countenanced, and the present long-tunneled and costly one had the preference.*

Several weeks have perhaps been occupied in the production of the evidence; it is now printed, and stitched together in the form of a blue book, and is accompanied by the Report of the Committee, and by addenda, appendices, and other documents intended to throw light on the subject. During the session of 1844, between forty and fifty of these Committees sat, heard evidence, and issued five and forty blue books, with their equally blue satellites; while the number in later years has been greatly increased. The moderate estimate of twelve hundred and fifty pages each for those of 1844 will give no fewer than sixty thousand folio printed pages, as one of the results of a year of railway enterprise.

At length, the decision of the Committee on a particular Railway Bill has been made, and is about to be announced. On the doors of the room being opened, it is entered by a dusky avalanche of counsel, solicitors, shareholders, speculators, brokers, and idlers, who collect along and in front of the barrier, where the mass is condensed into a hot, anxious, and impatient conglomerate, the ingredients of which endure a sort of felo de se in petto for some two or three apparently never-ending hours: or perhaps, on the conclusion of the evidence and the speeches, they are made to wait in the lobby till the selected senators have made up their minds as to the propriety of passing or rejecting the Bill. Some are pale with anxiety and alarm, some are flushed with excitement, while the counsel look on with comparative indifference for they have done their work and received their fees. Whispers begin to circulate that the Committee-men are two to two, and that the chairman, who has the casting vote, is unable to make up his mind. But at length the tinkling of a bell breaks in upon the buzz of conversation, a fresh thrill of anxiety rushes through the minds of the friends and foes of the new project, for now the fate of the line is to be determined: the Committee comes from its retirement by a side door into the waiting-room, and, headed by the chairman, communicates the decision of the learned members. Profound, intense silence reigns as he announces the verdict that he is instructed to state that "the Committee having heard evidence, are of opinion that the preamble of the Bill has, or has not, been proved, and they intend to report accordingly." A buzz, and a rush to the door follows, and perhaps a cheer arises from the victors. On the occasion of a favourable decision being given on the London and York line, which was fought inch by inch through the Committees of * Herapath.

both Houses with special acrimony and perseverance, the moment that it was pronounced, stentorian lungs shouted, "Bravo! hurra!" which was accompanied by the stamping of feet and umbrellas, and was followed by a general fight for the door, at which a fearful struggle took place. The confusion was complete, and after repeated demands for "Order," which were utterly ineffectual, the chairman could only give expression to his indignation by declaring that the conduct of those present was "exceedingly indecent."

The announcement thus made has sometimes been rendered available by parties interested in the line. One darts away, perhaps by special means he has provided for the purpose, and succeeds in selling or buying on' Change a lot of shares, during the five minutes that intervene before the arrival of the intelligence; and is thus enabled, at the expense of others, to save himself from the loss he would otherwise have incurred, or to make a handsome profit on the strength of his early information.

Of the labour, intellectual and physical, to which honourable members were exposed in these interminable discussions, the reader will already have gained some idea. Flesh and blood might well revolt at the task. While the attention and strength of the members of the Legislature were thus absorbed, how would it be possible for them to enter with vigour on the great public questions of the day! It has been well remarked, that if after three days' patient hearing of the witnesses and lawyers on some of these conflicting interests, a Committee-man has one tangible idea floating in his head, he must be either an Alcibiades or a Bavius-a heaven-born genius, or the mere incarnation of a fool!

The authority of the Legislature thus obtained empowers the Company to take possession of a width of land of sixty-six feet, exclusive of that required for giving the necessary inclinations to the sides of cuttings or embankments. If a dispute arises between the Company and a landowner on the question of compensation, an arbitrator is appointed by each, to whose decision the case is referred, while sometimes the matter is brought before a jury. The sums claimed for land have been so exorbitant, that arbiters have often given less than a quarter of the amount demanded, and, in one case, only a fiftieth part was awarded. The cost of land can seldom be exactly estimated; and, in the construction of the London and Birmingham Railway, this item was more than double the anticipated amount.

