[1] The traffic receipts published each week by the newspapers neither represent correctly the actual mileage of railways opened nor the receipts upon them. Thus, although about 300 miles have been opened since the 31st of December, 1866, making the actual length of the railways in the United Kingdom nearly 14,200, the mileage upon which traffic was published for the week ending the 14th of September last was only 12,958. Many of the small railway companies, and those which are chiefly mineral lines, do not publish weekly traffic returns; and it is to be feared that, in the case of some of the larger railway companies, increased mileage is not included for several weeks—in some cases, for several months—after branches are opened, although the increased earnings are included in the published receipts.
[2] In the paper read by the late Admiral Laws to the Institution of Civil Engineers, on the 11th of March, 1851, upon the mode of working an incline of 1 in 27½ on the Oldham branch of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, and in the report of the discussion which followed the reading of the paper, will be found several interesting details relating to the working of inclined planes on railways at that time.
[3] France now possesses these three mountains, the highest in Europe; Switzerland possesses the two next highest, Finsterarhorn, 14,026 feet, and the Jungfrau, 13,716 feet, both in the Bernese Oberland. The highest mountain in the Austrian Dominions is the Orrtler Spitz in the Tyrol, 12,822 feet, the fourteenth highest in Europe. She also has the fifteenth, Gross Glockner, 12,431 feet. Spain possesses the sixteenth and seventeenth, Mulhaeen, 11,664 feet, and Pico de Veleta, 11,398 feet. Mount Etna in Sicily is 10,872 feet, the twenty-fourth in height in Europe, and the highest belonging to the Kingdom of Italy. Olympus in Thessaly is 9,749 feet. Monte Santo in Greece, 9,628 feet, is the forty-second highest in the European order. The forty-ninth and fiftieth are in Corsica, Monte Rotondo, 8,767; Monte d’Oro, 8,701; Parnassus in Greece is 8,068 feet, and Mount Athos, 6,776. The highest in the island of Sardinia is Monte Genergentu, the seventy-ninth, 6,293. The Rigi in Switzerland is 6,050. The highest in Styria is Wechselsberg, 5,352. The highest in Bohemia is Schneekoppe, 5,328. The highest in Sweden is Mount Adelat, 5,145. The highest peak of the Apennines, Monte Corno, the thirty-sixth highest mountain in Europe, is 10,144 feet. The next highest, Monte Amaro di Majella, the fifty-first, is 9,113; Monte Velino, the sixty-second, 7,851; Termenillo Grande, the sixty-eighth, 7,212. Monte Cimone the seventy-first, 6,975. The height of Vesuvius is 6,950 feet less than that of his brother volcano, Mount Etna, being only 3,922 feet, and the 125th in European order. The highest mountain in Portugal is the Sierra de Foga, 3,609 feet. The Gross Arberg is the highest in Bavaria, 4,832 feet. Coming to the United Kingdom, we find that Ben Nevis in Scotland, 4,406 feet, is the highest, it is the 111th in European order. They come afterwards as follows—Ben Macdin, 113th, 4,296. Cairn Tuol (Aberdeen), 115th, 4,225. Cairn Gorm, 121st, 4,090. Ben Lawers, 124th, 3,984. Ben Avon (Aberdeen), 129th, 3,821. Snowdon in North Wales, 134th, 3,590. Schehallion, Scotland, 135th, 3,547. Cairn Lewellen, North Wales, 136th, 3,471. Curran or Cairn Tual, near the Lakes of Killarney, 140th in European order, is 3,045 feet. Ben Lomond, Scotland, 144th, 3,912. Helvellyn, in Cumberland, 147th, is the highest in England, 3,115 feet. Skiddaw in the same county is fifty-seven feet lower, being 3,058, and Cross Fell, also in Cumberland, is 2,928. The Cheviot is 2,669, and Coniston Fell, in the Lakes District, is 2,649 feet. The Nephin Mountain in the County of Mayo is 2,638 feet. The Morne Mountains, in the County of Down, are 2,493 feet, Shunner Fell in Yorkshire is 2,348. The summit of Gibraltar is 1,493 feet, and whether Arthur’s Seat Edinburgh be or be not a mountain, it is 822 feet above sea level.
But many mountains in other parts of the world are of much greater altitude than those in Europe. The highest in Asia and in the world is Deodunga, or Chingo-pamari, in Nepaul, 29,002 feet, or exactly 5½ miles above sea level; and there are no less than twenty-eight other mountains in Asia, the height of which exceeds 20,000 feet, besides seven that exceed 15,000, twelve that exceed 10,000, sixteen that exceed 7,500, twenty-two that exceed 5,000, and six that are below 5,000, the lowest enumerated being Taganai, in the Ural Mountains, 3,532 feet above the level of the sea. The total number of the above is 92.
The highest mountain belonging to Africa and the Atlantic Islands is Kilimanjaro, in equitorial Africa, 20,000 feet high. There are four others more than 15,000 feet high, seven more than 10,000 feet, (among which is the Peak of Teneriffe, 12,205 feet), eight above 7,500, thirteen above 5,000 and eighteen below 5,000; total, 51.
The highest mountain of the American Continent is the Aconcagua, in Chile, 23,910 feet. There are fourteen higher than 20,000 feet, forty-two higher than 15,000, nineteen higher than 10,000, twelve higher than 7,500, twenty-one higher than 5,000, twelve less than 5,000; total, 121.
The highest mountain in Polynesia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands is a volcano, in Sumatra, called Singalang, 15,000 feet high. Volcanoes particularly abound in the groups of these highlands. Thus, while there are only four volcanoes among 169 European mountains, thirteen among ninety-two Asiatic, eleven among fifty-one in Africa and the Atlantic islands, thirty-three among 121 American mountains, there are sixty-three in a total of 109 mountains in Polynesia, Australia, and the Pacific islands. There are twenty-three of them above 10,000 feet, sixteen above 7,500, twenty-nine above 5,000, and forty-one under 5,000.
Thus it appears that there are 524 mountains in the world, of altitudes varying from 1,400 to 29,000 feet, of which 124 are volcanoes. The greater portion of the foregoing information is derived from the very interesting article headed “Physical Geography,” in the seventeenth volume of the eighth (and latest) edition of the Enclyclopædia Britannica, to which the reader is referred for further details. Writing of mountains reminds us that it was on the Puy de Dome, the summit of which is 4,806 above the level of the sea, that Pascal, for whom M. de Charles has invented the letters by which he has attempted to rob Newton of the honour of having discovered the laws of gravity, first observed the decrease of barometric pressure as mountains are ascended. Honour and reputation enough attach to the name of Pascal, without attempting to add to them by fraud and forgery.
