ployed for the live-stock traffic, principally composed of lean stock going to be fattened, of fat cattle, pigs, sheep, and calves going to market. The rates for live stock, like those for goods, are agreed on by all the joint companies, and the returns are sent weekly to the clearing-house. The gross receipts, after deducting a small sum, per waggon, for terminal expenses, are divided, by mileage, among the companies (frequently six in number) concerned.

We have now to endeavour to explain a new branch of the department, termed "Mileage Branch."

In 1848 no less than 443,604 loaded waggons were by various companies (averaging three in number) sent "through," besides 267,228 sent back empty. The course of each of these waggons the clearing-house had to trace, in order to ascertain the exact time each was detained on each railway.

The number of miles for which the companies received, through the London clearing-house, payment from each other, amounted to 45,580,384.

The manner in which these extraordinary results are effected is as follows:

At every junction of railways there are stationed men in the pay of the London Clearing-House, to take the number of all passenger-carriages and goods-waggons, as also of all tarpaulins or sheets covering waggons. These men make to the clearingoffice daily a detailed statement of the same.

Returns are also sent daily from all the clearing-house stations on all the lines of railway, by the servants of the respective companies, of all foreign carriages arriving and departing from each of the said stations. From these returns the London ClearingHouse is enabled to trace the course of all waggons and passengercarriages travelling on what are termed "foreign" lines, and to debit and credit every company with the sums it has respectively incurred for mileage, as also what is due from and to the respective companies for demurrage per day of waggons or of passenger-carriages.

These accounts are transmitted to each company monthly.

Sheets covering waggons are in like manner all checked at

the junctions by the men placed there by the London ClearingHouse, as also by returns forwarded to the office from the various stations at which the waggon stops to be loaded or unloaded; and thus the charge of one-tenth of a penny per mile for the use of each of these tarred coverings is divided according to its proper proportion among the respective companies over whose lines it has travelled! For a waggon or carriage from Edinburgh to London, mileage and also demurrage accounts are sent to four companies, and from Arbroath to London to seven companies.

Fourteen clerks are required to keep the mileage and demurrage accounts of carriages and waggons, and eight clerks to keep those of the tarpaulins or sheets.

THE ACCOUNTANT.-Lastly, in the corner of the London office, in a small elevated compartment, about four feet square, sits "the Accountant," who keeps—

1. An account for each separate company (forty-seven in number), showing briefly the sums at their debits and credits, and the balance due to or by each.

2. An interest ledger, showing the amount of interest accruing on balances in arrear, which interest is received by the clearinghouse from the Dr. company, and paid to the Cr. company.

3. By the Act of Parliament, every railway company is bound to pay to Government a duty on all sums received by it from passengers, whether on its own account or for other companies. The consequence of this is, that one company is continually obliged to pay duty for another, thus creating a debtor and creditor account for duties, which account the Clearing-House also settles monthly.

LOST LUGGAGE.-The Clearing-House, from its connexion with almost every railway in the kingdom, undertakes the duty of corresponding with all the clearing-house stations from which it receives daily returns respecting any unclaimed luggage left on the rails.

At the entrance of the Clearing-Office, in the corner, there is a small post-office of compartments for the letters and returns daily transmitted by the manager to each company.

The office usually receives and despatches 4500 communications per day, employing five lads to open, endorse, and arrange them. The office is open daily from 9 A.M. till 5 P.M.

With a deep sigh we can truly say that we have now concluded a sketch of the Railway Clearing-House, which, as it gave us one headache to investigate, and another to endeavour to explain, will probably be equally afflicting to our readers.

In justice, however, to the system, we must confess that it is impossible to convey in writing an adequate conception of the infinity of details with which it has to grapple.

The number of items which in the course of a year, by the London office, are examined, traced through many returns, checked, and transferred from one account to another, exceeds rather than falls short of (50,000,000) fifty millions!

It must be obvious to any person conversant with the working of railways, that, without a centralised system of this description, so constituted as to command the confidence of the railway companies, the railway system generally would not only soon become clogged, but constant squabbles and disagreements between the various companies would ensue, to the detriment of their interests, as well as to the discomfort and inconvenience of the public.

The true object, therefore, of the London Railway ClearingHouse is to enable the railway companies of the United Kingdom who are parties thereto, to work that enormous traffic, in which they have a common interest, with as much security to themselves, and with as little inconvenience to the public, as if all the associated companies were ONE; and it is evident that in no way could this important object have been effected, except by the establishment of an office which, based on principles of complete centralisation, should be as the London Clearing-House really is-independent of each company, but under the common control of ALL.

CHAPTER XV

MORAL.

THE few rough sketches which we have now concluded, insignificant and trivial as they may appear in detail, form altogether a mass of circumstantial evidence demonstrating the vast difficulty. as well as magnitude of the arrangements necessary for the practical working of great railways; and yet we regret to add, in their general management there exist moral and political difficulties more perplexing than those which Science has overcome, or which order has arranged.-We allude to a variety of interests, falsely supposed to be conflicting, which it is our desire to conciliate, and from which we shall endeavour to derive an honest moral.

When the present system of railway travelling was about to be introduced into Europe, it of course became necessary for Parliament and for His Majesty's Government seriously to consider and eventually to determine whether these great national thoroughfares should be scientifically formed, regulated, and directed by the State, under a Board competently organized for the purpose, or whether the conveyance of the public should be committed to the inexperienced and self-interested management of an infinite number of Joint-stock Companies. Without referring to by-gone arguments in favour of each of these two systems, and, above all, without offering a word against the decision of Parliament on the subject, we have simply to state that the jointstock system was adopted, and that accordingly capitalists and speculators of all descriptions-men of substance and men of straw--were authorized at their own cost to create and govern the iron thoroughfares of the greatest commercial country in the world. The first result was what might naturally have been

expected, for no sooner was it ascertained that a railway connecting, or, as it may be more properly termed, tapping immense masses of population—such, for instance, as are contained in London, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, &c.—was productive of profit, than, just as, when one lucky man finds a rich lode, hundreds of ignorant, foolish people immediately embark, or, as it is too truly termed, sink their capital in "mining,” so it was generally believed that any "railway"—whether it connected cities or villages it mattered not a straw-would be equally productive.

The competition thus first irrationally and then insanely created was productive of good and evil. The undertakings were commenced with great vigour. On the other hand, as engineering talent cannot all of a sudden be produced as easily as capital, many important works were constructed under very imperfect superintendence; and as iron, timber, and every article necessary for the construction of a railway simultaneously rose in value, the result was that the expense of these new thoroughfares, which by the exaction of fares proportionate to their outlay must, as we have shown,* eventually be paid for by the public, very greatly exceeded what, under a calm, well-regulated system, would have been their cost. Nevertheless, in spite of all difficulties and expenses, foreseen as well as unforeseen, our great arterial railways were very rapidly constructed.

Their managers, however, had scarcely concluded their "song of triumph," when they found themselves seriously embarrassed by a demand on the part of the public for what has been rather indefinitely termed "cheap travelling;" and as this question involves most serious considerations, we will venture to offer a very few observations respecting it.

There can be no doubt that, inasmuch as it is the duty of Parliament to legislate for the interests of the public, so it is the duty of Her Majesty's Government to exercise their influence in legitimately obtaining for the community cheap travelling. But although money is valuable to every man, his life is infinitely more precious; and therefore, without stopping to inquire whe

* See Chapter I. page 17.

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