Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-02-25
BU WING STREET RAILWAYS.
London County Council Getting Con-
troll in order to Operate Them.

Lond n Correspondence Boston Transcript.
1t has long been one of the purposes of
the dominant party in the London county
council TO acquire and to work the street
railways that connect some of the suburbs
with the heart of the city. Visitors TO
London seldom see and still more seldom
use these trans. They pay for the most
part in the poorer quarters, just touching
the heart of the town, where there is room
above ground for no other cheap public
conveyance than the omnibuses. In one of
the suburbs cable draws the trans over
steep hill or two, but elsewhere hors
arr the only motive power, The cars are
small, though they carry passengers On the
Roof, dirty, i'll lighted, i'll ventilated, uncom-
Portable and Anticipated according to Amer
lean standards and those of progressive
cities in the English provinces. They move
az a slow trot that doas not even keep pace
with the vehicles beside them Only their
lew fares commend them.
The trans serve, however, a great ana
increasing public need, and between the in
aGequacy OF the service and the volume of
the traffc they have proved highly profit
able to ths companies that own them
These, as a ruiz, have built them wherever
there was promise of lucrative return, re-
gardlcss of any ordered system of surface
railways, for the whole of London, and
then operated them with little expenditure
for improvements and with no thought of
any change in motive power. On the con-
TRENT, and in America, electric traction Is
I'm familiar use. In the English provinces
1t is generally replacing horses on sab
urban railways; but in tagging London Sc
riOus consideration of its advantages has
barely begun.
Hitherto the ventures of the county coun-
Gil with street railways have been trivial;
bat in the last six months it has purchased
he lar of III
south of the Thames and from the begin
mig of the new year it will operate them
1t takes over twenty-four miles of track
4do cars and 1000 horses that of late have
served ltooobDo passengers a year, so
that the experiment (as it still is in the
American and the English view of munich
pal operation of street railways will pro-
caed upon a sufficiently large scale to af-
ford fair test. The negotiations for the
PURCHASE of the tramways have been con-
Quoted by special committee of the
county council with little dsapproval from
any quarter. Even the former shareholda RS
IN the lines, are fairly content with the
price that they have received. Since the
purchase was completed the committee has
been busy setting up a tramway depart
ment, TO direct which it proposed to call
from Glasgow the most competent mana ger
Of street railways in Great Britain. To its
surprise, though the salary was ample, he
REUSED the post, because, as he limited very
openly. the representatives of the council
iei uStu HIIfl Tree ndnQ IN his dealings
with employees. To protect "Iabor'' and 10
use II for political ends occupies some of
the councillors ovsrmuch, and their petty
interference in the execution of municina1
contracts has become so sore and yexatinus
mat many houses viii no longer accent
them.
These South London railways have WELD
ed the private corporation that built and
oDeTated them an annual profit of s4Oo ooO
The council believe that they can work
them as cheaply; but half of this return
Will be set aside for sinking fund TO ex-
unguish the cost of the purchase The
other half. If all goes well is TO be applied
to Improvements of the service and il anv
further surplus remain. to municipal needs
generally. The particular Improvement
that the council has in view is the use of
electric traction.
III sense the competition of the under
ground railways, actual and potential, is an
obstacle to the development of any wide
spread and well-matured system of surface
uaHsrt IN London. They are seemingly
necessary in the steadily increasing con-
Sestlon OF traffic in the heart of the town
ana In the steady widening of the ring of
suburbs. Moreover, Londoners much as
| they grumble at them, have grown thor
ouShiy accustomed 10 them. Not only is the
! county council taking over tramways, but
private capital is building or protesting
new underground railways, one of when is
nearing completion, while at least one more
is not likely to remain on paper II all the
pending schemes were to be ACCOMPLISHED
ttere would be more underground RAILWAYS
than even the traffic of London could main
tain.