[4] The Times does not take this view, for we find as follows, in one of its leading articles of the 27th of August, 1867:—“By one of the clauses in the recent commercial treaty between Austria and Italy, it is provided that both countries shall co-operate in the restoration and maintenance of international communication on the frontier. One of the results of this agreement is, that the magnificent military road of the Stelvio, a road which constituted one of the wonders of the Alps, but which Austria, ever since her loss of Lombardy in 1859, had suffered to go to ruin, will be completed and re-established. Italians and Austrians are now hard at work, each on their own side, vying with each other in their endeavours to efface the traces of ten years’ neglect, and restoring gradients and galleries, bridges and embankments, to their former condition. It is pleasant to hear of competition in such peaceful pursuits among people who, only twelve months ago, were confronting each other amid those very mountain scenes, bent on mutual destruction.”
[5] Here is the first advertisement announcing the intended passage of trains over the Brenner Railway:—
COMPAGNIE DES CHEMINS DE FER DU SUD DE L’AUTRICHE ET DE L’ITALIE CENTRALE.—Ouverture de la ligne du Tyrol. (Passage du Brenner).—La Compagnie a l’honneur de prévenir le public que la ligne du Tyrol, section d’Innsbruck à Botzen (passage du Brenner), sera ouverte au transport des marchandises entre l’Allemagne et l’Italie le 17 de ce mois, et au service des voyageurs, le 24 du même mois. Les expéditions de marchandises devront être adressées à Kustein (Tyrol), station frontière du Nord, ou à Ala, station frontière du Sud. Le livret des tarifs et celui de la marche des trains seront, dès aujourd’hui, à la disposition du public. A l’agence commerciale de la Société, à Kustein. A toutes les stations de la ligne du Tyrol. A la direction commerciale de la Société, à Vienne. Les stations d’Italie forment l’objet d’un tarif spécial, qui sera à la disposition du public, dès les premiers jours du mois de Septembre. Jusque là, l’agence commerciale à Kustein donnera tous les renseignements d’expéditions et de prix qui lui seront demandés—Vienne, 10 Août, 1867.
Later advertisements announce that the express passenger trains between Munich and Verona are to complete the journey in eighteen hours. The distance is 295 miles. Verona is 95 miles from Bologna; 565 miles from Brindisi; 178 from Florence; 411 from Rome; 574 from Naples. The following are the distances between London and Munich:—London to Paris, 296 miles; Paris to Kehl (viâ Strasbourg), 325; Kehl to Bruschal junction, 59; Bruschal to Ulm, 107; Ulm to Munich, 94—total, 881. Total—London to Brindisi, 1,741 miles; to Florence, 1,354; to Rome, 1,587; to Naples, 1,750.
[6] In trade and commerce? Yes—but not yet in population, as will be seen by the following statement, very recently published, of the inhabitants of the ten principal cities in France: Paris, 1,825,274; Lyons, 323,954; Marseilles, 300,131; Bordeaux, 194,241; Lille, 154,779; Toulouse, 126,936; Nantes, 111,956; Rouen, 100,671; St. Etienne, 96,620; Strasbourg, 84,167.
[7] According to the Almanac de Gotha for 1867, the smallest independent state in the world is that of Leichenstein, not quite three German square miles. Population in 1861, 7,994. Its contingent to the German Federal Army was seventy-two men. These were supplied by Austria. The community however was not taxed for them, as the Sovereign Prince paid for their equipment and maintenance out of his own private fortune. Leichenstein has not been swallowed up by Prussia. Next to Leichenstein comes Reuss-Greiz, seven German square miles; population under 24,000. Prince Henry XXII. came to his sovereign hereditary honours there last year.
[8] The population of Ireland was at its highest in 1845. It was then estimated to be 8,295,061. It is estimated to be, in June, 1867, 5,556,262: showing a decrease of 2,738,099 in twenty-two years.
[9] One thing is certain,—it is that the ladies who live within city precincts do as ladies do in all other parts of the world; for we learn that at the meeting of the City Commissioners of Sewers, held at Guildhall, on Tuesday, the 24th of September last, presided over by our friend, Mr. Deputy de Jersey, Dr. Letheby, the Medical Officer of Health, presented his report, in which he stated that there had been 103 births in the city during the previous fortnight, or just at the rate of 2,610 for the twelve months. The Doctor deserves his title, for only 76 deaths (being 9 less than the average for 10 years) were registered in the same period. Reference to death statistics for the whole kingdom shows that the mortality among children under 5 years old is slightly above the average, 31, as against a little under 30, which would be the average on 76 for the whole kingdom. The 14 over 60 years of age who died, are below the average for the whole kingdom; it is about, 18 for each 76 of the population, at the period of death.
[10] The street nomenclature of London is very extraordinary. Those unacquainted with it would hardly believe that there are as many as 50 King Streets, nearly as many Queen Streets, above 60 George Streets, 60 William Streets, and about 45 “New” Streets. This last name often, as may be supposed, greatly misleads strangers, who imagine that such streets are only of recent construction. Until the modern conversion of the “New Road” into City Road, Euston Road, and Marylebone Road, there were along its entire length places and terraces with every conceivable name, and as many as between fifty and sixty different enumerations of numbers. Nor must it be considered that recently-constructed London is exempt from blemishes of this nature. The word “Westbourne” appears no less than nineteen times in the Postal Guide—there are Westbourne Crescent, Westbourne Grove (the Regent Street of Westburnia), and then not only Westbourne Park, but Westbourne Park Cottages, Westbourne Park Crescent, Westbourne Park Place, Westbourne Park Road, Westbourne Park Road West, Westbourne Park Terrace, Westbourne Park Villas, Westbourne Place (Bishop’s Road), Westbourne Square, Westbourne Street (Paddington), Westbourne Terrace (Bayswater), Westbourne Terrace (Bishop’s Road), and Upper Westbourne Terrace—so far for the northern side of Hyde Park; but on the southern there are—Westbourne Street, Pimlico (to distinguish it from Westbourne Street, Paddington), and Westbourne Place, Eaton Square. Finally, the list winds up with Westbourne Road, Holloway.
Not so numerous in its locations, but equally puzzling and unsatisfactory, is “Kensington.” Besides that name, there are—Kensington Crescent, Kensington Road, Kensington Gate, Kensington Gore, High Street, Kensington; Kensington Hall, North End, Fulham, and Kensington Square on the south side of Hyde Park. Kensington Palace and Kensington Palace Gardens are situate between Kensington and Bayswater, Kensington Gardens Square is in Paddington, Kensington Gardens Terrace is in Bayswater Road, Kensington Park Gardens and Kensington Park Terrace are at Notting Hill.
