Increase oj Railway "_l;'ai/ir. 225

the remainder of the water; after boiling tbr 10 minutes, pass the deeocti,m through a fine hair or silk sieve, and add to it the liquor obtained in lhe previous process; stir the mixture, and keep it in well-stoppered vessels. Mode of application:--The boiler having been well cleaned, introduce through the man-hole, as soon as the boiler is halffilled wilh water, a { lb. of the resinous double subearbonate of soda and po'<ash per horse-power every six weeks. The quantity above-mentioned should be introduced every six weeks, by means of llie feed 1)ipes, when tile stealil iS lOW. For marine boilers~ introduce 3 lbs. of the preparation every tbur hours into the boiler for every 100 horst,-power, and lolow oil" once in every eight hours. Tbe blowing offslmuld bc perii)rined 10 minutes previous to lhe introduction of the t)reparalion inlo lhe boiler.

D)crease (J 17,71w<1.7 Tr<l.t/ic.*

We have usually considered that the traffic of the country increases annually about 10 per cent., so tliat in lhe course of ten years the trattie wouhl be doubled. Of course this must have a limit. Increase at this rate could not go on for ever. Thus it appears ti'nm lhe following 18 lines, on which there has eilher. L)cen no inerecise of mileage or a very trilling one, that tile old lines hnve ;t less increase than lhe new, and. lilt; older they are, generally speakin?, the l~!ss lhe pro rala increase.

Midland, Brighton, Caledonian, Newcastle and Carlisl., South }Vestern, Bristol and Exeter. York, .Newrastle, and Ber*xi,'k. Ulster, llelfilst antl Ballynwna, • Great Southern and \'VeslerIL South lJevon, South Eastern, York and Nortll Midland, lmncaster and Carlisle, Shrol)shire 1;nion, l,eeds amt Thirsk, Chester and Holyhead,

Eastern COtlllties (decrease)

M e a n 19 per e('nt.

]) lrrcil~{, per eelit, oi1 the t ra l l ]c o f l i i(} \c l , r tt,q;), ( l tJri l lg t i l t year lS50.

5i

s, 9

I0 I,

]) i ,,):)~

7() :~l

0,5 es }

,i.~

- - ,i~

:~.ltl

The mean annual increase, it will appear, is at the rate of 19 per eem., or nearly doable our estimate. But the past has been a rather extraor- dinary 3"ear. Traffic has increased much more rapidly than for years betbre, so that the year 1850 does not, (heretbre, present a t~dr measure of the average increase of traffic. Neither is it likely that the present year will. We might this year h a v e a rise in the passenger trattic or" possibly 50 per cent. or more over the past. Excluding these anomalous years, we do not think we shall err much in fixing 10 per cent. or about the half of the p a s t year~s i n c r e a s e as a fair annual average. If ,lo more

" From the London Railway Journal, No. 605.

~26 Ci~,d E~ineering.

lS47) t'ollies arc thercJ.re committed, ~'ailways will shortly come round to a titling" state of prosperity.

One or two special observatio,s on this table may not be amiss. Gene- rally speaking, it will be observvd that the old lines present a less per cent. increase than the new one~, arising fl'om the well-known fact, that tb.e lrai[ic of railwa)s, like mauy olher works of the creation, require lime for development. Full traffic does not come on a railway as soon as k is made, though it lie betxvvcn t(~wns whose trafiic has no perceptible increase. It takes thne to turn traltic out of its old channels. People are naturally averse to sever old connexions, and adopt new ones and new courses all at once. Ttwv mu~.t be coaxed and brought to them gradually.

On the Midland, it will be noimed, that there has been the least increase, and, on the Eastern Counties, a decrease of 4¼ per cent. Both of' these lines are exposed to a competition with the Great Northern, xvhieh is no doubt a reason for the falling c.ff; but whether it explains the whole of it, we do not pretend to say. (hlthe Midland, the goods have verymuch increased, for which the line is well situated, provided the Directors and the Directors of the Great Northern, will but work comfortably together. Ilad it not been for the increase in the goods department, the falling off would have been great. The Eastern Counties ought to have been a part of the Great Northeru between Cambridge and London, as we always contended. The saving of capital would have been great to the latter Company, and the traffic, at howew,r small a rate carried, would have been a god-send to dm former, while the line would have retained a good part of the trattie it then had, as its own proper traffic.

