Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/249

Rh RAILWAY 231 apparent discrepancy it may be stated that some companies had invested a portion of their capital in the stocks and shares of other companies ; that interest is occasionally paid on the capital of com- panies whose lines are not open for traffic ; and that interest on loan capital is not always paid out of net earnings. The appropria- tion of the gross receipts to working expenditure and dividends, according to the tabulated statement of expenditure, is summarily as follows, in parts of the gross receipts : Per cent. Maintenance of way, works, &e 9'5 Locomotive power 13'1 Maintenance of carriages and waggons 4-6 Traffic expenses 15'8 General charges 2-3 Direct expenditure on working 45'3 Contingent expenditure on working 7 "3 Total working expenditure Payments of interest and dividends . 52-6 47-4 Gross receipts 100 ]'.) a The statistics of traffic returns of railways in the United Kingdom id j- since 1842 indicate a remarkably steady and rapid increase of traffic. ibi on In 1842 the total receipts amounted to upwards of 4,250,000. In f tide. 1852 they were nearly 16,000,000, and during the thirty-one years following they are given at intervals as in Table XX. : Tear. Average Miles open. Total Receipts. Receipts per Mile. 11 fill P? ftg, H' S Miles. Per cent. 1853 7,488 18,035,879 2408 46 1856 8,523 23,165,493 2718 52 1859 9,772 25,743,502 2635 51 1862 11,208 29,128,558 2599 50 49 1865 13,039 35,890,113 2752 54 48 1868 14,438 ? 1871 15,457 48,892,780 3i(32 ei 47 1874 16,266 59,255,715 3643 70 55 1877 16,975 62,973,328 3709 71 54 1880 17,815 65,491,625 3677 71 51 1883 18,569 71,062,270 3S04 73 53 Thus the receipts were quadrupled during the thirty years from 1853 to 1883, whilst the mileage of railway open was increased by two and a half times. The receipts per mile increased notwith- standing their continual dilution by the accession of new lines. These results, taken together, indicate the inherent elasticity of the railway and its seemingly inexhaustible resources. Of the main trunk-lines, which constitute the foundation of the railway system, those which converge towards and terminate in London the metropolitan lines are more important than the provincial lines. London is the great heart of the country and is the chief centre of commerce ; moreover, the metropolitan railways, taken together, possess a greater variety of traffic than others ; hence they are selected for discussion illustrative of the growing magnitude and distribution of traffic. On the nine metropolitan railways, including the London and Blackwall and the North London, in operation in 1854-57, Table XXI. shows the receipts for these four years ; and the receipts for the year 1883 derived from the twelve metropolitan companies then in operation are added for comparison : Tear. Average Miles open. Total Receipts. Receipts per Mile. Receipts ]>er Mile per Week. 1854 2579 9,354,425 3627 70 1855 2664 9,920,609 3724 71 1856 2778 10,559,658 3801 73 1857 2834 10,743,118 3790 73 1883 8649 43,389,062 5017 96 In the early years 1856, for instance the metropolitan rail- way mileage open constituted one-third of the total mileage open, whilst it produced nearly one-half of the total traffic receipts of the United Kingdom, insomuch that the receipts per metropolitan mile were two -fifths more than the average total receipts per mile. Recently in 1883 though the metropolitan mileage open was less than one-half of the total mileage open of the United Kingdom, it earned six-tenths of the total receipts ; and the receipts per metropolitan mile were one-third more than the average total on the whole mileage of the country. Lastly, the increase of receipts of the metropolitan lines is greater than that of the entire system. Whether, therefore, the increase of receipts be compared with the total receipts or with the mileage open, the traffic of the metro- politan railways increases the most rapidly, and it is also of the greatest absolute magnitude. But, to bring out clearly the relative importance and progress of the traffic of different districts, let us separate what may be distinguished as the coast lines to the south and east of the metropolis the Great Eastern, and the railways south of the Thames from the interior lines to the north and west, the Great Northern, Midland, North-Western, Great Western, and the three local lines, the North London, Metropolitan, and District. The receipts may be correspondingly classified and compared with the receipts in other parts of the United Kingdom (Table XXII.): District. Year 1857. Tear 1883. Average Miles open. Receipts per Mile per Week. Average Miles open. Receipts per Mile per Week. Metropolitan interior lines Metropolitan coast lines. . Other English lines not in- cluded in the above .... Scottish railways Miles. 