It is needless to dwell upon the inconvenience and trouble to which such nomenclature gives rise. Sir John Thwaites, Tite, M.P., Ayrton, M.P., and other your colleagues of the Metropolitan Board of Works, to the rescue!
[11] Judging by the appearance of the traffic receipts published for the first thirty-eight weeks of 1867, it is probable that their total amount for the year will not fall short of £41,000,000.
[12] Here is one of a great many instances that might be quoted, from the Irish correspondence of the Times of no later date than the 1st of October, 1867.—“The necessity for having some efficient government control of railways, apart from the question of purchase, is illustrated by the unsatisfactory relations now subsisting between the Great Southern and Western Railway and the Kilkenny Junction line, which joins the former at Maryborough. The Great Southern are naturally unwilling to facilitate an opposition line, and pursue a policy of obstructiveness, which the directors conceive to be legitimate and expedient for the protection of their own interests, but which the public cannot quite understand, and find extremely inconvenient. Passengers are exposed to the risk of missing the train to Dublin on reaching Maryborough, and at Kilkenny the Great Southern Company will neither allow their waggons to come on the rival line with goods nor to enter the store of the Kilkenny Company. The consequence is that goods and cattle have to be taken out of the waggons at one part of the same track and placed in other vehicles at another part to resume their journey. It is hardly, perhaps, to be expected that companies should be disposed to assist competitors, but the interests of the public require that the intention of Parliament to afford increased accommodation shall not be frustrated.”
[13] During 1866 the coal produce of the various districts of the kingdom was as follows:—Durham and Northumberland, 25,194,550 tons; Cumberland, 1,490,481 tons; Yorkshire, 9,714,700 tons; Derbyshire, 4,750,520 tons; Nottinghamshire, 1,600,560 tons; Leicestershire, 866,560 tons; Warwickshire, 775,000 tons; Staffordshire and Worcestershire, 12,298,580 tons; Lancashire, 12,320,500 tons; Cheshire, 895,500 tons; Shropshire, 1,220,700 tons; Gloucestershire and Somersetshire, 1,850,700 tons; Monmouthshire, 4,445,000 tons; South Wales, 9,376,443 tons; North Wales, 2,082,000 tons; Scotland, 12,625,000 tons; and Ireland, 123,750 tons; making the total 101,630,544 tons above stated. It will be gathered from that statement that Durham and Northumberland have furnished one-fourth of the total yield of the kingdom. It is said that the coal-fields of these counties are gradually lessening; no doubt they are, although it will be probably three centuries before coal production there will cease to be profitable. But on the other hand, it is but a few years since the coal trade of South Wales assumed important proportions; still later, those of the Forest of Dean and of South Yorkshire. The coal-fields of Derbyshire are of vast extent, and extraction from them bears no proportion to what it can be in three or four years, owing to the opening of new and extensive collieries, especially in the Southern part of the county. Leicestershire also abounds in very good coal, the yield of which can, and no doubt will, be rapidly stimulated by means of the Midland Railway. We are surprised to see it figured for so small an amount in the above statement.
The estimated value of the 101,630,544 tons of coals raised in 1866 was £25,407,635, at the places of their production. There were 3,188 collieries at work, being an increase of 373 since 1855.
[14] Of these, France took 1,586,327 tons in 1865, and 1,841,335 tons in 1866. In 1865, Austria took 97,226 tons; Belgium, 21,810; Prussia, 577,183; Russia, 477,033; Spain, 409,497; the “Zolverein,” 586,507. The Coals imported from England into Belgium are used exclusively in the manufactories of Ghent and its neighbourhood.
[15] In 1866 many magnificent vessels were added to our mercantile steam fleet. In fact all the great steam navigation companies have increased their tonnage, so that no doubt at the present time the total steam tonnage of the Empire cannot be less than 900,000 tons. It is to be remembered that in computing registered tonnage in steam vessels, the space occupied by the engines, boilers, and coal bunkers are not included. This tells in a very marked manner in the smaller vessels, especially in tugs, in which the object is to have as much motive-power as possible, and in which all other space is comparatively useless.
[16] It requires a consumption of from 8 to 9 cwt. of fuel before an engine is in steam and ready for service.
[17] It was at one of these rolling mills that was produced, within the last few weeks, an astounding armour plate 15 inches thick. Two years ago 6-inch plates were considered not difficult of production; 7-inch might be produced, but anything beyond it was impossible!
[18] King Iron!—Vide speech of the Right Hon. William Gladstone, M.P., at the opening of the Barrow Docks, on the 19th of September, 1867. The following magnificent article from the Times of four days later gives, in the compass of half a column, the most life-like picture that could be penned of the grandeur of England in former times, and of her Titanic power in the present:—
“Within living memories,—‘Lancashire-over-Sands’—a couple of score of inhabitants represented its population; and when the operations at Barrow, now consummated, were first commenced, a dozen dwelling-houses were as many as could be counted: yet in ten years Barrow has become a flourishing town, with a population of, at least, 20,000, and such prospective wealth and importance as have earned for it a municipal charter. The explanation of the marvel is contained in two words—iron and coal. Beneath the desolate soil of this savage district lay beds of rich iron ore,—the ore brought the miners, the miners brought the railway, the railway brought the docks; and now the docks, the railway, and the mines together are represented in a borough as populous as the old city of Lincoln. When the Furness Railway was first projected, a person experienced in such matters estimated that a traffic of 60,000 tons would be near the mark. The result affords an instance of how calculations of this kind have uniformly been exceeded by realities. Within three years the quantity of ore exported from Barrow exceeded 150,000 tons; this amount had risen in five years to 250,000; and in ten years, to nearly 500,000.
“This is the simple history of the rise and growth of Barrow. In other parts of the north similar miracles of progress have occurred during the present generation—one a place where there was one farmhouse thirty years since, is now a town with 30,000 inhabitants. But the truth is, that all these examples, down to the very latest here commemorated, do but express the continuous displacement of wealth, industry, and population which has been effected by the development of mineral riches in the north of England. If any reader will peruse Lord Macaulay’s description of the Northern Counties in the 17th century, and with that picture contrast the scene of the present day, he will see at a glance what a revolution has been accomplished. England began in the south, and Winchester was its capital. The south was still England, until mining called the north into place and power. It was not that the north-country people lacked energy or intelligence,—far from it; but they had no manufactures, and, for want of them, they were left behind in numbers, riches, civilisation, and all that confers social and political importance. Such elements of grandeur as the country possessed were those of a backward state. Its great feudal nobles were unmatched in power. The three northern earldoms—Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmoreland, represented by the great families of Percy, Clifford, and Neville—were like little principalities, and their rulers could combine to alarm the Government and defy the authority of the Crown. The bishopric of Durham was a Palatinate, almost a sovereignty, and its cathedral church was as grand as that of Winchester itself. The great northern abbeys—Fountains, Rivaulx, Bolton—could compete in magnificence with the most famous foundations of the south, but all around these wonderful piles reigned solitude and poverty. At last came the mighty change not unforeseen even in the days of the Stuarts. As soon as coal was brought into use, the iron manufacture left the south for the north—the exhausted forests of Sussex for the productive mines of Newcastle. The woollen trade gradually flitted from Exeter to Leeds, and the cutlery craft from Salisbury to Sheffield.
