The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-19 00:00:00

WORKING EXPENSES OFr-ENGLISII
• •RAILWAYS.

(From Captain Galton's I?eport to the Board qf Trade.)
It would appear that the average working ex-
penses of railway companies, per mile of railway
open, have increased in England and Wales from
£1,352 per mile in 1854 to £1,564 in -1857 ; but
they have decreased in Scotland from £961 in
1854 to £941 in 1857 ; and in Ireland from £465
in 1854 to £464 iii 1857.
The proportion which the working expenses
have borne to the receipts has been 48 per cent. in
England and Wales as compared with the 49 per
cent. in 1856; 44 per cent. in Scotland, as com.
pared with 47 per cent. in 1856 ; and 38 per cent.
in Ireland, as compared with 39 per cent. in 1856 ;
the general average having been 47 per cent. upon
the boToss receipts both in 1856 and 1857.
Tie expenditure appears to be divided as fol-
lows, viz. :—Maintenance of way, 15 per cent.,;
locomotive expenses, including repairs of rolling
stock, 38 per cent. ' • traffic charges, 26 per cent. ;
' miscellaneous, including police and watchmen,
compensation, &c.; 13 per cent. ; rates and govern-
ment duty, 7 per cent.
In appendix No. 5 is given a table showing the
proportion which the expenditure bears to the
receipts per mile, and per train per mile, on each
railway separately, for the years 1855, 1856, and
1857.

In considering this table it must be borne in
mind that
,the capacity of each railway for traffic
is affected:by local circumstances, both as regards
the physical features of the line, and the descrip-
tion of traffic upon it.
It is impossible to estimate these circumstances
in any satisfactory manner, because the returns
forwarded to this department by the railway com-
panies include as a rule groups of lines and branches
varying in engineering features, and occupying a
diversity of districts.
The cost of maintenance of way is to a great
extent dependent on the traffic, but it also depends
on the care with which, the road has been originally
constructed, both as regards the joints of the rails,
and the construction of the road in respect of bal-
lasting, drainage, &c. The following instances of
lines which have been open a few years, and are
unencumbered with branches, show the effect of
traffic on railways :
The maintenance of way of the Morayshire
Railwati, upon which the train mileage is 3,017
miles, per mile of railwAy, open posts £43.
The maintenance of way of the Port Carlisle
Railway, upon which the train mileage is 3,004
miles, per mile of railway open costs £43.
The maintenance of way of the Birkenhead,
Lancashire, and Cheshire Junction Railway, upon
which the train mileage is 14,973 miles, per mile
of railway open costs £440..
The maintenance of way of the London and
Blackwall Railway, upon which the train mileage
is 33,624 miles, per mile of railway open costs £595.
The maintenance of way of the North London
Railway, upon which the train mileage is 83,964
miles, per mile of railwayopen costs £791.
Although the fished joints and other improvedmodes of laying the joints ha.ve been introduced
largely on railways, the returns do not admit of its
being clearly shown what saving- has been effected
thereby, upon the wear and tear of rolling stock,
the maintenance of the road and the diminished
cost of fuel consequent upon the diminished resist-
ances of the joints.
The cost of coal and coke appears from a return
from the railway companies to have averaged 2.9 d.
per mile run by the engines in England, 2.58 d. in
Scotland. and 3.94 d. in Ireland. The general ave-
rage being 2.67 d. per mile.
A very important improvement for cheapening
the working of railways is being effected by the
introduction of coal burning engines which consume
their own smoke. The London and South-Western,
Great Western, Oxford, Worcester, and Wolver-
hampton, East Lancashire, London and North-
Western, South-Eastern, and other railway com-
panies, have made experiments on the subject. The
engines on the London and South-Western Railway
introduced by Mr. Beattie appear to have been
successful. These engines are stated to average
with passenger trains about 181bs. of coal per mile ;
and it is worthy of notice that the average cost of
fuel on that railway has been 2.69 d. per mile, and
104 wiles have been run per ton of coal and coke,
when on other railways similarly situated the cost
has been 3d. and 31,d. per mile, and from 80 to 92
miles only ha-re peen run per ton of coke.
There is room for improvement in the amount of
non-paying weight in trains in proportion to the
weight of the loads. In passenger trains the large
amount of non-paying weight is especially notice-
able. Thus, an erdinary first-class carriage gives,
if full, an average, probably of 700 lbs. dead weight
per passenger, and an ordinary third-class carriage
gives nearly 300 lbs., dead weight per passenger.
Carriages have been constructed in which much of
this dead weight has been saved, and in which other
improvements, such as the power of applying a
larger number of breaks to a train, and the abolition
of the practice of placing luggage on the tops of the
carriages, which has occasioned more than one acci-
dent by.fire, and pis still in use on some lines, have
been introduced. Improvements of this nature
cannot be expected to be perfected at once, but
must depend upon repeated experiments. They arc
however, well deserving of the attention of railway
menagers.
The local rates and taxes to which railway com-
panies are subjected formed one of the subjects of
complaint in the memorial presented to your lord-
ships last year.
From a return to an order of the House of Com-
mons, the following would appear to be the amount
of the burden on the dividends of the companies.
Per-centage on the dividend of ordinary share
capital :

