The Sun.
London, England, 1849-10-31 00:00:00

SCOTCH RAILWAYS.

• There is no species of property in which so many
persons, in ways more or less direct, are so largely
and at present so painfully interested, as railways.
Its amount is enormous, its present value immensely
depreciated, and its future strangely uncertain.
Nearly two hundred and a quarter millions
sterling—little short of one-third of the
amount of that national debt which arose
out of many years of war and profusion—have
already been expended on the railways of Great
Britain, and the future expenditure of another
one hundred and fifty millions has been autho-
rised by Parliament. Already the annual revenue
of these companies reaches twelve millions—a sum
which, insufficidit though it be to give profit
to the investors, greatly exceeds the national
revenue of any European states but four, and is much
exceeded only by the rerrnues of France and
England. Even the rulers of the colossal empires of
Russia and Austria, with all the means and appliances
of despotism, are able to extort but little more from
their subjects than a few English commercial com-
panies raise by speculations in one species of inland
travelling. When it is remembered that it is but
twenty years since the opening of the first,passenger
line, that more than two-thirds of the total expendi-
ture have been raised within the last five years, and
that in a few years the capital will be largely and
the revenue immensely increased, it is impossible, in
spite of the folly and fraud that have stained the
history of :these undertakings, to repress a thrill of
pride in contemplating the audacious enterprise and
gigantic energy which conceived and accomplished
them.

In Scotland alone the amount expended, or in
course of expenditure (not reckoning the lines whose
construction is not actually commenced) is, as nearly
as we have the means of ascertaining, about thirty
millions. Laying Ireland aside, and deducting the
Irish lines from the total for the United Kingdom, the
amount expended in Scotland is considerably greater
than in England, in proportion to the population and
property of the two countries. There is no present
means of knowing what proportion of Scotch stock is
held by Englishmen, and how far that is counter-
balanced by the amount of English stock held by
Scotchmen. It can only be said, judging from the
pressure that affects all classes among us, that we have
been quite as incautious as our English neighbours in
burdening ourselves beyond our own strength.
It is more than doubtful if, either in the internal
disputes or the exterior rivalries of railway companies,
the press has interfered al ways with good purpose or
often with good effect. Most of those interferences
have been made on instigation, and carried on for
partisan ends. Others of them have been made with
very imperfect knowledge of the details on which the
the writers founded their deductions—an imperfection
not in itself discreditable where anything like exact
knowledge is so difficult to be procured, but which
should have caused the writers to speak less con-
fidently or not to speak at all in cases where so
much of the value of enormous masses of property
could be affected by a breath. We have before
us a large collection of pamphlets and articles issued
at various periods, but most of them within the
last few months, some showing the advantages of
one line over another, and others giving what was
intended to be an impartial account of all the lines
for the guidance of investers ; and, judging of the
trustworthiness of the whole from the portions which
local position enables us to test, the result is not such
as to encourage to similar attempts. Our present
object, however, is much less extensive, the means
of information considerably increased, and the risk of
doing mischief by mistake greatly reduced. What
we propose is simply to state, to the best of our
means, the position of the principal Scotch lines, and
make an estimate of their prospects deduced mainly
from the history of the older of their number—for
which purposes the recent half-yearly meetings and
reports of committees of inquiry furnish large facili-
ties, while the depressed condition of the stocks in the
market seems to defy any sifting or plain statement
to make matters worse.

The traffic per mile, per week or per annum, is of
course the main point to be looked at ; but there are
several other things to be taken into
account, variously but largely affecting that
test—such as the cost of construction, the cost of
working, the stage of development, and the amount
of engagements in the shape of guarantees, prefer-
able shares, &c. All these we shall lay aside in a
first rough statement, except the first. We shall state
the cost per mile of each line ; the revenue per week
required to pay five per cent. on that cost ; and the
actual revenue per week, as exhibited by the returns
of the last six months. In these calculations, we shall
assume the working expenses at fifty per cent. on a
traffic that would pay ten per cent. on the cost of
construction—in other words, we assume that to pay
five per cent. a line must draw ten. This estimate
is high enough, we admit, hut not too high, consider-
ing the heavy average cost of the Scotch lines, and
that most of them are so short and broken as to ren-
der their working more than ordinarily expensive.
There are not, so far as we can find, means of at-
taining fractional accuracy ; but we think we have
reached a pretty close approximation.
Edinburgh and Glasgow.—The cost of construction
is 46,000/. per mile—to pay 5 per cent. on which,
after deduction of half-traffic for work' tv expenses,
requires a revenue per mile of 4,6001. pdt annur9, or
88il. per week. The last half•year'a returns give a
revenue per mile, on the 58 miles of rail in operation,
at the rate of 3,378/. per annum, or 571. per week.
North British—Cost of construction about 33,6001.
per mile—to pay 5 per cent. on which, after deducting
half of traffic for working expenses, would require an
income per mile of about 3,3601. per annum, or
641, 3.sths per week. The returns for last half-year

The other lines in operation being comparatively
small in extent, and access to their accounts, &c.,
being difficult, we leave them untouched, only re-
marking that the position of none of them differs
materially from that of the lines whose statistics are
given above, and that generally they stand on a lower
rather than a higher level.
These results, it will not be difficult to see, are, at
the first glance at least, very discouraging. On an
average, the Scotch lines would, unless our data are
very erroneous, require double the present traffic to
pay five per cent. on their capital. It is remarkable
how nearly this average holds in the ,case of each
separate line, with one exception. The proportions
in which the traffic of each line would require to
increase in order to reach the paying point are these :
—Edinburgh and Qlasgow would require to increase,
as from .57 to 881 ; North British, from 25 to 64
3-sths; Caledonian, from 33 to 661; Edinburgh,
Perth, and Dundee, from 271 to 55 ; Central, from
25 to 58 ; Ayrshire, from 27 to 51.