“All this is the work of coal and iron, and Barrow is the most recent product of the forces in operation. Mr. Gladstone observed with characteristic ingenuity that, whereas iron is by far the most useful of all metals—‘perhaps more useful and more necessary than all the rest put together’—it is at the same time, or rather it was till coal was discovered, the hardest to obtain. Iron is rarely found in a virgin state. It is obtained only in the shape of ore, which must be reduced and purified by fire. The great forests which once covered the whole county of Sussex supplied the necessary fuel to former generations of manufacturers, but that material was easily exhausted, and, except for the development of coal mining, our iron industry would never have been known. Put coal and iron together, and the result is wealth, trade, population, power. These mighty agents turn a barrow into a borough. They attract labour as surely as gold-fields, and it is by their instrumentality that the displacements of modern society have been accomplished. What fire and water effect in geology iron and coal effect in social history. Mr. Disraeli remarks in one of his novels, that men who sneered at the antiquity of Damascus had great faith in the future of Birkenhead. There is reason for such faith, and it is to be found in the history of England for the last two centuries. Trade is the making of cities. It will be the making of Barrow, just, indeed, as it was the making of Tyre. Furness is now drawn from its obscurity, and, for anything that we can tell, may, in a few years’ time, win a name as great as Winchelsea has lost.”—Times, 23rd September, 1867.
[19] But while we are advancing, let it not be forgotten that other nations are also progressing, some of them marvellously. Take for example France. M. de Vinck, one of its ablest statisticians, has recently summarised the commercial state of the country since 1851, and the following are several of his figures converted from French to English values. In 1851 the imports of France were £43,760,000, exports £60,200,000, total £103,560,000. In 1865, imports £141,120,000, exports £163,480,100, total £304,600,000. In 1851 the number of French and foreign vessels which entered or left the French ports was 34,436. In 1865 the number was 51,156. In 1851 the miles of railway open were 2,187. In the end of 1866, 8,750. In 1851 the telegraph services possessed 1,875 miles and 100 stations, by means of which 10,000 messages were sent in the year, In 1866 it possessed 19,700 miles and 2,100 stations, by means of which 2,500,000 messages were transmitted. The charges on messages have been reduced 70 per cent. between 1851 and 1866. In 1851 the number of letters carried was 65,000,000, in 1865 329,000,000, and in the interval the postage has been diminished about 20 per cent. In 1851 the indirect taxes and those on consumption were £29,529,680, in 1866 £51,290,720.
[20] The Times concludes a recent article upon our exports with the following valuable words of advice and of admonition. “To maintain our trade we must zealously maintain our industry. We undertake, it may be almost said, to clothe the world; our exports represent, in the main, cotton, linen, woollen, and worsted manufactures; our imports are the raw materials required for this industry, and the food to sustain us in the work. What other countries grow we make up for use, taking at the same time the abundance of their harvests, to compensate the deficiency of our own. That, in a few words, is a summary of our national trade. We are keeping our position pretty well, but it should not be forgotten that our rivals are now more numerous, more energetic, and more confident than in former times, and that we must prepare ourselves for a competition far more severe than any we have hitherto experienced.”
[21] We omit these in our subsequent comparisons. No doubt their numbers have increased very greatly in recent years.
[22] There is no doubt that in many instances persons for whom third class carriages were never intended travel in them. There is a well-known railway story of a banker in a large agricultural and commercial town, who was asked, with a look of surprise, by an acquaintance that he met on the platform, if he were going to travel third class. “Oh, yes,” was the reply, “it is too bad of the company, they took off the fourth class only last week.” Two ladies, one with an expensive black satin dress; the other, with one of Swiss muslin, very elaborately got up, and both with very pretty bonnets, once complained to the author, of the conduct of a railway guard, for having put a bricklayer “with his dirty clothes on” in a compartment with them.
[23] Workman’s Trains.—From Penge, Sydenham Hill, Dulwich, and Herne Hill. The privilege of travelling with Workman’s Tickets is now accorded to artisans, mechanics, and daily labourers residing in the vicinity of the above stations. The charge for a Weekly Ticket is Two Shillings. These tickets will for the present be available to travel to Victoria, Ludgate Hill, or any other intermediate station by the following up trains:—
| Penge | dep. | 7 | 6 | a.m. | 7 | 36 | a.m. | or | 8 | 6 | a.m. |
| Sydenham Hill | ” | 7 | 11 | ” | 7 | 41 | ” | ” | 8 | 11 | ” |
| Dulwich | ” | 7 | 14 | ” | 7 | 44 | ” | ” | 8 | 14 | ” |
| Herne Hill | ” | 7 | 18 | ” | 7 | 48 | ” | ” | 8 | 18 | ” |
and to return by the trains leaving Victoria at 5·15 p.m., and Ludgate Hill at 5·44 p.m., and by any later third class train. On Saturdays these tickets will be available by the train leaving Victoria and Ludgate Hill at 2·25 p.m., or by any later third class train for the above stations.
The Metropolitan Extension. Trains for the use of artisans, mechanics, and daily labourers now run every day in each direction, between Victoria and Ludgate Hill. The charge for a Weekly Ticket will be One Shilling. These tickets are only available in the morning by one of the advertised workman’s trains, which leave Victoria at 4·0 a.m., 5·0 a.m., and 6·5 a.m., or Ludgate Hill at 5 a.m., and 6·5 a.m., and the holders of such tickets may return by any of the ordinary loop line Metropolitan trains which leave Victoria or Ludgate Hill after 5·30 p.m., or on Saturdays by any similar train starting from either Victoria or Ludgate Hill after 1·0 p.m.