The requirements of the Government on railways are enforced under the Supervision of a department of the Board of Trade, consisting of an Inspector General, who has previously been an officer of

Her Majesty's corps of engineers, and two Civil Superintendents. No new lines can be opened without the previous examination, and certificate of approval, of the Inspector, who is responsible for the capability of the works to fulfil the duty to be required of them. All accidents must be reported to this department of the Board of Trade within forty-eight hours of their occurrence; and it has authority to sanction alterations for dangerous crossings,—for allowing the Company to appropriate land, in order to increase the safety of travelling by diminishing curves, or by other means,—for joining new lines to those already completed,-and to arbitrate on several matters which, under various enactments, are placed within their jurisdiction.

The dimensions to which Railway Acts sometimes extend, are enormous; they having, on many occasions, occupied from one to two hundred folio pages. It has been suggested that the cost incurred might be easily diminished by the enactment of a General Railway Bill, which would render unnecessary the repetition of items which have now to be specified in each separate Act.

The expenditure incurred in procuring legislative authority to construct railways has been, in many cases, scarcely credible. While the Parliamentary, surveying, and engineering costs of the Kendal and Windermere Company amounted to little more than two per cent. on the total outlay of the railway, we are assured that the Parliamentary costs of the—

The Brighton line had to contend with three or four other Companies during two successive Sessions, and when the Bill was before the Committee, the expense of counsel and witnesses was stated at £1000 daily, extending over fifty days. The London and Birmingham line. escaped much of this cost by coming earlier into the field; but the Parliamentary and surveyors' expenses even then amounted to £72,000, which must be regarded as a reproach on the system of legislation which thus permits impediments to be thrown in the way of works of great and acknowledged usefulness. It is also affirmed that "the solicitor's bill of South Eastern Railway contained ten thousand folios, occupied twelve months in taxation before the Master, and amounted to £240,000." One Company had to fight so hard for their Bill, that they found, when at length they reached the last stage that of receiving the Royal assent-that their preliminary undertakings had cost nearly half a million of money,—a sum which

had been expended in merely acquiring the privilege of making a railway, and the interest of which has now to be paid by the passengers and goods that travel thereon. Without opposition, the same Bill would have been passed into an Act at a cost not worth mentioning, in comparison with the real expenditure.

The waste of capital, directly and indirectly, in the formation of railways, has been estimated at not less than £12,000,000, apart from the loss which has been incurred in the support of unsuccessful Bills and the maintenance of unsuccessful opposition. This sum would have been sufficient to construct a railway six hundred miles long, at the rate of £20,000 a mile; while the interest which has to be paid by the public in the increased cost of existing lines, amounts, at five per cent., to £600,000. Of the cost of projects which were ultimately unsuccessful, a single illustration may be given. In the celebrated battle of the Stone and Rugby Railway, the inquiry continued during sixty-six sitting-days, from February to August 1839, and, having been renewed in the following year, the Bill was finally defeated at an expense to its promoters of £146,000.

Much as it is to be regretted that costs so enormous have been incurred in the construction of railways, yet it must be admitted that, in many instances, the Companies are less to be blamed than to be pitied, as the victims of systematic and determined extortion. Some lines might be pointed out in which as much of economy has been observed as could be well anticipated, when the novelty and costliness of the enterprise are regarded. In favourable situations, English lines have been made at the rate of £10,000 per mile; and, in 1845, between one and two hundred miles of railway were constructed at not more than this expenditure. One of these, the Northampton and Peterborough Branch, of about forty-seven miles in length was constructed at a cost of £429,409; and the York and Scarborough, of forty-two miles, was made at an average of £6000 per mile. The Dundee and Arbroath cost £8,600 a mile, but, in unfavourable localities, railways have required more than £50,000; yet Mr. Lecount has computed that a line eighty miles in length, which would cost £960,000, or £12,000 a mile-which is far below the average would require the following traffic per day, from each end, pay the annexed dividends:

to

The total expense per mile of some of the English railways was as follows:

:

Omitting the three lines last mentioned, which it would not be right to include in computing the average, the expense of the remainder is about £56,915 per mile.

If the reader now feels any lurking ambition to be concerned in the construction of a railway, he will be in some measure prepared for the emergencies of Parliamentary strife, and the demands that will be made at once on his patience and his purse, in the prosecution of his design!