The Worcester spy., 1899-04-16
OWN THEIR ROADS.
Londoners Will Try an EX-
pertinent in Ownership.

IT has long been one of the purposes
of the dominant party in the London
countv council to acquire and to work
the street railways that connect some
of the suburbs with the heart of the !
city. says a London correspondent of the
Boston Transcript. Visitors to London
seldom see and still more seldom use
these trans. They pay for the most
part in the poorer quarters, just touch
ing the heart of the town, where there
is room above ground for no other
cheap public conveyances than the ON
nibuses. In one Of the suburbs a cable
draws the trans over a steep hill orI
motive power The cars are small
though they carry passengers on the
roof, dirty, ill-lighted, ill-ventilated,
uncomfortable and antiquated accord
ing to American standards and those of
progressive cities in the English prov
inces. They move at Slow trot that
does not even keep pace with the vehi-
cIes beside them. Only their low fares
commend them.
The trans serve. however a great
and increasing public need, and be-
tween the inadequacy of the serViceI
and the volume of the traffic they have
proved highly profitable to the compan-
les that own them. These, as a rule,
have built them wherever there was
promise of a lucrative return, regard
less of any ordered system Of surface
railways, for the whole of London, and
then operated them with little expendi-
ture for improvements and with mol
thought of any change in motive power.
On the continent, and in America,
electric traction is in familiar use. In
the English provinces it is generally re-
placing horses on suburban railways,
but in tagging London serious consid
Grafton of its advantages has barely
begun.
Hitherto the ventures of the county
council with street railways have been
trivial. but in the last six months it
has purchased for 81, $1,000 the larger
part of those to the south of the
Thames. and from the beginning of
the new year it will operate them. It
takes over "a miles of track, 400 cars
and 1000 horses that of late have served
100 900 900 passengers a year. so that
the experiment (as it still is in the
American and the English view of mu
nicipal operation of street railways will
proceed upon a sufficiently large scale
to afford a fair test The negotiations
been conducted by a special committee
Of the county council with little diSap-
proval from any quarter. Even the
former shareholders 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
manager of street railways in Great
Britain To it's surprise, though the
salary was ample, he refused the post,
because. as he limited very openly, the
representatives of the council refused
him a free hand in his dealings with
employees. To protect labor" and to
use it for political ends. occupies some
Of the councillors oVermuch, and their
petty interference in the execution of
municipal contracts has become so sore
and veXatious that many houses will
no longer accept them.
These South London railways have
Welded the private corporations that
built and operated them, an annual
profit of 100000. The council believe
that they can work them as cheaply,
but half of this return will be set aside
as a sinking fund to eXtinguish the
cost of the purchase. The other half,
If all goes well. is to be applied to i'm
provements of the service, and. if any
further surplus remains, to municipal
needs generally. The particular i'm
provement that the council has in view
is the use of electric traction.
In a sense, the competition Of the un-
derground railways. actual and poten-
tial. is an obstacle to the development
of any widespread and well-matured
system of surface transit in London.
They are seemingly necessary in the
steadily increasing congestion Of traf-
fic in the heart of the town and in the
steady widening of the ring Of suburbs.
Moreover. Londoners, much as they
grumble at them, have grown thor
oughly accustomed TO them. Not only
is the county council taking over tram
wavs. but private capital is building or
protecting new underground railways,
one of which is nearing completion,
while at least one more is not likely to-
remain on paper. If all the pending
schemes were TO be accomplished, there
would be more underground railways
than even the traffic Of London could
maintain.
.sRunnvmede Club" is absolutely pure
whisky. Distilled, stored. aged and bot
tied under supervision OF the y, 5. gov
eTumeuf.