The Sun.
London, England, 1856-12-02 00:00:00

"REPORT TO THE EMPEIOR

• Patin, Nov. 30.
" Sire,—Your Government is called upon to regulate for
the year 185 T the degree of activity to be given to, the great
railway enterprises.

"I have the honour, agreeably to your klajesty's orders,
to submit to you a resume of the principal facts of the two
preceding years, and the judgment (appreciation) I have
for Med, "after a careful investigation, of the resources ne-
oe34ary for the companies to carry on the sett campaign.
"In a report submitted to your Majesty in 1855 my Pre-
decessor stated the immense movement which, sinte 1852,
had manifested itself in every branch of national labour,
and which especially gave so marked a development to our
railway network.
" That network (rescau), the length of
which was 3,6C0
kilometres at the commencement of the revolution of Feb-
ruary, and which remained stationary during the three years
of political agitation and commercial stagnation which fol-
lowed, was increased on the 31st of Dec., 1851, by succes-
sive concessions, to 9,236 kilometres. Tha length worked
had progressed with equal rapidity. It was 1,850 kilos.
in Feb., 1818, Rnd at the end of 1854 it was 4,641 kilos.
The commeneetnent of the year 1855 was marked by
41-taptooticessigma.: jx4tribettlfor-aleng4A, of
_ _

-fibledeiorti of any rapid meani of communication have
ben enabled to enjOy this blessing, which in our modern
oivflisation had become an essential condition of prosperity,
alniost of existence; for a country.
1 Provisional conventions concluded by my predecessor
with, the Orleans and Grand Central Companies, and,
moreover, with the Lyons, Orleans, and Grand Central
united—conventions sanctioned at a later period by the
de4rees of 'the7th of 'April and the 20th of June, 1855
have given legitimate satisfaction to the principal interests
of Normandy, of Bretagne, and of Central France.
In February, 1855, when the confidence of your
Al. 'esty deigned to call me to the office of Agriculture,
Co coerce, and Public Works, the concessions realised or
fin Ily decieed comprised a total extent of 11,250 kilo-
m res*; a length of 4,617 kilometres was open to traffic ;
an the works to be finished or completed comprised
6, 3 kilottteLres of the lines granted.
1
i n
he
ef
presentthis
an d condition
proised of
for t railwaythe
ef enterprises
utnre
ever realisedfruitful
so revs of public prosperity, the works to be executed ren-
dated it necessary to employ a large portion of the savings
1
of #he country, and imposed a hard task upon private in-
durtry.

The Administration of Public Works had therefore
nc mentarily to restrict itself to a less enticing part, per-
m, as a more modest but not a less useful one—namely, to
•egulate with prudence the progress of the enterprises com-
noiced, and to avoid every dispersion of strength or re-
14rces by adjourning further concessions.

The campaigns of 1855 and 1858, guided by these
vi ws and devoted exclusively to the continuation of the
lilies conceded, produced results the full importance Of
51011 I trust your Majesty will appreciate.

'ln the course of 1853 the great trunk line from Lyons
to the Mediterranean, the non-completion of which was,
u er so many grave circumstances, a sort of public cala-
in ty, saw the break filled up which still interrupted cir-
-1
c ation between Lyons and Valence. The Normandy line
w s opened as far as Caen. The line from Bourdeaux to
B onne, already open to Dax, was throwh open to its
whole extent. The Chemin du Midi was finished between
B rdeaux and Tonneins. Various important sections
w re, moreover, completed by the Northern, Eastern,
L ons, and Grand Central Companies.
1

I-
' The total length of the sections opened in the course of
campaign amounted to 890 kilometres. The total
.e gth of network open to traffic on the 31st of December,
l 5, amounted, therefore, to 5,537 kilometres, while the
3 I'
of lines unfinished was reduced to 5,713 kilpme-
t s. ,

If The campaign of 1856 was not lea productive than that
o 1855. Already, in August, the Chemin du Midi reach-
e Toulouse; at the end of December, or early next year,
t e line from Toulouse to Cette will be open all the way.

Tile branch to Lyons, so long delayed by unforeseen cir-
curnstauces, and the non-completion of winchwas seriously
dptrimental to commerce, was recently opened. There is
no break now on this great line of 860 kilometres, which
unites Marseilles and Paris.