This, however, is but a rough sketch—other ele-
ments must be taken into account, materially modi•
fying the above results, both positively and compaa-
tively. 'We shall do little more than mention the
principal of these, not intending these remarks as a
guide to investers, and not having the means of at-
taining accuracy on many important details.
Ist, The Amount of Guaranteed or Preferential
Capital—This element, it will easily be seen, greatly
affects the results as shown only in the traffic returns.
A company with a comparatively large return per
mile may, as regards its ordinary shareholders, be in
a worse position than one with a smaller return, if
the former has guarantees and preferences to pay,
and the latter little or none. 'Without attempting
a precise statement, we are safe in saying that
the line most heavily burdened in this respect is the
Caledonian, which has to pay several guaran-
tees of 6,7, 8, and on one quarter of a million
of capital 10f per cent., before paying anything to its
ordinary shareholders. The next heaviest sufferer is
the Edinburgh and Glasgow, whose troubles in this
respect are only about to begin. The least burdened
is probably the Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee, which
guarantees no separate line, but has 600,0001. of
preference stock at 5i and 5 per cent. not yet issued.
2d, The Working Expenses—These vary much on
different lines, according to length, number of
branches, &c. Probably, the Edinburgh, Perth, and
Dundee will be among the dearest to work, and the
North British and Caledonian the cheapest. It must
also be considered that the general average we have
taken—fitly per cent. on a gross traffic which would
produce ten per cent. on the capital—is high; and
that most of the companies could take great additions
to their present traffic without material additions to
the present working expenses.
31, The stage of development—This item is of
peculiar importance in the case of railways like the
Scotch, almost all of which are in a raw and un-
finished state. Lines whose resources are fully de- ,
veloped, or are likely in future to be lessened by the
competition of neighbours, stand in a very different
position from those whose construction is uncom-
pleted, and which have not yet had time to develope
their traffic. It would, for instance, be fallacious to
compare the present traffic of the Edinburgh and
Glasgow, even after allowing for the greater cost of
construction, with the traffic of such lines as the
North British or Edinburgh, Perth, and Dundee,
large portions of which have only been a few months
in operation, and which have not reached all their
termini, nor got their arrangements in smooth and
effective working order.
The very important question that now arises, as to
whether there is a probability of the traffic of the new
lines coming, within any resonable period, to the pay-
ing point, admits of a more hopeful answer than a
mere glance at the above figures would seem to war-
rant. The development of the traffic of railways is a
somewhat slow, but, according to all past experience,
a very sure process. The following table, which we
have compiled, showing the rise and progress of the
Edinburgh and Glasgow line, may carry consolation to
the shareholders even in those lines whose traffic is as
yet but half-way to five per cent. The Glasgow line
was opened for the whole length from the Haymarket
to Glasgow on the 21st of February, 1842, and the
traffic developed as here shown :

Total for Weekly Rata per Per
Six Ave- Mile per Mile
Mouths. rage. Annum. Wkly.
£ £ £ £
Ist half-ayear, 59,994 2307 1304 50
2d 60,809 2338 1322 51
3d 57,000 2192 1239 47
4th 55,886 2149 1215 46
sth -- 61,047 2347 I 1327 51
6:11 66,288 2549 1441 51
7th -- 73,273 2818 1593 61
Bth -- 82,744 3182 1798 69
9th 99,843 3840 2100 81
oth 89,287 3434 1869 72
lth 90,815 3496 1902 73
.2th 80,332 3090 \ 1700 65
.3th I 88,532 3305 I 1883 70

It may be said that there is not much material for
hope here, seeing that the E linburgh and Glasgow
line had at the very first a traffic nearly double that
at present possessed by some Scotch lines, and a third
more than that possessed by any of them, and that
even now its prospects are not very encouraging. But
it must be taken into calculation, Ist, that its cost of
construction is also double some and a third more than
any Scotch line, so that one-half or a third less traffic
per mile on others represents an equivalent amount of
prosperity; and 2d, that with the exception of the
mile and a half from the Haymarket to the North-
bridge, it opened complete, while almost none of the
new lines have yet attained to a corresponding position.
It must also be taken into consideration, in estimat-
ing the probable progress of development of the new
lines, that they have hitherto seen nothing but " bad
times." Cholera has been against them, and still
more "calls." Both evils are now nearly at an end,
though the effects of the latter will linger for a while.
The money sunk in railways has been in great part
taken from that fund out of which travelling expenses
are mainly taken—viz., spare funds or accumulations.
The money so sunk has not yet become reproductive,
there being in this respect a sort of dead-lock—a large
portion of the funds from which railway revenues
come being the very funds locked up in the capital.
itself
All this, however, will gradually work right—
but it would be more than difficult to say how soon,
how fast, or how far.—Scotsman.

NE-OPENING OF THE ASTOR THEATRE, NEW
yogi.—This, the most fashionable theatre of New
York, which had remained closed since Macready
made his last appearance there, on which occasion
a dreadful riot occurred, and several lives were
last, was re-opened about the middle of September. The
play was Romeo and Juliet, Miss Davenport, who had
arrived from England only a few days be-
fore, appearing as Juliet, and achieving a tri-
umph which has completely restored to the Astor
Theatre its popularity. She sub,equently appeared as
Julia in the Hunchback, as Meets, in the Maid of
Mariendorpt, and as Mariana in the IVife, and drew
crowded houses on every occasion of her appearance.
The New York journals speak in the most entbuo.aisic
terms of her performances. Miss Davenport has
, accepted engagements to appear at 1308tP11, 131:1114delphia,
and Baltimore.