Conditions upon which the above tickets are issued,—
These tickets are issued subject to the conditions contained in the Company’s Act, 27 & 28 Vict. cap. 195, and use by the holder is evidence of a special contract upon those conditions. Tickets for these trains can be obtained at the booking office of any station between Victoria, Ludgate Hill, and Penge inclusive, upon personal application only. The christian and surname, address, and trade, of the applicant may be required, as well as the name and address of the employer. Each ticket will be available for Six Days, from Monday to Saturday inclusive, and for one journey only in each direction on each day whilst in force, and by the advertised Workman’s Trains only. The tickets will have to be given up to the company’s ticket collector on the Saturday on which they expire, and even if issued on a later day in the week than Monday will still be available only up to and including the following Saturday. Each subscriber will be allowed to carry, at his or her sole and exclusive risk, a basket, not exceeding 28 lbs. weight, containing trade tools, so packed as not to be inconvenient or dangerous. No other luggage of any description will be allowed to the holders of Workman’s Tickets.
[24] There is another mistake as regards 1865, the number of sheep and lambs imported was 914,170; the value for that year is stated at £2. 10s. a-head. At that value 914,170 make £2,285,425, not £1,787,866 as set forth in the Statistical Abstract of the United Kingdom, issued in August last. We have occasionally observed other errors in Board of Trade Returns. They are not absolutely to be depended upon.
The following curious paragraph is from the journal of the Financial Reform Association of April last—“Since 1851 there has been published annually a return professing to give number and tonnage of vessels and customs’ revenue at twelve principal ports of the United Kingdom. In the Commons on Friday, March 15th, Mr. Candlish stated that only seven of these ports were properly described, the other five being far below Cardiff, Sunderland, Hartlepool, Swansea, and Grimsby; and that, whether as regarded shipping, commerce, or revenue, the return was grossly inaccurate in all particulars.—Mr. Cave, Vice-President of the Board of Trade, said that for some particular reason or other, he knew not what, the return had been moved for almost beyond the memory of man, and had since been continued year after year, for which he was very sorry, since it added needlessly to the great expense of unnecessary returns, and was entirely inaccurate from beginning to end.”
[25] The total amount of Tea imported into the United Kingdom in 1866, was 139,610,044 lbs., but 37,355,044 lbs. being exported, leaves the amount above stated as the total of British consumption. Its aggregate cost to the consumers was about £18,500,000, or about 12s. 4d. for each unit of the population.
[26] A very valuable compendium of the history of English railways from 1820 to 1849. It was published in 1851.
[27] The first of these reports was issued in 1855. Of the eleven reports since issued, two, the tenth and eleventh, bear no date at all, whilst the twelfth bears the comprehensive one of “March 1866.” These three reports, as well as the three that precede them, are signed by Lord Stanley, of Alderley; of the others the Duke of Argyll signed two, the late Earl of Elgin one, the late Lord Canning one (the first), and Lord Colchester one. That for 1867 (the thirteenth) is signed by the Duke of Montrose. His Grace has dated it.
The last person, not a Peer of Parliament, who was Postmaster-General, was the Right Hon. Henry Frederick Carteret, who was appointed on the 29th January, 1771, joint Postmaster-General with Lord Despencer. He became Lord Carteret on the 29th January, 1784, and continued as joint Postmaster-General with Lord Walsingham until the 19th September, 1789. On the death of James, Marquis of Salisbury, on the 13th June, 1823, Thomas, Earl of Chichester, who had been one of the two Postmasters-General since the 5th of May, 1807, became sole Postmaster-General, and there has not been more than one Postmaster-General since that date. Lord Chichester finally retired from office on the 17th September, 1827.
[28] The first travelling Post Office was placed on the Grand Junction Railway (the connecting Railway between Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham) on the 6th of July, 1837. On the 1st of January, 1839, the travelling Post Offices commenced running through, between London and Liverpool. The first travelling Post Office in Ireland was established on the Great Southern and Western Railway, between Dublin and Cork, on the 1st of January, 1855. They are now on every important line of railway in the United Kingdom, but they are not available as the travelling post offices are over almost all Europe, for the receipt of letters as they arrive at and stop at stations. In France, Belgium, Holland, all Germany, Austria and the Austrian dominions, Switzerland and Italy, there are letter boxes and receiving apertures on each side of them, into which letters can be thrown until the very moment that the trains to which they are attached are leaving the stations; no late fee is necessary for such letters, in fact a late letter fee is not known on the Continent, with one exception—Paris. In that city, since the 9th of May, 1863, letters can be posted at the Bureaux d’Arrondissement until half an hour after the general closing of the boxes, and until an hour after their closing at the Grand Bureau.
The travelling Post Office staff of the United Kingdom consists of 53 clerks and 147 sorters. These are exclusive of mail officers at some railway stations, and of 89 mail guards and 40 mail porters. The average daily journey of each travelling Post Office employé is 170 miles, and the average time of his duty is between 5 and 6 hours.
The “Service Ambulant” of France is much more comprehensive, as by means of the travelling offices a large amount of sorting is performed, which is the work of the ordinary post offices in England. The staff of the French travelling post offices was, on the 1st of January, 1866, composed of 518 “Agents” and 654 “Sous Agents;” total of the staff, 1,172.
[29] “Newspapers and book packets liable to detention if posted in pillar boxes within three miles of St. Martin’s-le-Grand.”—Postal Guide. Passim. Why? Let us also ask, does “detention” mean forfeiture or delay? Such a penalty, whichever it may be, does not, we believe, exist in any other part of the Kingdom with regard to newspapers and book packets posted in pillar boxes.
[30] It is to Sir Edward Lytton Bulwer, Bart, (now Lord Lytton), that the public is indebted for the Newspaper Duty Reduction Act of 1836; and it is to Mr. Milner Gibson, M.P., that is mainly due the distinction of having effected, in 1855, the abolition of the “Tax upon Knowledge” as the Newspaper Duty was then designated.
In 1835 the number of newspaper stamps issued was 32,874,632, and the number of newspapers conveyed by the post was nearly the same. In 1854, the last complete year before the abolition of the compulsory stamp, it was 107,052,053, of which about 37,000,000 were for London newspapers. About 70,000,000 were transmitted through the post. It is now of course impossible to do more than estimate the circulation of newspapers, but the London morning papers alone may be taken at 400,000 a-day, or 125,000,000 per annum; the daily papers published in all other places at as many more, and weekly papers at 250,000,000: total 500,000,000. If these figures be approximatively correct, the issue of newspapers has increased five-fold since 1854, but not more than about a seventh of them circulate through the post. In fact there has been scarcely any increase in the number of newspapers through the post since 1854.
