeans enlarged on the relative
value and. earning capability of goods and
passenger traffic, and showed that while
apparently the transport of passengers
seemed much the most lucrative, it was not
really so, because of the larger expense of
twirling fast traffic and providing accommo-
dation for travellers. It was interesting to
Tote, from a comparison. of the passenger
traffic returns of two leading companies, that
between 1876 and 1385 the average receipts
from each first-class carriage decreased by
46 per cent. and the average receipts from
third-class carriages by 10 per cent., that
the avvit.ge niunbee.of prassengers per first-
class carriage,decregkeab 54."-per cent., and
that theaveirage number .of passengers per
. third .class carriage increased by 10 -per cent.,
while in 1885 each third-class carriage
earned nearly three times as much as each
first-class and carried nine times as many
passengers: It was also shown that second-
elms carriages were a much greater source
of profit-than first-class, although scarcely
so. much is third-class carriages. A great
many other instructive details were dealt
with; and then the chai:man remarked that
it should-be the aim of all -railway directors
to or easy inducement to tie public to
make use of the facilities they were circa ing.
A little dose inspection of cat. 'ages on some
of our lines, he eenSidered, would go a long
way to abolish the painful-speetAL le of e /Bp ty
trains running up 440 dowit I.,ng line., at
great cost. Northern lime were much more
perfect than those in the South of England,
where mach is still to be desired in the w,i v
*7 of convenience and comfort to the p nger,
The chairman held that no railway sit .ul
- - earn a shilling 'Where it might be earnim,
two sixpences; but all ought to be worked
- upon the principle'_OT serving the public at
the lowest remunerative 'charges. The most
important .sPestkerist the. meeting, however,
was the.R*ht• Hon. A. J. Sinndella, who
has lung Leen regarded both by Liberals
and Conservatives as an authority upon com-
:.?, flier:el and also as well entitled to express
• an intelligible. reflex 'Of *the • opinion of the
• great public on anYthii iVinnected with the
railway question. Mr.ltiundella did not at
al, agree with the opinion thkt the Board of
-1,1ado•bould• not bo permitted to interfere
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