The Express.
London, England, 1848-10-19 00:00:00

fatal mischief the state, instead of checking, has of
'ate years done all in its power to aggravate. We
bays seen how parliament burked the gauge commis-
dopers' report--we have noticed how the railway
semomiseon, appointed with the sanction of paella-
meat, ha increased the confusion arising from
the riveiry of the systems. Over a vast surer^.
of raffle iy property, this unstatesmanlike conduct
bee eat a blight which can never be wholly extir-
pated, elide the communications of the country have
at the :..ate time been permanently deranged.
WM.. these several causes were promoting schemes
upon 5.... mu, for various lines that were either super-
' thou, er mature, or ill-coneidered—and thia, too,
throttle. in expense of parliameetary struggles, cost-
jai/ creel onus sums—the legislature was busy in
taking na Ivantage of the excitement in another way,
whim now telling heavily on the outcome and in-
come of neilway undertakings. The cry arose for re-
duced L 1,6 and cheap fares, and every company,
new or that came to parliament, bud to submit,
u the vrice of its sanction, to see its rates
cut e1...a to a maximum below the level of
profitat working in many, instances. Not only
were r,v conditions imposed on behalf of the
public ...ice, but the general business of the lines
wee Lb . subjected to terms that expensive under-
taking- and of this expense our legislature has
directl! • rested a large portion—could not safely
bear. t as we said at the time, was a very short
sighted 'hey ; and the result is now beginning to
make tee. character apparent.
Thee.. ausea, for awhile indeed, were not seen to act
upon rse -ray revenues, or on the pockets of three
who hal subscribed, whether for shares in new lines,
or for it. teased capital for additions to be mode to
old on While the works were going on, shares
at big. premiums, and money could easily be
got he calk, the practical effect on profit-
able i: me and on the value of the pro-
perty e for a time in suspense. Seine of the
weber raw it coining ; but in general the impres-
sion was hat all would go on as heretofore. Bet the
time dial . nos in 1846 when the real issue could no
longer be avoided; and, most unfortunately, this
period seas also ono of Extreme general distres',
which ill its money hard to come by, and also dimi-
nished ~..dle all over the country. It was found, in
the gnat companies especially, that of the new lines
and be...cites opened, the profits fell much below what
the case.. franks bad previously realised, while the
new tends had begun to bleed the profits on the
latter a: Jo Every thing thus worked together to
bring dewn the standard of income. It became clear
that wit immured mileage, whi e working expenses
incresste, the sane of profits, in many cases the gross
earnings, even, did not kc.p up to the former stand-
ard; so tnat there was lees net returns available to
meet the demands for dividend on a largely increased
espitaL 'lbis naturally threw a damp on the pros-
pets of eves yet to be n;ade, and besides this, the
means en paying calls on those to which the pramoters
bad eagerly pledged themselves, were severely nar-
rowed et no moment when the result of what had
already ...en expended was reen to be anything but
satisfactory. 'flies, when the difficulty of going on
would 1 Ave been felt, even with a coefident hope of
ultimate realising a sufficient profit thereby, it came
to be reel, also that the result of the process, if judged
by past . eeerience, would of itself be far from invi-
ting. I re, then, lie the real causes which have re-
duced th value of railway property, and their action
has bee, mereasel by the material circumstance that
tic der have cot been so ready to observe their
appresat a..tor so resolute in facia.; the growing diffi-
culties oi the case, as prudence would have demanded.
What tiny have been pressing bad indeed been
applaud. o and desired by their proprietors in other
timer, 1. this circumstance will not quite justify
their wis urn in acting on this sanction under altered
eircumataimes to the extent that they have
done. 'I my appear to have expected too much from
a ge sers mprovement in the state of affairs which
has not *ekes place, and also to have been rather too
eselusise le attached to the prosecution cf what it
met thee. such hard struggles to obtain. A little
foresight, we think, would have made them pause at
an earlier period, before actual necessity compelled
the susise,sion of pogrom that mu,t, take place now.
• We bare thus set down the chief of those compli-
cated sge mice which affect the present condition of
railway ..tfairs. Theis being teen, it must be our
next at.. utpt to ascertain how far they have seriously
Injured property, and what may be most
usefully applied to remedy or moderate weir effects,
se as to testate it to its just value and credit.