The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST 15, 1870.

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and debenture holders. Any event which menaced
the Government would most seriously affect the
market value of this class of securities.

The total cost of the Indian railways actually
open has been about £79,000,000, which gives
£17,000 a mile. The amount will probably
seem high, when it is remembered that the most
costly item in the accounts of English railways
—the purchase of land—is a very small item in India•
Moreover, it will be urged, labour in India is much
cheaper than labour in England. But it must be borne
in mind that if Indian labour costs little, it is of
comparatively little value. Rice-fed Hindpos have
not the pith and vigour of the British navvy ; and as
a matter of fact, a large portion of the railway works
has been accomplished by labourers imported from
England, and who have had to be paid higher wages
than they get at home. Another serious addition to
the cost has arisen through the necessity of prepar-
ing in England and shipping from thence the more
important constructive works such as iron bridges.
The width and the shifting beds of the Indian
rivers have rendered it necessary that these bridges
should be of extraordinary length. One now con-
structing for the Madras Railway consists of fif ty-
eight girder openings of seventy feet each. On some
of the lines heavy engineering works have been
necessitated by the nature of the country. Every
line starting from the west coast south of Kurrachee,
has to surmount the Ghats—the mountain barrier
which runs parallel with the coast from Baroda
to Cape Coin orin. One great advantage Indian
.railways have over British : the first have been
constructed from the beginning, according to a pre-
de: ermined plan. There has been no battle of rival
companies in Parliamentary Committee-rooms
ruinous to all but the lawyers and the surveyors.
Certain prominent positions had to be brought into
communication with each other, and that has been
effected without opposition from landlords bent
upon being bought off at a heavy price. The happy
consequence is that although the number of
railway passengers is absurdly small, as compared
with this country —it is but about sixteen
millions a-year—the companies can afford to
give a moderate tariff of fares. The journey
from Calcutta to Bombay, which can now be made
direct in seventy-two hours, and which is nearly
1,500 miles in length, costs but £l4 first-class, £7
second class, and £2 13s. third-class. That is, first-
class passengers are charged a little over twopence
a mile, second-class passengers a little over a penny,
and third-class passengers considerably miler a half-
penny.

We have mentioned the low figures of the passen-
ger traffic. This is due partly to the tact that the
Indian native population, which must of course form
the larger proportion of passengers, is for the most
part stationary. Where agriculture and not manu-
factures is the chief employment, there is little
locomotion. That the natives do, however, appre-
ciate the railways is she*n by the fact that out of
the 16 million passengers all but about a quarter of
a million travelled by third class. The railways
have in fact proved wonderful civilisers, and
have done more to break down the laws of
caste than all the direct efforts which we have
used for that purpose. This desirable change will be
greatly accelerated when the main lines are fed by
the small branches running off on either side.
Anglo-Indian travellers are interested still more in
the completion of the main lines. It is a fine thing
to be able to make an unbroken journey from Bom-
bay to Calcutta, and from Calcutta to Lahore. But
what is wanted, both for military and for social pur-
poses, is the completion of the Punjab line, and of
the line to Peshawur, the one connecting the Pun-
jab capital with Kurrachee, the other with the
northernmost frontier of British India. Unfortu-
nately, the Indian government, instead of hastening
the completion of these lines, is spreading the works
over a long series of years. Except the abandon-
ment of these lines, no greater mistake could
be made. The Scinde line, for in stance,
is at present a heavy drain upon the Indian
treasury simply because it leads nowhere.
When it is connected with Moultan and Lahore it
will no doubt be as profitable as the great completed
lines. Unhappily the Government has resolved to
spend twenty years on this work, thus postponing for
that period the time when the money expended will
be yielding a proper rate of interest, besides depriving
India of the commercial and the military advantages
which would result from the speedy completion of
the great scheme of railway communica-
tion. There has been too much of this false
economy in England, where the new Palace of
Justice has been kept unbuilt, and the telegraphic
service has been starved, in order that Mr. LOWE may
make a better appearance with his budget. These
postponements, however, involve only inconvenience,
and an uncertain pecuniary loss to the public. In
India postponement may lead to a great military
disaster.

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

mons, he has addressed a letter to the Daily News on
the subject. Sir Henry states that nothing was
further from his thoughts than the idea of engaging
the English Government to interfere by force of arms
in favour of France, or of the Emperor of the French
against his German antagonists, whose cause he be-
lieves to be a just one. What he wished to express
was, that if a fitting opportunity should occur, the
Government would endeavour to bring about a peace,
before France, a nation with which England has
been for many years in intimate and friendly alli-
ance, was too severely humiliated. While acknow-
ledging the friendly conduct of the Emperor to this
country, the distinguished diplomatist condemns "the
unscrupulous levity with which he rushed into the
conflict in which he is now risking his dynasty and
his life."

seem to be woefully commingled together, and
thinkers on the subject must see that any straight
line of political sailing is becoming out of the ques-
tion, on the Irish side of the channel. We do not
recollect all the elements of Captain Harman's
speech at Longford, and therefore cannot say what
particular popular fancy he failed to gratify
on the hustings, but evidently he gained
experience there, for in his speech to the
Dublin electors he has expressed himself in
favour of every possible reform movement that has
been agitated for by so-called Conservatives and
Liberals in his country for the last two years. He
would vote for the Ballot. He had the same views
upon the subject of the Permissive Bill as his
antagonist. On the subject of Education he would
side with those in favour of the denominational
system ; he would give all parties a dole of money
and let them educate their people as they liked. He
would vote for the immediate and unconditional
release of the Fenian prisoners. He believed that if
Ireland had a Parliament in College-green, where
Irishmen could manage their own affairs, there
would no longer be disaffection, and the country
would become free, rich, and prosperous.
Lastly, he would inform the electors that he came for-
ward neither as a Whig nor a Tory. He was of no poli-
tical opinion whatever. He came before them as an Irish-
man oimply. Ireland alone was his motto—the
shamrock, the green, immortal shamrock; with the
green and the orange united they would win their
glorious- freedom. What resident of Dublin with a
vote can fail to be satisfied with this programme ?