The Express.
London, England, 1868-12-18 00:00:00

RifILWAY FARM.

Yesterday evening a paper Was read at the
Irnrentors' Institute, by Mr. IL Brandon, on **Consolida-
tion of Management of Railways, and Uniformity of
Fares for all Distances." Mr. Brandon having pointed
out the error* in the present system of railway manage-
ment and scale of fares, proceeded to argue that railways
should be placed under one management. governmmt or
(the:wise, and should chargo a uniform rate of fares.
The analogy of the Post-office was exact, especially now
when it was a book awl parcel delivery, and also •
transmitter of marl. Government was also about to
take peetession of the telegraph, and hu l only t m icy
one step more and undertake tho rail se ty 4. If
showed that the present relations between
and railway property were most ure-atisf whirr. the
average dividend on 000,000,00/. steihug having b en
last year only 31 per cent. At present the fares aver ....I
Is. fur each person ; but by his plan the fares woad 1 b-.
:s. UM-class Gil. itemid, and 74. thin] ; and he ruleu-
lilted that the number of paasenere would be inereisod
sixfold. lie would propose that all Jugtrago %hoz:a he
paid for. as, if a man got from Londe o to York for GI,
he could hardly expect to get a huntlredweigle. of hi ZTig.•
which required porterage, carried for nothing. By his
taken as a whole, he expected the following result.. -
bingle tickets, 17 millions sterling; annual. .
es) reps trains, II millions; 3d. faros bah audition, 144:4 im•
charge, four millions ; saving in management by am ,Igs-
'Dation, 31 millions; total contemplated revenue, 5;
millions, being au creme over the present gr es revi swae of 44
millions sterling. Ile had not entered int. any eslcala-
thins as to gawps trains, as he did not think they wooli
much affected by the proposed change. To show that he
was not too sanguine in his anticipations, he might Niell•
tion that in the old coaching days 140.000 pasieweri were
daily carried in 3.000 coaches, whereas in lh.s the trains
earned 8.50,000 daily. He believed therefore that hie
ialeulations would prove correct, but even if the increase
should be only three-fold, there would still be an enor-
mous pecuniary advantage, whilst the benefits to the
public of all classes would be enormous, especially
to the labourers, who were now often shut
out from their market by the most of railway travelling.
lie preferred that government should take the whole of
the railway capital at • value based on a seven years'
average annotations, and that the interest should be 4
and 2-6ths per cent. Deferred shares and bondholders
would be paid out of the surplus revenue after the
payment of the above charges. The Chairman
(Mr. H. Williams) whilst inviting discussion, de-
murred to Mr. Brandon's calculations. There would
be a great increase of expenditure in providing increased
accommodation, in meeting greater wear and tear.
and the requirements of increased tea. Lion. The ex-
penses of management must also be heave. as first rato
men always required large salaries. The North Western
Railway Company gave its inspecting engineer 5,0001. a
year. He had uo doubt, however, but that great advan-
tage to the public would be the result of uni-
formity of management and reduction of fares
in the ease of the metropolitan lines. Moro
was also the question of compensation for accidents,
which must he considered. The North Western Com-
pany had paid iu one year 148.001 W. in compensation. It
was true they only paid 5,1410/. for the Abergele acci-
dent, but in that case the claimants were all burnt up.
He believed that the law on this subject must be revised.
and that a fixed scale of compensation mist be estab-
lished, basal on the class by which the rampager had
travelled. He denied the analogy between the carriage of
letters and of pas-eager, altogether. A ili,cusiion fol-
lowed, in which Mr. Varley. Mr. F. W. Campion., and
others took part; and the proceedings terminated with a
vote of thanks to Mr. Brandon.