LONDON'S TRAMWAYS.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 9118, 11 April 1901, Page 1

LONDON'S TRAMWAYS.

Something like 100 . miles of elec'rio tramway route will be completed m London within the next few years, extending to all the distant suburbs. By means of Inter-communicating lines, the whole system will be joined into a network, giving a service to the neighborhoods si.eh d& lias ncve^ before been attempted either for comfort, for speed, or for cheapness. Tramways have come so generally into use during recent _years that very few persona cajp possess an adequate idea oftheir magnitude. But, judging from tlie largest returns issued -by the Board of Trade, the authorised capital ofV companies m the United Kingdom amounts tv more than £31,000,000, of which about two-thirds had been expended by the middle of l&st year. The largest outlay, of court*, was necessitated by the construction of lines, which cost nearly £18,000,000; but, m addition, £995,000 A-as spent on horses, £314,000 on 'ocoraative engine*, and a million and a quarter on cars. With respect to the length of rails available for traffic, it may be added that ' 1177 _ miles had been complebed, double and single line services being about- equal m extent. Turning to ihe results achieved, the figures deal only wiih the year ended June 30th last. From these it appears 'that the gross receipts were only a little, short of five and a half million pounds, of which the cost of working absorbed £4;O75,00O. or a profit of £1,3Y0,GG0: There were more than a thousand passengers carried during the year, and tne distance traversed during the 12 months by the cars was 108,000,000 miles. When it is added that only 6410 cars were employed m this work, and that 57,400 horses and 568 engine* were required to supply the motive-power, a fairly -good idea may be formed as to the frequency. with which the various routes were traversed.