1515 1319 3616 1183 1044 86-5 56-5 51-5 40-5 21-0 Miles. 6236 2413 4484 2952 2484 95-9 98-0 73-5 50-1 22-1 Irish railways This comparative statement shows some strong contrasts. In 1857 the densest traffic in England, averaging 86, 10s., over 1515 miles lay to the north and west of the metropolis ; the railway traffic of the country was very partially distributed ; and, taking London as the great focus, the traffic radiated and converged in all directions, with decreasing intensity as the distance from the centre increased. In the year 1883, on the contrary, whilst the metropolitan traffic continued to be the densest, the traffic of the metropolitan coast lines per mile open had advanced so rapidly as even to surpass that of the interior metropolitan lines, the receipts being 98 per mile per week against 96. The rapid development of the southern lines passenger traffic is, as will be shown, the cause of the great advance in receipts. Further insight into the comparative conditions of interior and coast lines may be got by taking four great inland lines (Great Northern, Great Western, Midland, and London and North -Western), which are lines of preponderating goods and mineral traffic, and contrasting them with four great coast lines of preponderating passenger traffic (South-Eastern ; London, Brighton, and South Coast ; London, Chatham, and Dover ; and South- western). In the annexed table (XXIII.) for 1883 the average fare per passenger is calculated on the assumption that the fares formed 80 per cent, of the whole receipts for passenger trains, and the average length of a passenger's journey is got by taking 85 per cent, of the passengers as third class at Id. a mile and 15 per cent, as first and second class at Ifd. a mile. Four Metropolitan Interior Railways. Four Metropolitan Coast Railways. Average miles open 6,186 54,425,924 63,663,432 118,089,356 159,686,870 94,870,258 11,234,047 38-6 per cent. 4s. 3-07d. Is. 4-88d. Is. l'50d. 12 miles 17,831,467 61 - 4 per cent. 5s. 7-21d. 3s. 9-09d. 29,065,514 4s. ir06d. Per mile open. 8,799 10,291 19,090 25,814 15,340 1,816 2,882 4,698 1,381 22,606,006 6,567,793 29,173,799 131,002,266 10,365,093 5,755,000 72'3 per cent 5s. l'09d. 10-05d. 8-lld. 7J miles 2,202,137 27 '7 percent 6s. 8-46d. 4s. 3-OOd. 7,957,137 5s. 5-45d. Per mile open. 16,370 4,756 21,126 94,800 7,505 4,167 1,595 5,762 Passenger train miles run Goods and mineral train miles Total train miles run i Number of passengers Tons of goods and minerals Receipts from passenger traffic Proportion of total receipts Receipts per train mile .... ' Average receipt per passenger ' Approximate average length of passenger journeys Receipts from goods, &c Proportion of total receipts Receipts per ti-ain mile .... Average receipt per ton Direct working expenditure. . 13,461,020 2s. 3'36d. 2,176 3,621,907 2s. 5'80d. 2,623 15,604,494 53-60 2s. 7'70d. 275,582,620 5-66 2,522 44,550 4,335,230 54-48 2s. ll-66d. 94,983,202 4-56 3,139 68,776 Per cent, of total receipts. . Receipts per train mile .... Net receipts per cent, of capital The coast lines, being freer from competition, get higher rates both for goods and passengers ; but the inland lines have the advantage in direct working expenditure per train mile, and a still greater advantage in the much smaller capital raised per mile of line open, so that, in spite of competition and low rates, they earn 5| per cent, on their capital as against a little over 4 earned by the coast lines. The greater capital outlay on the coast railways seems to be due to the costliness of stations and carriage stock for a preponderating passenger traffic ; and as this more than outweighs the gains from higher rates the statistics support the generally accepted opinion that goods and mineral traffic on railways is profitable and should be encouraged and developed. Mr R. Price Williams, an accepted authority on railway statistics, supports this conclusion. Mr F. R. Conder, on the contrary, who has deeply studied the question, maintains that the heavy mineral traffic of railways should be relegated to the canals, which, though slow, are low in their charges. Employes, In 1856 Robert Stephenson estimated that 1 per Em- cent, of the population of the United Kingdom was maintained ployes.