PASSENGER POSTAGE.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 453, 16 January 1869, Page 3

PASSENGER POSTAGE.

Mr Raphael Brandon is the author of a new scheme of railway organisation, promising results as wonderful as ever the street seller of Bisnager vaunted of his carpet. It is simply an adaptation of Sir Rowland Hill's postoffice scheme to railway passenger traffic. He proposes to treat a passenger like a letter, and send him anywhere over the kingdom, regardless of distance, at a fixed minimum charge. A three-penny stamp shall take you third-class, any journey, in one direction you like to go, whether from Ludgate Hill to Sydenham, or from John-o'-Groat's to Land's End. If you prefer second-class you will take a sixpenny stamp ; if you luxuriate in a first-class, your postage will amount to one shilling. This sounds as mad as the penny postage innovation sounded at first. But Mr Brand ou quietly proceeds to argue in his pamphlet that it would pay everybody, shareholders, the public, and the Government, besides giving renewed impetus to industry of all sorts. . . . The sum proposed to be charged for passenger postage looks ridiculously small. In reality it is not so much less than the average fare for the average journeys, as might be supposed. In 1865, in round numbers, 3,500.000 passenger trains ran over 71,000,000 miles, carrying 252,000,000 passengers. The traffic produced L 14,742,802. This gives an average of nearly 21 miles and 73 passengers for each train, which is about 3£ passengers per mile, giving an average for fare at present paid, per average journey, ofl4d only. Now, says Mr Brandon, I will promise you six times the traffic, which will give the united railway interest an excess of L 4,000,000 of receipts, with very little, if any addition to the expense of carrying an increased number of passengers. But that is merely supposing each person paid but 3d. It is calculated, however, that on the increased number of travellers, one-seventh would ride first-class at Is, and two-sevenths second-class at 6d. This would raise the annual return to L 32,000,000 for passengertraffic, instead of L 14,750,000, as at present.