The Sun.
London, England, 1857-06-05 00:00:00

IM PERLA.

R, / L IVA YGRI E V Aff C .

(Prom the Times.)
Three hundred millons of money, at the very
least, have been invested in the railways of this
country. There are thousands of men still Eviler
who can resold et when the whole national debt of
the kingdom, ntongh then considered incredible,
was but 240 millions, and even now the figures
symbolising railway property represent an amount
equivalent to one-third of our prodigious State (Ali-
gatioes. Now, when it is asserted—no doubt
with substantial accuracy—that the average profit
upon these investments iu this tranquil, prosper-
ous, and well-governed country is only 3/. 12s. 4d.
per cent., and that of all the railways e,tablished
and at work three only have their sharps quoted at
a premium, nobody will deny that the proprietors,
if not an illused, are certainly an unfortunaee body ;
nor are we in the least degree disposed to wonder
or complain at the agitation' which they seem to bo
preparing, and whichtheyinaugurated at the metro-
politan meeting reported iu our columns of yester-
day. There is no need of expatiating on the
" widow's annuity" or the " orpl.an's eatrimouv,"
or any other particular investment appealing
special force to public sympathy. All
this is comprised in the bare mention of the
aggregate at stake. Hundreds of millions could
not possibly be subscribed without the desti-
nies of thousands of familiei being involved in the
success of the venture. It is equally manifest that
in the security and productiveness of such a mass of
property the interests of every individual in the
community must be more or less concerne I. No-
body can doubt the reality or maenrtude of the
evil ; the only question is as to its cause, and as to
the remedy which can be most hopefully applied.
We can readily excuse the splenetic force of ex-
pression in which the sufferers depict ghat they
consider their grievances, and in some respects
their protests are undoubtedly well founded. It
was certainly hard upon railway shareholders that
:they should be visited at once bath with legislative
:centre/ and 'unrestricted competition. From one,
'at least; of these conditions thep might have ex-
pected. to be spared.. When the Stategraut4 a md-
nopoly it should, of course, see to some equity of
dealing between the monopolists and the public ;
but, when itleaVes these dealings to find their level
by the natural operations of trade, direct interven-
tion assumes a gratuitous and oppressive aspect..
Railway Shareholders complain that legislation,
which controls their proceedings, regulates their
prices, and limits their profits, should also
expose them to the risk of being undersold by com-
peting lines; and their expostulat:ons are so far
reasonable enough. It cannot be denied, in fact,
that our whole policy in these railway transactions
would have admitted of incalculable improvement-
if we could have brought the experience of 1857 to
the deliberations of 1845. Money might have been
saved in all quarters alike, proprietors might have
had heavier profits, passengers better accommoda-
tion at lower rates, and the country at large a
greater amount of benefit. In justice, how-
ever, to the statesmen and legislators of
those days, it must be remembered that
the question was entirely new, while the fault
charged to their a'count amounts, after all, to little
more than an omission of control .over those very
bodies who now complain of the results of freedom.
It is not fair to say that the extravagance of en-
terprise and competition was the immediate
work of our rulers ' • these elements of mischief
were supplied by the speculators themselves,
and all that the Government neglected was the
restriction of this exuberance within what, as is
now discovered, would have been more salutary
bounds. Yet it is by no means improbable that if
a policy of repression had been actually adopted it
would have been held accountable for all the mis-
haps and deficiencies afterwards experienced, and
the late Sir Robert Peel might be denounced per-
haps at this very moment as the arch-obstructor of
railway development in England.
As regards the minor grievances alleged on be-
half of railways there is not quite so much to be
said. If they are heavily rated for the relief of
the poor, it must at any rate be plain after recent
discussions that there is plenty of other property
in the same case. If they are undersold by the
Post office in the parcel-carrying department, the
fact is only an unavoidable incident in the progress
of public accommodation.. The Post-office has a
machinery pervading every quarter -Of the kingdom
with its ramifications, and to expect that this ma-
chinery should be withheldl from the service of the
publicin order that rail waysmight have more parcels
to deliver at-such stations as they touch is utterly
preposterous. Still more injudicious was the com-
plaint that companies should be charged so heavily
for their dealings with the Hares and limbs of
her Majesty's hubjects,•while,.AS regards the limi-
tation of profits so feelingly put forth, if the
course is clear up to 10 per cent., and the average
Performance at present is under 3i, there is surely
