The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-10 00:00:00

The Prince au;
Princess of Wales in
Sweden.

the limes' Special Correspondent.)
STOCKHOLM, Oct. 3.
. day the Prince and Princess of Wales, with
incipal members of their suite, attended Di-
servile in the English chapel, a building of
ery unprepossessing exterior, but within furnished
in all respects suitably. The congregation, for a
foreign city, was considerable, and the great majo-
rity of those present appeared to be regular church-
goers. Hundreds of spectators, however, waiting to
see their Royal Highnesses as they came and went,
stood in the avenue which leads from the Place of
Charles XIII., the principal boulevard in Stock•
holm, to tile gardens in front of the two plain
houses that have been adapted internally to the
purposes of a religions edifice. For the practice, no
doubt, due canonical and political authority can be
pleaded, but to the ear of an English layman there

fester

the pr

'in,

always seems to be an omission—a friend's name

wanting, as it were—when upon the Continent, in
a Church of England assembly, the prayer for the
Queen of England and her family is not offered up.
Nothing can be more proper than to show respect
for local authority—but in desiring andin acknow-
ledging good government abroad there is no impro-
priety, to say the least, in desiring and acknow.
lodging good government at home. In many fo-
reign countries the right of assembling for public
worship is, or has been in times past, only extended
to Englishmen because they are ;Englishmen, and
the omission in every such case of the prayer in
question is the more marked because Divine ser-
vice is usually held in the house of the British am-
bassador, and therefore of the English Sovereign
for the time being. In these days of synodical
judgments and attempted revival of Church disci-
pline the point is one which the episcopal .bench
might very fairly consider. In Stockholm a new
English church is on the point of being erected,
which will not merely be more commodious
internally, but will possess some claims to
tuchitectural beauty. Having accomplished—what
is necessarily a work of much difficulty abroad—
the procuring of funds for such an undertaking) it
is to be hoped that the chaplain will not relax his
admirable efforts, but will remember that in the pre-
sent day good church music is becoming as essential
a feature of the English service as worthy shrines
at which to assemble.

In the course of the afternoon their Royal High-
nesses paid a visit to the Freemason Orphan Asylum,
in which Prince Osear,who is at the head, not merely
of charitable effort, but of progress of every kind in
Sweden, takes the deepest interest. Attended by
the members of their suite they afterwards drove in
open carriages for somo time in the vicinity of
Stockholm, dining in the evening with the Royal
family at the palace. To day was devoted altogether
to the second elk shooting expedition, which, just as
light was failing and expectations were dying away,
was crowned with success. The hunting party did
not get back to town till late, when the prince pro-
ceeded at once to Uiriksdal. To-morrow morning,
at 10 o'clock, the special train which is to convey
their Royal Highnesses with the members of their
suite to Gottenburg, en route for Copenhagen, will
start from the terminus here. The distance, up-
wards of 200 miles, is ordinarily accomplished in
something under 1.11 hours, being an increase in
expedition of 21 hours from the time when the line
was opened a couple of years ago. In the case of
this special train it is expected that an additional
31 hours will be gavel, thus accomplishing the land
portion of the journey in eight hours. Two remark.
able features of the Swedish lines, which are under
Government control, is that they keep time at the
different stations to half a minute or so, and that a
list of all the places at which the train is appointed
to stop, with a reliable table of the amount of delay
in each case, is legib:y printed and hung up in all
the compartments of the carriages composing the
train. Passengers and guards are thereby saved the
fuss and worry of questions at every station ; and
persons given to the enjoyment of the good things of
this life can settle beforehand in their own minds
at which buffet they will leisurely descend, what
refreshments it will be possible to obtain within the
given interval, and may avoid that distressing
spectacle so often witnessed at English railway re-
freshment rooms, where the good man, struggling
with a bowl of scalding coup or coffee, is divided
between the wish to pay his money and get value
for it, and the necessity of complying with the
urgent summons of the bell.

