The Express.
London, England, 1865-06-05 00:00:00

anoe.

A Commission has been appointed to investigate
the working of the Railway System in the United
Kingdom, and to suggest such alterations and im-
provements in its various departments as may tend
to the good of the public and the advantage of the
property. Owing to the present depressed condi-
tion of railway enterprise in Ireland, the attention
of the Commission has been directed in the first
instance to that part of the kingdom. Nothing,
therefore, could be more natural or proper than
that the leading business men of the chief
cities of that country should come forward to
convey to the Commission, and through it to the
Government, every suggestion, information, and
aid in their power which might tend to economise
and facilitate the construction and the working of

railways.
Such ought to have been the object of this
meeting, but its key-note was different. Low
fares to be brought about by Government aid—
this was the theme of Mr. GALT% eloquence. The
mode of effecting the object was not revealed, for
Government control was to be excluded ; but the
orator told his audience that, under an Act passed
in the year 1844, by the agency of Sir R. PILL
and Mr. GLansroms, the Government would be
empowered, on and after the let of January, 1866,
to buy op the railways of the United Kingdom :
this said, Irish imagination did the rest, and de-
nounced as an apple of discord the very pertinent
inquiry of one gentleman, " Whether the meeting
" knew what it was at t" The meeting was

clearly in ignorance as to the Act in question,
for so far as it affects the purchase of
railways it is a delusion, and the least consideration
would show that it is almost entirely incapable
of being worked. It is difficult, therefore, to
assent to the resolution that this Act "presents
" one method of carrying out the above objects,"
namely, the reduction of railway charges and unity
of action. The Act only authorises the purchase
of a line, or of an addition to • line (more than
five miler in length), after the expiration of
twenty-one years from the date of the Act autho-
rising its construction, and it is not easy to MA
how unity of action or cheapness of rates could be
enforced by these fractional purchases. The Act
of 1844 may be treated as a dead letter, so far as
the purchase of railway property is cow:wired.
The other question—namely, the lowering of
rates for passengers and goods—is of • distinct
character ; but if by that means such an increase
of traffics be obtained as would more than com-
pensate for the nominsl reduction of charge, there
is no reason why upon all oe many of the existing
lines of railway the experiment should not at once
be made. If the result be so certain as some
of the speakers assumed, it is singular that some
one or more of the separate railway companies have
not ventured upon the attempt ; but if it be pro-
posed to reduce the charges to an amount only
proportionate to the saving of interest effected by
a government loan to any railway, it is simply an
experiment proposed to be made at the risk of the
Imperial Government.
Railways undertaken in all cases in the United
Kingdom by private enterprise are to a great extent
an anomaly, but Ireland is more to blame than
England. She had a system of railways marked
out for her at the public cost, but the recom-
mendations of the Commission were deliberately
disregarded. The Midland Great Western was
made in spite of or in opposition to the report ;
and the Coast Line was preferred, through jobbery,
to the more central North Western, also laid out
and recommended by the Commissioners. Their
advice was only followed in that particular in
which it was most doubtful—namely, in recom-
mending that the main Southern Line to Cork
should pass through the Bog of Allan in pre-
ference to the course of the then existing traffic
by Carlow, Kilkenny, and ClonmeL
It is too late to regret these mistakes, but it is
easy to see evils resulting from them, and they
must be borne by the parties who have encoun-
tered them with open eyes.
The future is the great point for consideration.
The endeavour must be to cheapen the cost of
new railway% and thus enable them to drive their'
neighbours into a reduction of fares. The trade
of Ireland does not warrant wonders of engineer-
ing art for its accommodation, and cheapness of
construction should be enforced upon railways in
that country as a principle. To England might
be extended with great advantage the summary
and effective mode established in Ireland for the
valuation of property required for public works.
It would be a boon to both countries to amend
the practically ineffective laws which now pretend
to assist railway operations, and especially that
Act which professes to enable owners under
disability to subscribe to railways, but
the provisions of which are in reality unworkable.
Then if the poorer country needs help—for,with all
respect to the speaker who placed the 25 millions
invested in Irish railways to the credit of "the
" native industry of the country," we doubt
whether, except, perhaps, in the extreme North
of Ireland, he could point to any railway which
bas been made, unless to the far greatest extent
with foreign capital—we would suggest that the
Government be authorised to advance, not only
on the debentures, but also to the extent of one-
third of the share capital, at • low rate, say 3 per
cent., with 2 per cent. sinking fund, to reduce the
shares, provided the rest of the capital were bond
fide subscribed. The effect of this would simply
be to place the debentures at 5 per cent., or to
create a preferential dividend at 3 per cent., the
capital of which would be reduced annually at the
rate of 2 per cent., so that so much of the share
capital would be entirely paid off in about twenty-
five years.

It should be a provision that them advantages
should be only conceded to lines whose direction
bad, prior to their introduction into Parliament,
been approved by the Board of Trade ; and these
simple provisions would, to • very great extent,
check the creation of useless lines, and promote
the cheap construction of such ea are really re-
quired for the benefit of the country.
These remarks have primary reference to the
actual cost of making a railway ; but this cost lies
at the root of the question as to the amount of the
tariff necessary to be levied for the carriage of
passengers and goods. Low fares will doubtless
cause an increase of traffic, but it must be borne is
mind that the working expenses constitute • com-
paratively fixed charge, and that the reduction
falls almost exclusively on the profits. But
independent of the cost of construction, a wider
inquiry is confided to the Commission in relation
to the interchange of traffic and working arrange-
ments between adjoining companies. We &rue
it any Act of Parliament or human ingenuity ass
provide for the redone questions which man under