The effect of comparatively high newspaper, as contrasted with low letter postage may be thus illustrated:—the chargeable letters delivered in the United Kingdom have risen from 75,907,562 in 1839, the year before the penny postage, to 720,467,007 in 1865, whilst newspapers, 44,500,000 in 1839, have (including book post packets, of which there were none in 1839), advanced in 1865 only to 97,252,766.(A) In France, in 1847, the year before the reduction of inland letter postage (one penny in each town or commune, twopence throughout France and Algeria, which latter, for postal purposes, is considered as France), the chargeable letters were 126,480,000, newspapers, printed matter, and pattern post 90,275,466. In 1856 the newspaper postage rate was reduced to four centimes per copy, not exceeding an ounce and a third, with one centime for each additional third of an ounce, and these rates are diminished one-half when a newspaper is posted and delivered in the same department. In 1865 the number of chargeable letters was 314,817,000, newspapers, &c., 275,317,880. Thus the chargeable letters only exceeded newspapers, &c., by 39,499,120. In Great Britain the excess was 643,814,241.
There is no doubt that the Post Office charge upon newspapers, especially with the facilities which the railways now afford to the department of transmission to any extent, is much too high. This is particularly so as regards the smaller, general, as well as many of what are called “class” papers, several of which do not exceed an ounce or so in weight. The author has given much attention to this subject, as also to the reduction of postage upon local letters not exceeding a quarter of an ounce in weight, to one half-penny each, but neither of these questions can be entered upon here. It may, however, not be inappropriate to say at present, that “local letters,” that is, letters which never leave the district of the office in which they are posted, are those that yield by far the largest revenue per letter to the Post Office; in fact, a very considerable portion of the total net revenue of the department is derived from them. The history and development of London local letters since the commencement of the present century is curious. In 1801 they were estimated at about 3,200,000. In 1803 they had increased to 6,000,000; and in 1813, to 9,400,000; but in the following ten years they had advanced only to 10,500,000, that being the estimated number in 1823. They were almost stationary during the next ten years, notwithstanding the increase of population; indeed, they rather retrograded, their number in 1833 being estimated at only 10,200,000. In 1835 they rose to about 11,200,000. In 1839, the year before the introduction of the penny postage, they were 12,480,000. In 1840, they bounded suddenly to 20,372,000, and in 1844 they reached 27,000,000. In nine years afterwards (1853) they were 43,000,000. In 1855 London was divided for postal purposes into ten districts, by which very much more rapid delivery was obtained for local letters. The consequence was, that, in 1858, the third complete year after the alteration, local letters had risen to 58,404,000; and in 1862, to 71,961,000. In 1865 they were about 90,000,000, of which upwards of 16,000,000 were delivered in the districts in which they were posted. At the present time the average delivery of letters in London is about 560,000, of which about half are local and half from the provinces and abroad. The daily number of newspapers and book packets delivered is about 55,000. If London correspondence continue to increase as it has in recent years, it will soon be necessary to have half-hourly collections and deliveries during certain parts of the day.
(A) This is the number stated at page 2 of the Postmaster-General’s Twelfth Report, but at page 15, it is 97,250,000, a difference of 2,766. The difference between the number of letters, as stated at pages 2 and 15 of the same report, is 7,007; of packets by pattern post, 6,116.
[31] In March of the present year the Post Office commenced sending the Eastern mails in bags, but no doubt the department will not be able to continue their use. When cholera prevails, like as it has done during the present year, Eastern mails contained in bags are said to be certain conductors and disseminators of the subtle poison.
[32] We recently had twenty shillings’ worth of penny postage stamps weighed; with the border all round the sheet, 240 stamps weigh a little more than half an ounce; without the border, the weight is a little less than half an ounce. Consequently £32 worth weigh one pound, £3,584 one cwt., £71,680 one ton, £716,800 ten tons.
[33] It is at times very difficult to understand the statistics of the department as given in consecutive Postmaster-General’s reports. For instance, in the report (the third) following that from which the figures in the text are taken, we find that the number of the post offices was increased by 368 in 1856, “making the whole present number 10,866,” of these 845 are head post offices (75 less than in 1855). In the Fourth Report, although the post offices of the United Kingdom were increased in 1857 to 11,001, the number of head offices is stated at 810, or 35 less than in 1856 and 110 less than in 1855. In the Fifth Report, 134 post offices were added during 1858, making 11,235, but the head offices were 4 less than in 1857. In 1859 the head offices became 825. In 1860 they were 818. In 1861, 813. In 1862, 808. Since 1862 the generic terms, “receptacles of letters” are, in the Postmaster-General’s reports, applied to all places at which letters can be posted. By a Parliamentary return issued on the 1st of October, 1867, it appears that there are 11,282 post offices in the United Kingdom, of which 814 are head offices, and 10,468 are sub-offices and receiving offices. These numbers are irrespective of about 7,000 pillar boxes all over the kingdom.
[34] The Postal Guide, although containing a great deal of useful information relating to postal matters, is not a work implicitly to be relied upon. Recently the author pointed out, in addition to many other errors and modes of imparting information calculated to mislead the public, 146 errors upon one subject only. These first appeared in No. 44, published on 1st of April 1867, and they were repeated in No. 45, published on the 1st of July. In the reply of the Post Office, all these errors were designated “minor points.” The amende, however, was made in subsequent communications, and improvements promised in the October edition. The promise has been, in a large measure, fulfilled.
[35] We think we shall he able to show clearly in a work on the Post Offices of England and France, preparing for publication early next year, that the penny postal system only began to be profitable to the nation about the time that Mr. Page wrote his report, notwithstanding that the statements of net revenue given in Post Office reports would make it appear to be otherwise. Until 1860, the charges for mail packets and contract mail steamers were borne on the Naval, and not on the Post Office Estimates, and the Postal Department debited itself specifically, for several years, with a charge for packets of about £4,500 a year! Last year, the total amount voted for our Ocean Postal Services and Packet Establishments was £821,163, of which £90,601 were for water conveyance of mails between different parts of the United Kingdom. Eight-ninths of it (£79,900) were for the mail service between Holyhead and Kingston. The vessels employed in this service are the finest and fastest afloat; they usually perform 63 statute miles in three hours and forty minutes, or at the rate of 17 miles an hour. The passages have, on some few occasions, been performed in three hours and twenty-five minutes, or over 18 miles an hour.
[36] We perceive by recent advertisements in the French papers, and by a letter from Mr. Daniel A. Lange, the “English representative of the Suez Maritime Canal Company,” inserted in the Times of the 26th September 1867, that the company proposes to raise £4,000,000 of capital by means of debentures, in addition to the £12,000,000 it has already expended. It is stated that the Great or Grand Canal will, by means of this loan, positively be finished by the first of October 1869. The debentures issued at £12 each, bear interest at the rate of 8½ per cent. per annum, and are to be paid off in the usual manner adopted in France, that is by lottery at the rate of £20 each. The original capital of the Suez Canal Company was fixed, at its formation in 1858, at £8,000,000. The length of the canal, when finished, is to be 100 miles, whilst the railway is 250. The reason is that Cairo is only about eight miles less distant from Alexandria than the Mediterranean mouth of the canal is from that of the Red Sea. Suez and Cairo are, practically, in the same latitude, but when the railway running nearly due south from Alexandria reaches Cairo, it makes a right angle towards the east to reach Suez.