The Royal yacht and the miniature squadron by
which she is accompanied are already lying at Got-
tenburg, so that the Prince will embark at once
upon his arrival there. Prince Oscar will accom-
pany their Royal Highnesses in the special train,
as will also Mr Hamilton and Mr Heneage of the
British Legation. After the embarkation, there will
probably be a delay of a couple of hours for dinner,
but it is expected that, except in the case of very
bad weather, the yacht will put to sea the same
And now that the Royal visit is on the eve of
ending, a simple act of justice must be performed
towards the Swedish Court and the Swedish nation.
This is to express, as far as it can be done in words,
the gratitude, amounting to enthusiasm, which the
members of the Royal party one and all feel at the
reception they have experienced in this country.
The visit was not one presarranged long beforehand,
or in which even an immediate acceptance of the
invitation cauld be returned. The strictly private
nature of the stay in Denmark of their Royal High-
nesses at first induced a doubt whether in extend-
ing their journey as far as Sweden there might not
be something out of character with the family ex-
cursion originally planned. And after it had been
decided to proceed to Stockholm, there still re-
mained a question whether at so advanced a season
of the year it would be judicious for her Royal
Highness to undertake the voyage. Under all these
circumstances of hesitation and delicacy, the King
proved the kindest and most considerate of
hosts. He left it to the Prince and Princess to
name the time moat convenient to themselves, as
well as to fix the duration of their stay, and prac.
tically business of every kind has been relinquished
by his Majesty in favour of the single object of
contributing to the gratification of his guests, and
making their time pass as enjoyably as possible.
It has been the fashion to speak of the Court of
Sweden as a French Court, and naturally many of
the ideas and associations brought by Bernadotte to
the north of Europe have survived him. " After
the French," says the proverb, " the Swedes are the
most charming people in Europe." But to the French
grace of manner they have added the northern sin-
cerity, and whatever may have been the case in
bygone generations there can be no doubt that in
the present day it is the aim of the Swedish policy
to lay the foundation of a sure and cordial alliance
with England. With this object in view every
possible opportunity is taken of paying court to
Englishmen. The desire may be traced in a thou-
sand ways—not merely in the welcome and atten-
tions lavished upon the Prince and Princess of
Wales, gratifying as these must be to the British
nation, but in special acts of politeness shown to
Englishmen and particularly to members of the
British Legation; especially also in the anxiety
manifested that exact accounts of everything con•
neoted with the royal visit should be forwarded to
England. The mercantile world may say, that after
all these are empty compliments, and that they
would prefer solid commercial advantages. The
Swedish Court, to the full extent of its power, has
shown itself anxious to meet their views also.
Against the opposition of a strong Protectionist
party, and notwithstanding the fact that in a
country of limited population and wealth, a com-
mensurate quickening of consumption can hardly
be expected from diminished rates of duty, liberal
revisions and reduction of the tariffs have been
made, end unless the Board of Trade, as at present
constituted, should prove too strong for the rest of
the Ministry, further advances in the same
direction may be looked for. Within the
last couple of months even, a new law,
conceived in a very liberal spirit towards foreigners,
received the sanctian of the King, and has been
promulgated with reference to the trade and in-
dustry of the kingdom. The railways will
naturally prove most efficient instruments in mak-

ing the countries known to each other and establish-
ing a community of interests. For years past
Sweden has possessed a very efficient system of in.
ternal water communication, some of the line of
steamers yielding as high a dividend as 20 per cent.
and the majority producing a clear 10 per cent. to
the proprietors. But of course when steamers
could not run, the system of posting on defective
roads operated as a practical barrier against
travelling, and even the usually unimpeachable
Murray is astray as to so many facts in his
last edition that the country hitherto has been
to all intents and purposes unknown. Two
months hence, when the railway is completed
from Malmoe to Stockholm, the case will be
very different. There will be no more difficulty
then in crossing over Sweden than there is at pre-
sent in getting through Denmark, while a sea
voyage from Lubeck to Malmoe will occupy prey
cisely the same time as to Copenhagen. This will
be a very important consideration where English
capital is flowing largely in the channel that it has
begun to form for itself in developing the dormant
mineral wealth of Sweden. Quite recently an
English company has entered upon a survey of the
Swedish mines, with the object of commencing ope.
rations extensively, and an English bank has been
established in Sweden. These are indications that
when the circumstances became known persons will
not be wanting to take advantage of the present
state of feeling in Sweden, which, politically and
socially, is one of the great facts of the day.

