The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-05-07 00:00:00

RAILWAY RATES AND CHARGES.

TEE Coeimittee of the House of Corinnors which
is• now shtiug to inquire iuto the variarioes lii
the scale of railway rates and charges in opera.
tiou in differeucparts o. the kingdom, is perform
iug a most ueefal work. It is hoped that its
labours will have a more practical result than
that which attends the operations of many
imilsr bodies as regurde other subjects. Too
often it happens that a Parliamentary Committee
or a Royal Commission devotes an enormous
amount of time to a specific investigation; a
bulky blue book containing hundreds of pages
of evidence is issued; recowinendatious to the
Legislature are made; but the questions before
Parliament are just then of a more burning
character; and topics in which the public are '
greatly interested are shouldered out of the way.
One of these topics of considerable interest
without doubt, railway travelling.
The London and North Western Directors
have sent some of their officials to the United
States for the purpose of exan,ining the Ameri-
can railway system on the spot, presumably with
the object of profiting by the hints that may
be picked up. The deputation will Ent study
the working of the New York Central and other
lines of the Empire State proceeding westward
to Chicago to inspect the gigantic lines which
traverse those territories, and are rapidly opens
itig up rich laud and undeveloped resources. A
journey from New York to San Francisco will
enable the party to gather experience from the
longest trunk line in the world. Although much
may be learned from the manners and customs
of the American mode of travelling, it must be
borne in mind that in many respects the circum-
stances of the two countries are wideley dif-
ferent. Therefore, a system well adapted to one
might be totally unsuitable to the other. The
Americans are, in many ways, a go-head people;
but the express trains which are run on our
main lines are unknown in the United States.
Railwaj travelling in the States is slow, com-
paratively speaking ; and this must be of neces-
sity, for on cheaply-constructed lines a high
rate of speed ia attended with much danger. So
far as this country is concerned, the solid end
substantial bridges, heavy and firmly-fastene.i
rai;s, carefully-fenced lines, and deep cattins
with long tunnels, are indiapensibie to the ac-
commodation of the traffic that passes over them;
but in America especially in the West, where
the distances between the towns are very long,
railwhy3 must be constructed economically if
they are to be remunerative to the eharehoiders.
In some minor points which involve the com-
fort and convenience of passengers, the system
of railway management on this side of the
Atlantic is certainly open to improvement. At
every railway station the intending traveller is
told through the medium of a large painted notice
that he must see his luggage labeited, or it will
not he put into the train. and as the booking
office is opened but a limited time before the
hour of departure, between the getting of the
ticket in the midst of a crowd, and the seeing to
the labelling of the luggage, the starting becomes
the most serious part of the whole journey, and
its worries are sufficient of themselves to deter
many persons from undertaking a railway journey
at all. Even then the responsibility for the
safety of the baggage is entiiely thrown upon
the owners, and the trouble and anxiety which
result are in the case of the timid and the
nervous, very considerable. In America, how•
ever, the passenger may go over the 2,000 miles
between New York and San Francisco, travel on
half a dozen different lines, stop here and there
on the way, never see Lis trunks at all, and so
long as the "checks " are safe in his pocket, his
mind is perfectly easy, for he knows that his
luggage his safe. Again, in the issue of tickets,
oue railway pompanies illiVd much to learn. In
New York the traveller may purchase a ticket,
often without leaving his hotel, that will carry
him hither and thither over the lines of different
companies until the number of miles for which
he bargained have been traversed. On this ei,le
of the ocean the journey cannot be broken, ex-
cept by time holders of tourist and excursion
tickets; and the passenger woo does stop short
of his destination, and afterwards wishes to pro-
ceed to it, has to rebook, and to pay a second
time fur the untravelled distance. But we can-
not always be taking tours or making excursions;
and it is not too much to ask that the facilities
given to holiday-makers should be extended to
man of business. Let the railway companies
offer every inducement to travel, and they would
soon reap their reward.