13,“ Limoges and Niort have been joined to the Orleans
lie; Fecamp and Monett to the 'Western line; Beeanson
mid Gray to the Paris and Lyons line ; .kx to the line
ftlorn Lyons to the Mediterranean ; Bourg to the Lyons
aild Geneva line; other sections belonging to the Eastern,
P).ris, and Lyons, St. Rambert to Grenoble, Grand Cen-
tral, and Graissessac to Bothers lines are already open, or
will shortly be completed.
1" The total length of the sections open, or to be opened
in 1856, amounts to 963 kilometres.

"Thus at the commencement of 1857, or the ensemble of
tile network of railways, comprising a Wel length of
11,250 kilometres, the lines worked will present an extent
4 6;500 kilometres; and there will only renain 4,750 kilo-
Metres to be completed.

" It is important to state the amount of expense ren-
dUred necessary by the execution of so vast an enterprise.
It is not even without interest, as information, to indicate
+her the proportions according to which the expenses are
divided between the principal periods which have marked

tr last 34 years, or the contributive portion which, during
t same period, has fallen upon the State.

"The years between 1823 and 1830 were for railways a
timo of experiment and trial, in which the companies spent
clinically on an average about 470,000 francs. The State
gave them no aid.

• " In the 12 years which followed the revolution of July,
the indecision as to what system for the construction of
railways should be adopted, the little confluence these new
speculations inspired, paralysed their development. Thus
the expenditure on an average did not exceed 14,350,000 f.
annually incurred by the companies. The State only
came forward with an annual outlay of 270,000 f.
"The law of the 11th of June, 1842, gave a new impulse
to railway enterprises; from 1842 to 1847 the annual out-
lays reached on an average 85,000,000 f. for the companies
and 46,400,0001. for the State.

" From 1848 to December, 1851, when political cares
dried up the fountains of credit, the annual outlays of the
companies fell, on an average, to 50,000,000 f., and the
sacrifices of the State to 75,000,000 f. annually.
" But, dating from 1852, when healthy confidence was
restored and new institutions gave to France safety and
faith in the future, the parts were changed. The annual
expenditure of the companies increased in a,,remarkable
proportion, amounting to the average of 216,000,000 f.;
the sacrifices of the Treasury diminished no less rapidly,
and were reduced to the annual sum of 17,000,000 f., in
compensation for repayments made by the companies in
virtue of new concessions.

"Finally, under the incessant action of credit and of
general prosperity, the outlay of the companies reached in
1855 the sum of 430,000,000 f., and, in 1856, 458,000,00 f. ,
while those of the State, deducting repayments, only
amounted for those two years to 30,000,000 f.

" The resume of these figures, which mark the progress
of public confidence, shows that the construction of the
network of French-railways has, up to the present, cost
3,080,000,000 f., of which 661,000,000 f. fall to the charge of
the State, and 2,419,000,000 f. to the charge of the compa-
nies. To this outlay the years 1855 and 1856 have alone
co-operated to the enormous amount of 919,000,000 f.
" Certainly such outlays and such efforts, asked from the
country at the same time that it supported in a distant
land a great and glorious war:—when it patriotically sub-
scribed to national loans of unprecedented amount•-when
other works gave health and splendour to our great cities,
display the admirable activity and the powerful resources
of the empire; but they► also explain and justify the pru-
dential measures adopted' by your Majesty in 1855, and
your official resolve, published in the ilionitcur of the 9th
of last March, not to grant any new concession in 1856.

" It would have been as well if the spirit of speculation
had not exposed itself to a risk, by going beyond our fron-
tiers in search of new enterprises, in rendering less effica-
cious those wise precautions recently imitated by other
Powers; but it suffices for the interests of public credit
that the attention of the Government continues to be
directed to these enterprises.

"At the present moment tho general condition of the
railways is free from its heaviest charges. The completion
of the lines conceded does not demand an outlay exceeding
1,260,000,000 f., of which 24000,000 f. aro to be provided
by the State. Tho delays in completing the works have
been carefully graduated by the regulations. These delays
comprise a period of ten years, and it must be further
added that the works of the sections which are to be opened
to traffic in the course of the next throe years are far ad-
vanced.

" The increasing movement of the revenues of the com-
panies is, moreover, of a nature to inspire public confidence.
The net produce, which in 1847 was 22,000 f. per kilometre t
fell suddenly to 13,600 f. in 1851; but since 1852, and
despite the addition of secondary lines, its gradual increase
has been as follows :

Francs.
1852 .
1853 , 24,600
1854 . 26,400
" This produce received an exceptional impulse in 1855

* 684 kilometres, the concession of which.was decreed
titre eventuel, are not included in the 11,250 kilometres.