Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-01-09 00:00:00

RAILWAY STATISTICS.

The railway traffic for 1859 shows an increase. The
whole amount of the traffic is £25,576,100, showing an
increase over that of 1858 of £1;812,336, and over that
of 1857 of £1,413,645. The depression, of trade and
railway competition at unremunerative rates in 1858 had
the effect of annihilating; the ordinary increase of traffic,
and, for the first time in the 'history of railway traffic,
depressing the receipts £400,000 below those of the
preeedinr,er year.
In order to explain what is meant by the " ordinary
increase of traffic," it is necessary to state that during
the fourteen years preceding
.1858 the increase in the
traffic receipts of railways in the United Kingdom
averaged £1,380,000 per annum. In estimating the
actual loss of traffic in 1858,' as compared with the pre-
ceding year, the £1,380,000 must be added to the
£400,000 deficiency as compared with 1857, makinc,
together £1,780,000, or about 6 per cent. of the whole
receipts; this might appear' a small matter to persons
unacquainted with the mysteries of railway finance, but
the effect was to reduce the balances available for ordi-
nary dividends.
The continual increase in the capital accounts of rail-
way companies causes a perpetual increase in the fixed
charges against revenue, which must be met before any
dividend can be declared on the ordinary capital. The
fixed charges of some railway companies are so heavy
that a comparatively small depression of trade deprives
the ordinary shareholders of dividend, and leaves others
with very small ones.
Whatever might have been the financial difficulties of
railway companies, they cannot be attributed so much
to a deficiency of traffic as to the lavish expenditure of
capital, the improvident leases, and guarantees.
The progressive development of railway traffic must
be considered as very satisfactory, for in the year 1842
the traffic receipts on 1,630 miles of railway in the
United Kingdom amounted to £4,470,700, while in the
past year they amounted on 9,568 miles, to £25,576,100,
showing an increase in the mileage of 7,938 miles'
and in the receipts of £21,105,400, being an advance at
the average rate of 467 miles, and of £1,241,500 per
annum.

The expenditure of capital on the. railways ad-
vanced rather faster than the traffic. In 1842 the ex-
penditure on the railways above referred to amounted
to £54,380,100, and in 1859 to £222,219,100, showing
an increase of £267,839,000 in 17 years,. being at the
average rate of £15,755,200 per annum. ' Of course,
the expenditure in some of those years was much
more than double the average, and in other years less
than one-half the average. In the year 1842 the gross
traffic receipts amounted to 8.22 per cent. of the expen-
diture on capital account, and thence they gradually rose
to 9.13. per cent. in the year 1845. The percentage of
gross traffic receipts then declined until, in 1850, owing
to the heavy expenditure in that and preceding years, the
traffic receipts only amounted to 5.70 per cent. of the
outlay. In 1851 the percentage of traffic to capital
increased, and continued to improve up to 1859,
*hen the percentage of gross traffic to the capital
expended was 7.94 per cent. Another matter against
dividends was the great increase in the working ex-
penses; which, including rates, and -taxes, rose in the
course of fifteen years from 40 per cent. to 48 per cent.
of the gross receipts.
From 1842 to 1845 the expenditure on capital account
was £21,266,000; from 1845 to 1850 it amounted to'
£154,876,000 ; from 1860 to 1855 to £61,381,000 ; and
from 1855 to 1859 about .£30,316,000, shoWing of late
years a considerable decrease in expenditure on capital
account.