BRITISH RAILWAYS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12912, 1 March 1906, Page 7

BRITISH RAILWAYS.

In round figures, 1,000,000,000 sovereigns have been sunk in the railway system of the United Kingdom, and, were the British Governmentto decide to buy.up the companies' properties as going concerns-r----iinder the-terms "of the Railway. Regulation Act of 1844—the price fixed would .probably considerably. exceed - that sum./ The gross revenue of the companies for 1904 was nearly £112,000,000, and, after, deducting working expenses, the net receipts, were £42,639,000. On the.capital as a.whole the return is about per cent. There are fully-250 separately constituted companies, between whose ownership are divided the 22,600 miles of the railway system. There are several companies who continue not only to own, but to work, surprisinigly small standard lines. The least of this class, is: the Easing wold Railway Company, j . which. since 1891 has worked a- line twoand a half, miles-ia length,, in the North Riding of ■. Yorkshire, and whose total rol"-, ling stock consists of one locomotive and! two passenger. carriages,:. Compare this with" the London and North-Western stock" ;"of 3,oss'locomotives, and 81,582 other rail vehicles. The London and. North-Western 'Railway is in point of capital and income the premier railway of the United Kingdom. . .

The.railways are- not one of our decaying industries ; they employ, indeed, oyer "half a. million of the adult population directly, "and many more indirectly, and the number is increasing. The' latest Board of Trade return shows that the servants total 575,854, ranging from the 66,621 permanent way men to the 3507 gatekeepers, whom many passengers think they might very well do without. Taking 600,000 as the approximate total of the railway employees of the United Kingdom, at the present date, it is probable that rather more than one half constitute . the managerial ■. and :ppefatin^'staff of thW linep: About.a third, in. the;lrha'mtenance. and renewal; of aid rolling stock and the remainder are employed in looking after our railway companies, such as hotels, re-freshtrieht-rooms, docks, steamships,, and canals.