The Express.
London, England, 1868-08-04 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 4.

RAILWAY FARES.

Tim South London Railway Companies are de-
termined to show that when they applied to Par-
liament for power to raise their passenger tariff, it
WWI only er majare cauteki. They wished to be
authorised to do what they knew themselves to be
both able and willing to do without being autho-
rised. The first of August was a proud
day for the railway interest. There was not a direc-
tor in London who must not on that morning have
felt himself a larger man than heretofore. The
defeats of the session only made the triumph of
the recess more glorious. If the railway com-
panies seemed to stoop, it was only to conquer in
the end. The terror-stricken cry of an enraged but
helpless public, the severe scrutiny of the Lords'
Committees, the doughty bearing of Lord BEDE'S-
DALE—what has it all done Thrown out an
Amalgamation Bill? No doubt; and with it,
perhaps, some stray clause here and
there from which the traveller might have
derived benefit. Rept the cost of locomotion at
its old figure ? Nothing of the kind. Over the
table of fares the directors' pencils have wandered
at their own sweet wills—adding 20 per cent. in
one place and 70 per cent. in another; turning
" sixes" into " nines," and " threes" into " sixes"
—in short, making all the little changes
of figure so familiar to monopolists.
No wonder they took their overthrow
so calmly two months since. No wonder Mr.
WsTiciir wrote as though it was the public
and not the railways who were interested in the
passage of his various bills, As it turned
out he had good reason for what he said. No act
of parliament could have put Londoners in a worse
position than that in which we find ourselves this
present August. We are shut up in a beleaguered
city ; and we can't—because we can't afford to—
get out.

The excuse made for the sudden increase of fares
on the London and Brighton and London, Chat-
ham, and Dover lines has, at first sight, a certain
air of plausibility. Railways, it is argued, are a
commercial undertaking ; and, late other commer-
cial undertakings, they must be made to pay.
Of course, people whose business is in London and
their homes out of it wish to travel to and fro as
cheaply as possible ; and if railway companies
were charitable institutions instituted only for
philanthropic ends there might be good reason
why they should carry passengers for nothing.
Inasmuch, however, as they are designed in the
first instance to bring a fair profit to their pro-
prietors, and only to benefit the public so far as
can be done consistently with this primary object,
the directors may safely be left to arrange the
fares as they think best. The two seemingly con-
flicting interests are really identical. The pas-
senger wants to travel as cheaply as is compatible
with moderate speed and reasonable safety. The
company wants to increase its traffic as far as it