It was a great mistake in both Colnpanies to have two lines so nearand parallel, which we did all in our power at tlle time, publicly and privately, to prevent. Both directions, however, were occasionally mad, or when the one had any reason the oilier had not.

The Leeds and Thirsk, anti the Chester and Holyhead, in their per cent. increase have distanced all the ot}lers, and almost jumped out of the class. They are both new lines, and had both great room for that increase, which we are glad to find they have realized.

While there is good reason ibr gratulation in the increases which the above table exhibits, we cannot help feeli,,g regret at some of the facts disclosed.

It there appears that the average cost per mile has increased from 31,8601. on 2610 miles opened m 1846, to 35,2291. on 6238 miles opened in 1850, at the same tilne that the traflle has decreased from 33051. per mile at the former period, to 222"71. at the latter. In other words, the cost per mile has increased I t per cent., and the traffic has decreased 33 t per cent., or three times as fast.

This is by no means an encouraging feature, yet it is to be hoped, the gradual increase of traffic will presemly make all right. To accomplish so desirable an object, however, it will require the greatest vigilance and honesty of purpose on the part of railway boards.

Auother feature must not be overlooked in this mileage decrease of trailie, namely, that passengers and goods are both carried at less tariffs than they were,.witb, it is true, a less expense, hut not a proportionally

S!atislics of S'le~m, Po.wer in France. :}27

less. The consequence is, that the prolits musl decrease thster lhan the tralties have. Heaee, one reason why the diridends have so much stink.

Several reflections might be made on dwse less lhvomble features; but we are not disposed to indulge in lhem, or to damp the joyous f td- ing that all must experience, in lhe decisive proofs of lhe growing tratIie of the country. All lhat we want to do, is to impress on Directors the necessity of caution in future extensions, and upon Shareholders to be eareful how they encourage or sanction them. There is evidently a vitality in the railway system, which will, it" not crushed with new and profitless burthens, grow out of all "&e di!ticulties with which, by the folly of Directors and--it must not be conctml,'d--4he rapacity of Shareholders, it has been pressed down and eneumb~q'ed.

57alistics of l~ dlwajs.*

By a work recently published, it appears that there were in operation, at the commencement of 1849, in? difli~rent paris of the globe, a total length of 18,656 miles of railway, on which a capital of 368,567,000l. had been actually expended. Besides this, it is estimated that there were, a t the same epoch, in progress of construction, a further extent of 78"29 miles, the cost of which, when completed, would bc 146,750,000/. Thus when these latter lines shall have been brc,u~ht into operation, the population of F.urope and the United States (tbr il is thot~ only that railways have made any progress) will have completed, xvit! in the period of' less than a quarter of a century, "26,485 miles of railway: that is to say, a greaterlength than would completely surround the glolw, at a cost of above 500,000,000/. sterling. 3'0 accomplish this stup,,.d,us win'k, human industry must have appropriated, out of its annual savi,~gs, 2(}~000,000/. tbr twenty-five suc- cessive years.

Statistics of Steam Po~,,~r in F, m~c.T

There are 5607 manufactories in which steam machinery is employed. Of boilers, the number is 9"288, of which s776 were made in French establishments. These boilers reproscn~ a fi~rce of 65,1'20 horses' power, calculating the horse power as 75 ldlogrammes (180 lb.) raised one metre (1 yard) per second. They represe,t lh~. available force of 195,361 draft horses and 1,367,530 labc~rer~. 'l'lw nmnber of boilers employ- ed in the preceding year was only i-~023, and only 4033 establishments existed in which steam power was used. The length of railway rmw open for traffic is "2171 kilometres (1300 miles), on which are employed 725 locomotives. The numbe," ~l's! cam trading vessels . . . . is. 279,--tonnam...~. 40,098 ton~. They are propelled by 50:2 engines, constituting a total power of 22,893 horses. The mer'chaudise ~ransported by these vessels amounted to 780,948 tons. The progr,oss: of steam navigation in Franc,. is thus indicated: In 1835 there were 75 s,earners, by whleh 1,038r916 passengers were carried, and 88,140 tons of merchandise; last year ther,' were 279 steamers~ 2,808,886 passengers, and 730,948 tons~.~ourn,*l des Debars.

" F r o m the L o n d o n l h d h l e r . No, l1 : . "t Ibid.