[37] In France the number of receptacles for letters is nearly three times as great as in the United Kingdom. On the 1st of January, 1866, they were over 43,000, counting the receiver in each railway bureau ambulant as one. The staff of the French Post Office is also greatly in excess of that of the United Kingdom. On the 1st of January, 1866, the latter consisted of 25,082 persons, in which are included “rural messengers.” At the same date the French staff was 27,749, exclusive of 16,406 rural messengers. Total men, 44,155. The system of rural posts in France is of extreme interest. For the first thirty years of the present century, out of 38,000 communes 35,587 were without direct relations with the Post Office. To obtain a letter it was necessary to send, in many districts, distances varying from fifteen to twenty-five miles. By a law passed in May, 1829, every commune of the kingdom was to be afforded, from the 1st of April, 1839, postal communication, not less than every second day, with every other part of France. The service commenced with the appointment of 11,036 rural postmen, and the system has gradually extended to the employment of 16,406, for there is not at present a commune in France that has not a daily collection and delivery. “These 16,406 rural postmen,” says M. A. De Camp, in the Revue des deux Mondes, of January, 1867, “start every morning from 4,700 post offices. They travel through every commune, village, and hamlet, they convey correspondence to the most remote and to almost inaccessible houses and cottages. Every commune has, at its ‘Chef lieu,’ a letter-box, which is opened by the rural postman. The letters which he finds in it are delivered by him if they are addressed for any place in his walk; if not, they are conveyed by him to his post office, whence they are despatched every evening en route for their ultimate destinations.” So complete and penetrating is the system, that immediately after the annexation of Savoy, and of its Alpine regions, the rural postmen were installed, and now they present themselves daily at every habitation in the mountains, whenever there is a letter or even a newspaper to be delivered. “Let,” says a pleasant writer in a French periodical, “but an Englishman afflicted with ‘le splene,’ or any other man, but take up his permanent residence on the highest Alpine peak on French territory, it matters not Monte Rosa, Monte Cervino, or Monte Bianco, the rural postman of the mountain will be bound, if necessary, to visit him daily.”
The rural postmen of France walk an average of sixteen miles each,—a total of 267,600 miles daily. Of their number, 5,248 walk seventeen miles a day and “upwards.” In this last word is included a certain number who complete twenty-five miles, “a fact,” as M. Vandal informs us in the Annuaire des Postes for 1866, “of melancholy notoriety.”
“His visits,” continues M. Vandal, “are solicited with ardour and received with gratitude.” But his remuneration is not on a par with these feelings. There are 673 whose pay is only £12 a year, 996 who receive £14, 2,970 between £14 and £20, 9,988 between £20 and £24, and only 1,779 who receive higher than £24; the average is only £21. 4s. per man. They are allowed, however (as is the case in England), to supplement their postal pay by performing certain little commissions and conveying small parcels for the inhabitants of the districts in which their services are employed.
Belgium possesses a rural postal system as extensive and penetrating as that just described, but, although food and rent are cheaper there than in France, the average pay of Belgian rural postmen is £30 a year, just 2 francs a day.
[38] There are no official means afforded of distinguishing between the number of newspapers and of book parcels sent through the post. A writer in the September number (1862) of Fraser’s Magazine (said to be Mr. M. D. Hill, brother to Sir Rowland) states, that, in that year, the number of book parcels was 12,000,000. The circulation of newspapers through the post is, we apprehend, decreasing, but the diminution is more than compensated for by the increased number of book parcels.
[39] From 1839 until 1862, the number of Money Orders issued was regularly stated in the appendices to the annual reports. Half the value of the returns now issued is lost through the omission of this information, especially as it was in 1862 that the limit of an Inland Money Order was raised from £5 to £10.
[40] We trust there is no doubt whatever upon this point, yet two cases have recently occurred which cannot fail to awaken much apprehension in the minds of depositors. In each it appears that a fraudulent person got hold of a depositor’s book and withdrew the sum to his credit. The Post Office denied its responsibility on the ground that it had already discharged its obligation. Machinery to prevent the repetition of such a fraud could, we apprehend, be easily instituted, which would protect the Office, and at the same time not interpose unnecessary delay or impediment to the withdrawal of deposits. For some few years after the establishment of money orders some frauds were successfully practised upon the Post Office, but there do not appear to have been of late even attempts at fraud, yet the money order system is much more simple now, as regards the public, than it formerly was.
[41] Since the commencement of the present century the idea of making the machinery of the Post Office available as a means of carrying out the saving bank system, was occasionally in the minds of benevolent persons, and the idea so far took shape, that in 1806 Mr. Whitbread brought into the House of Commons, a bill for the purpose of effecting this object; but the nation was then too deeply immersed in war and in considering the ways and means for its sustainment to give attention to philanthropy. The bill was rejected at an early stage of its career. In 1817 the first comprehensive Savings Bank Act was passed, but it does not appear that during its progress through Parliament, any effective efforts were made to connect the Post Office with the system.
On the 31st December, 1865, 3,321 Post Office Savings Banks had been opened throughout the United Kingdom. Since then the number has been considerably added to. They have had some but not a very marked effect upon the savings banks on the old system, for whilst the “capital” of these latter, that is, the amount of money to the credit of depositors at the end of each year, was, on the 31st December, 1861, 41,546,475, it had fallen to £36,307,019 on 31st of December, 1866, but on the other hand, the “capital” of the Post Office Savings Bank was, at the last date, £8,121,175, making the total of savings bank capital £44,428,194, an increase of £2,881,719 since the end of 1861. It is to be remembered that this last named sum is principally, it might very nearly be said, altogether due to depositors of the humblest classes and of the smallest means who, until the establishment of Post Office Savings Banks, were never able to, at all events did not, avail themselves of any depositories for their earnings. The subject is one of deepest interest, but it cannot be perused further in these pages.
