The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-11 00:00:00

RAILWAYS IN INDIA.

` There is a probability that in the next Session of
Parliament it will be found necessary to take a com-
prehensive review of the Indian railroad question.
The money wasted and the interests injured by the
system under which these works have hitherto been
promoted would prove upon examination to be a.f
most serious extent. Indeed, among experienced
observers there is a strong conviction that the waste
may be set down at least at 25 per cent., which, an
the £55,000,000, actually 'and prospectively gtia-'
ranteed, would amount to £13,750,000. The evil
lies in the absence of any central responsibility and
the consequent action of a number of semi-inde
pendent bodies, without the slightest regard to the
manner in which their respective operations may
affect each other. Thus, we now see that guaran-
tees which were originally intended to have been
within £30,000,000 have swollen to £55,000,000,
with no certainty against a further increase ; that
the great trunk lines, which might have been com-
pleted rapidly and have been in use at the time of
the mutiny, have been obstructed by a number of
subordinate schemes which should never have been
entertained until the main experiments had been
finished; that the Government have been driven
into inconsistencies which have thrown the finan-
cial world into confusion, at one time insisting upon
a stoppage of works and at another promising even
to raise a loan rather than that such stoppage
should take place; that each different district in
which a line has not yet been sanctioned is fur-
nished with cause of complaint, and that disputes
are rife between the home Government, the local
authorities, and the railway boards as to which are
the parties respectively answerable for the mis-
calculations, disappointments, and inconveniences
that arise. In these things, however, we find but a
part of the mischief. In consequence of the various
lines being at all times in the market for iron,
freight, and all the various railway requisites, as
well as for skilled and other labour in India, with-
out concert or consideration as to whether they are
bidding against each other, the most preposterous
prices are sometimes paid, and a general tendency
to inflation is created. In the London Stock-
Exchange a similar effect is produced, and when
the market is in a state in which it could satisfac-
torily absorb about a million of debentures, four
or five times that amount may be offered through
each line being eager to get the start of its brother
applicants. Hence securities which, if issued with
proper regard to the existing demand, woud steadily
increase in favour, are brought into diminished re-
pute, and the evil at the same time exends to the
direct loans contracted by the Government. Any
thing more unbusinesslike or more damaging to
sound trade, healthy money-markets, or public
credit has perhaps rarely been witnessed, and it is
certain that unless a strong hand be applied the
mischief will yet assume larger dimensions. At the
same time, there are none to blame except the India
Council for permitting it to continua after the ex-
perience that has been gained. The directors of
the several companies are nearly all connected wih
India, and openly profess 'firoir' desire to obtain as
much capital 'as possible for that country. It is not
their business, but that of the English, public and
the 'English Government;' to restrict the drain within
convenient limits. Each body of directors desire,
moreover, to absorb as muck as possible for the
particular loCalities 'with which, they may happen
to be connected. Bengal, .Bombay, Madras, and
the Punjab are alike clamorous. There is a plea-
sure and grandeur in the rivalry of large schemes,
and it is agreeable also to have the patronage of
heavy purchases of rails, freights, rolling stock, &c.
The engineers in India, of course, like to signalise
themselves by great works and fine stations, and the
whole affair from beginning to end is, in short, a
struggle to see which set can get power to spend
the most. Now that it has been found that the plea
of having advanced so far with certain lines that
they must be carried on in order to prevent the
capital already expended from lying waste is suffi-
cient 'to terrify the Government into compliance
with each extended demand, we may be sure that
the discovery will be made the most of. It is urged,
therefore, that all who are interested in the stability
of the London money-market, in the rational pro-
secution of home enterprises, under the belief that
England is really worthy of some consideration as
well as India, in the prevention of a constant dilu-
tion and deterioration of Indian securities, and in
the progress of Indian cultivation, now too often
checked by reckless advances in wages, should give
attention to this question for the future, and insist
upon a remedy being enforced.