RAILWAY INTELLIGENCE,

VICTORIAN.

it appears from the report of the railway depart•
ment of the Board of Land and Works in Victoria
that on Nov, 25, 1862, an accident occurred on the
Melbourne and Murray River line at North Mel-
bourne, occasioned by the train to Sandhurst run■
ning into the train to Williamstown; several per•
sons were injured, some severely, but none fatally.
The claims for compensation amounted to £5,318,
including the cost of legal proceedings, The expen-
diture on construction at the end of 1862 charged
against the loan amounted to £7,246,798, but to
this was added £332,140, being expenditure on
construction at that date, cut of the consolidated
revenue, upon which no interest was pay-
able, making the total expenditure £7,578,938.
The capital then authorised to be funded
for construction was £8,368,100, the annual
interest upon which, when the whole of the deben-
tures were issued, would be £501,405. The gross
revenue of 1862 was double that of 1861; the open-
ing of extensions in 1862 to some extent accounted
for the increase. The net revenue had increased
from £59,781 in 1861 to £147,789 in 1862. The
percentage of working expenses upon revenue had
been reduced from 65.6 per cent in 1861 to 54 per
cent in 1862, a result showing that the increased net
income had more than kept pace with the extension
of the lines. The revenue on the Victorian railways
for the year 1862 amounted to £320,308, or to 10s.
per train mile, and the expenditure to £172,520, or
5s 51c1 per train mile, leaving a balance of £147,789.
The report for the year 1863 described the diffi-
culties experienced in letting the contracts for the
works to responsible contractors, the practice hav-
ing been to let the works at the lowest tender. For
the first time since those lines were opened it
was shown that the revenue from goods was equal
to that for passengers. Though the train mileage
of the year was more than double that of 1861, yet
the accession of traffic caused by the extension of
the lines had increased the revenue per train mile
25 per cent., or from Bs. 31-d. in 1861 to 10s. 4/d. in
1863. The cost of working expenses per train mile
during those years having remained with little
variation at an average of 53. 41d., the per centage
of working expenses to revenue had decreased from
654 per cent. in 1861 to 501 per cent. in 1863. The
passenger revenue for 1863 on each of the lines was
double that of 1861, while on the Murray and Bal-
larat lines the goods revenue of 1863 was
five times that of 1861. The loss upon the
Williamstown traffic, which in 1861 was £7,920,
was reduced in 1863 to £3lO, there having been
an increase in the passenger traffic of £4,780, and
in goods traffic of £2,000, and a reduction in
the expenses of £B3O, making together an improve-
ment of £,7610. The total revenue for the year
1863 earned by 39 stations on the Government lines
for traffic amounted to £463,666, of which £182,235
was earned at the Melbourne station, £223,868 at
eight other terminal stations, and £57,563 at 30
intermediate stations. The expenses at those sta-
tions were £26,065, £30,701, and £17,695 respec-
tively. Thus the whole earnings of 30 intermediate
stations were little more than one-tenth of the whole
revenue, while they absorbed nearly one-fourth of
the station expenses. The construction expenditure
out of the loan to the 31st of December, 1863,
amounted to £7,964,000, and of this £230,000 was
estimated by the engineer in chief as expended on
plant and works of the Echuca line. The
national debt therefore on lines open in '
1863 was £7,734,000, and the net revenue
shown for that year was £229,400, or 8
per cent. on the amount expended on construe.
tion. The Hon. J. M. Grant, commissioner of rail-
ways,observes that the expenditure on construction
out of the consolidated revenue, amounting to
£341,800, though not bearing interest, was yet a
portion of the capital cost of construction, and the
net revenue of £229,400, if taken upon a capital
of £8,075,800, would show a reduced rate of 2.24
per cent., instead of the 3 per cent. The statement
of the cost of construction of the Victorian railways
including interest to the end of 1863, showed a
total of £9,708,122—the amount of interest being
£1,402,149. The total receipts on revenue account
for the year 1863 were £464,694, or 10s. 4.67 d. per
train mile, and the expenditure £235,292, or 6s.
31d., leaving a balance of £229,402,