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 CHAPTER XIV.

is well known, the relations of the State to railways differ in various countries to a very wide extent. For instance, in Belgium, practically the whole of the railways have been purchased by the State, and are worked by a department of the Government for the benefit of the public, very much as the Post Office is in England.

In Prussia, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, and most of the other German States, nearly the whole of the railways have been acquired by the Government and are worked as a Department of State; while in Austria, with the exception of one line, which is a State railway, the whole of the railways have been made and are worked by private companies, the Government merely exercising a certain power of control over the fixing of the rates and charges.

In France, some of the railways have been constructed and are worked by the State, and others have been made by private companies, but on a system of territorial concessions, by which these companies are secured against competition, and the Government, in consideration of this fact, exercise a complete control over the fixing of the rates. In India, the railways have