scope for about as much expansion -as can be anti-
cipated just yet.
However, we are not concerned to gainsay the
assertion that Railways have here and there been
hardly treated, and certainly we should rejoice to
see this immense aggregate of property producing
better returns and bearing a more becoming value
in the market. But, after saying this much, we
are bound to add, that a very considerable portion
of the hardships alleged is traceable to the con-
duct of the companies themselves. In what
respects, indeed—to go at once to the very
marrow of the question,—have railways disap-
pointed their proprietors ? Certainly not in the
amount of receipts, for, as regards the returns per
mile from goods and passenger traffic, we doubt if
there is a single line in the kingdom which has not
exceeded the most sanguine estimates of produce
originally formed. The public, then, have done all
Mid more than all their part in the way of en-
couragement ; they have been most liberally forth-
coming with their patronage and their money,
and the only reason why profits are small is, that
these returns are intercepted in their way to the
pockets of the shareholders by the enormous claims
which must be satisfied before any dividend can bo
declared. The simple truth is not that fares, as a
general rule, have been pushed too low by com-
petition—not that traffic has been abstracted by a
carrying department of the Administration itself—
not that mailbags are conveyed at a loss—not, in
short, that anything keeps money out of the rail-
way tills—but that too many mouths have to be
idled from the produce before the actual pro-
prietors can come in for their turn. The receipts,
in short, of Railway Companies are abundant, and
would be remunerative enough in most cases, even
after working expenses had been defrayed ;—what
impairs the dividend is not the smallness of the
divisible total, but the number of the divisors.
And ghat created this hungry multitude ? Why,
the greed, the ambition, the conflicts, and the liti-
gation of the companies themselves, which so
swelled the capital on:which interest was to be paid
that even an unexpected fertility in returns has
proved insufficient for the objects desired.
There is another point, too, which cannot be
passed over without destruction to the soundness
of the whole argument. Why, is it that property
which, if not so productive as it ought to be, is at
any rate producing upon an average tetween 3 and
4 per cent., should be quoted at such dispropor-
tionate prices in the share-market Y Very likely
31. 12s. 4d. is too small a rate of interescbut it is ,
higher than Consols, and the security is only inferior
in its character to terra firma itself. Nothing
min
at the meeting aplainedAlie ugly fact
that of all these numerous creations three only
were quoted at a premium. This fact can be in-
terpreted only by the indefinite distrust to whieh
uncertainty gives rise, and this uncertainty in the
public mind is due to the obscurity of railway ac-
counts. Let the worst be known, and men will risen
come forward to make it better, for this is proverbially
the point at which things mend. Provided there was
nothing behind the scenes—no mischief to come
out by and by when all was thought to be over—
the natural and unvarying elasticity of such pro-
perty in a country lik9 this would soon be reckoned
upon to bring things round. The road to a rise in
shares lies through a real and incontestible audit.
In the main, the improvement of railway pro-
party must rest with the shareholders thgislema-
-
solve& If there are any points on which le
tion presses them unfairly, they will have the good
wishes of the public in agitating for redress, and,
independently of such points, if the authority of
Parliament can enable them in any way to act
more effectively for their own relief, we trust that
they may obtain the facilities desired. The aggre-
gate and taxable wealth of the nation, as was ob-
served at the meeting, is affected by the deprecia-
tion of funds so enormous, and= the question
assumes an importance truly imperial. But even
Parliament itself cannot recall what is past, and
the counterpoise is only to be found in good
management and resolution. Let the companies
first deal as liberally with the public as the public
does with them ; not stint their accommodation,
not cut down their working staff, net curtail
the very indulgences to which they are drives.
If they are forced to carry a passenge.r
sixty miles for 55., they need net expose the
F
and their caprice by charging 78. 6d
for one-half of the identical distance. Let
g at
theta abstain of their own accord from ales?
to make them well-behaved by comp .
each other's throats, and not pray the
si LegisAlinabtuovree
all, let them look boldly into their own attaa rs, and
give the public the benefit of their dis
it they do this for themselves they
th w dve illro more
s;
than " a strong Government and willingcoa,,Parlia-
ment," and even " Lord Palmerston" himself can
ever do for them.

L PARL

lAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS.-(YESTERDAY.)

The LORD CHANcELLon took his seat on the woolFack
at five o'clock. _

Lord Brcughain was this evening in attendance. The
nolde and learned lord looked remarkably well.