Rates and Taxes. Passenger Duty. Total.
England 7.72 .. 5.99 .. 13.71
Scotland .. 5.97 .. 4.14 .. 10.12
Ireland ... 6.29 .. .. - 5.29
Per-tentage on the dividend on total share capital :
Rates and Taxes. Passenger Duty. Total.
England 5.41 .. 4.'20 .. 9.61
Scotland 4.05 .. 2.81 .. 6.87
Ireland . 4,27 .. .. 4.27
The most oppressive part of the burden, however,
is the litigation to which the parish rates give rise.
Besides ich the railway companies themselves
are in many cases the largest ratepayers in the
parishes, and, consequently, if they gain their
cause they have to contribute towards the expense
of the contest by an increased rate.

MR. ALBERT SMITH AT HONG KONG.

HONG KONG, AUG. 22.

Here we are all safe and sound, among them at
last, surrounded by junks and pigtails, and noble
ladies and gentlemen. I have bought the enclosed
pictures from a splendid merchant who has come
off to the side of the ship on three planks, by the
aid of a broomstick. We left Singapore on the
23d ult. I was immensely delighted with it ; it is
quite a Chinese place. The shed shops are such rich
places, they sell the most wonderful things in them
7---toys and gods and lanterns, and joss properties
and queer crockery. The filth they eat in the eat-
, iiig-houses far surpasses that cooked at that old
trattoria at Genoa. It consists for the most part of
rats, bats, snails, bad eggs, and hideous fish, dried
in the most frightful attitudes. 'Sonic of the restau-
rateurs carry their cookshops about with them on
long poles, with the kitchen at one end and the
salle-a-manger at the other. These are celebrated
for a soup made, I should think, from large
caterpillars, boiled in a thin gravy with onions.
The barbers also carry their shops about,
and they shave, cut beards, and syringe ears
right in the middle of the street. A Chinese
merchant asked me to dinner. I went, of course,
and after dinner we started for the theatre. They
played a Chinese opera, with about 50 performers ;
there were lots of devils in the piece, with tumbling
and fighting in every scene. They had only one
clarionet and two gongs in the orchestra, but when
there was a situation in the piece one fellowknocked
two hollow canes together to show the audience
they were to applaud. The merchant lives in first-
rate style and has a wonderful garden. All the fruit
trees are very small ; there were pines like cabbages,
and a quantity of creeper called monkey cups,'
because down the stalk there are regular pitchers
and tops filled with water, from which Jacko re-
freshes himself in the woods. There were also among
his live stock Cashmere goats, porcupines, k
Faroos, Pekin pigs, and Brahmin bulls, and in the
jumile across the valley tigers and all sorts of no-
velties. I slept on shore that night, or rather I
went to bed, but I could not sleep, as I missed the
e
noise of the screw and the creaking of the timbers, b
and the bed was too steady. The last
nightubefeorre
we got to Hong Kong we had an entertainment on
board, and I was stage manager. We made a first-
rate room of sails and flags, and the whole affair
went off capitally. There are no hotels at Hong
Kong, but a very nice club with bedrooms. I was I
proposed and elected as soon as I arrived, so that is
very jolly. To-day they hold a Chinese fete in
honour of their dead relations. They keep firing
crackers all day in the streets and burn those long
pastilles. I don't think they care much about their
religion—they go into the temples to get cool, or sit
down, or t.) 3.ocp. The children are frightened
at the gods, they are so hideous ; they roar with
terror when they are placed in front of them. The
people walk about with their hats OP, and whistk
and smoke, and do what they like.; the merchantt"
selling gilt paper and pastilles sit round the
,:sides,
and sometimes beat a gong to attract customers.
Nothing that I can write now can give you the'
least idea of this. wonderful place. - I see every hour
how yery faithful Cooke's descriptions were.