[42] The Duke of Argyll is equally distinguished as a senator, a politician, and a man of letters. The Quarterly Review, vol. 84, page 79, reviewing his “Presbytery Examined,” (published in 1848, when His Grace was not twenty-five years of age), thus speaks:—
“Every peer who employs the opportunities furnished by his high position, together with his natural gifts, in conscientious labour for the public good, is now, more than ever, an ornament and a bulwark to the State, and a blessing to the people. It is therefore, with unfeigned satisfaction, that we find another of our nobles, one of the highest in rank, and not the least wealthy in traditional fame, adding himself to the number who are pledged in the face of the world, by early efforts, to a life of continued labour. The Duke has not entered the field of ostensible authorship with any light or frivolous aim, nor has he incurred the heavier responsibility of handling subjects of deep moment to human destiny, for the purpose of displaying his intellectual gifts. The theme he has chosen is one of extended interest, and has points of contact with a wider sphere, while his pages bear throughout the marks of an earnestness not to be mistaken; besides, they present specimens of acuteness and of eloquence full of promise for his literary fame.”
Of the Duke’s last work, the “Reign of Law,” four editions have gone rapidly through the press. It is described respectively by the Times, the Spectator, and the Examiner, as “a very able book,” “a masterly book,” and “a very remarkable volume;” whilst the Pall Mall Gazette says of it,—“The aim of this book is lofty, and requires not only a thorough familiarity with metaphysical and scientific subjects, but a breadth of thought, a freedom from prejudice, a general versatility, and sympathetic quality of mind, and a power of clear exposition rare in all ages and in all countries. We have no hesitation in expressing an opinion that all these qualifications are to be recognised in the Duke of Argyll, and that his book is as unanswerable as it is attractive.”
[43] Mr. Lewins, one of the senior clerks, we believe, in the Post Office, has written a very pleasant and amusing book upon the British Post, but he naturally looks upon St. Martin’s-le-Grand as perfection. The Post Office has produced several literary men. Allen, who was the inventor of Cross Posts, introduced in 1720, by which he amassed considerable wealth, although not an author, was a great patron of literature, as well as a most benevolent man. He was the friend of Fielding, Warburton, and Pope, the last of whom has celebrated his benevolence in the well known lines,—
“Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame,
Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.”
At the present day, there are Anthony Trollope, Edmund Yates, besides many who adopt the anonymous, and are contributors to our magazines and reviews, and occasionally to comic periodicals. But there is one man who, if his duties, first as Accountant-General, and now as one of the secretaries of the Post Office, had not been so unceasing and absorbing for many years, would have been, in another sense, among the most distinguished men of letters of his day. Mr. Frank Ives Scudamore’s “People that One Never Sees” and his essays “On Dreams,” are amongst the most brilliant and exquisite little conceptions that pen has ever committed to paper. Mr. Scudamore finds “sermons in stones,” and sweetest harmony also.
[44] The following very seriously meant paragraph is contained in the Postmaster-General’s Fourth Report:—“I think I am safe in stating, as a general fact, that those boards of directors of railway companies which have evinced the greatest readiness to meet the wishes of the Post Office, and to convey mail bags by frequent trains, and at moderate rates, are, at the same time those boards which have been most successful in promoting the interests of their companies, as shown by the market value of their shares!” The company which the writer had specially in view when framing the foregoing paragraph, was the London, Brighton and South Coast. The note of admiration is ours.
[45] This is the amount stated in evidence before the Royal Commissioners on Railways.
[46] Some persons have odd notions of the speed of railway trains. Some few years ago, a jockey who had missed the express to Newmarket, was anxious to have a special train, but on being informed of the cost, he earnestly asked an officer of the Company “if he did not think the express might be overtaken if he followed it in a cab!” The express train was running on the Eastern Counties.
[47] The “narrow” gauge, the gauge all but universal through England, Scotland, Wales, and Europe generally, is 4 feet 8½ inches; the “broad,” or Great Western gauge, is 7 feet. The New York and Erie Railway gauge is 6 feet; the other American railways are the same as in England and Europe. The Irish gauge is 5 feet 3 inches. The Canadian and Indian 5 feet 6 inches.
[48] There is a difference of twenty-six minutes between London and Dublin times, London being to the east, is the earlier; thus when it is for instance 9 o’clock, it is 9.26 in Dublin. Dublin time has now become universal time in Ireland.
[49] At page 6 of the Ninth Report of the Postmaster-General, dated 30th April, 1863, signed by Lord Stanley, of Alderley, it is stated, “Postal communication between provincial towns has also, in many instances, been made more frequent. Between Manchester and Liverpool there are not fewer than eight mails in each direction daily.” At page 11 of the Twelfth Report, dated “March, 1866,” and signed also by Lord Stanley, of Alderley, the following words occur:—“The town districts of Liverpool have now six deliveries of letters from Manchester daily, as compared with only three deliveries of such letters in 1863. The improvement in the course of post between ordinary correspondents in Liverpool and ordinary correspondents in Manchester, is at present only partial and one-sided. A scheme is under consideration, however, for the extension of the deliveries and collections in Manchester, and when this plan shall have been carried out, a very marked improvement will be effected in the course of post between these great towns, and will, I doubt not, be followed by a rapid development of their already large correspondence.” The italics in the foregoing extracts are ours. To solve the difficulty, if possible, we obtained the October number of the “Local Postal Guide for Manchester, (published monthly) by command of the Postmaster-General,” and it appears by it there are ten collections for Liverpool at the head office, and three at the receiving offices and pillar posts,—one of which only began on the 4th of October, 1867. There are eight arrivals from Liverpool, and six deliveries.
[50] The following admirable and eloquent description of Manchester is, with one unimportant omission, taken from Engineering, of the 22nd of March, 1867:—
“To the mechanical engineer the name of Manchester has a significance similar in a certain sense, to that which the name of Mecca has for the people of Mahommet’s creed. ‘He is not a true follower of the Prophet who has not been to Mecca once in his life at least;’ so is the saying in the Orient; and, in drawing the parallel, we are tempted to say—he is not a true mechanical engineer who has not visited Manchester once in his life, who has not seen the monuments raised to the memory of the prophets of modern generations, only recently dead, and more than that, who has not seen the faces of those great prophets still living and daily effecting marvels and revealing truth for the benefit of future generations. With the monuments raised to the dead we do not of course mean any special bronze memorial of James Watt, nor the unsightly monument of Crompton which ornaments the central part of Bolton, nor indeed, the memorial of Richard Roberts, which ought to stand somewhere in Manchester, but does not stand anywhere. But there are 150,000 boilers in operation in Manchester and the manufacturing district surrounding it—we state this figure as estimated by Mr. Longridge, the chief engineer of the Boiler Insurance and Steam Power Company—they represent, perhaps, one million of horses’ power in steam engines daily at work, and these we call the memorial raised by the town of Manchester to the name of James Watt. As for the monuments of Crompton and Roberts, they form great groups like the pyramids in the graveyards of Egyptian rulers, only more numerous, more valuable, and more useful. Every cotton mill, every manufactory of textile machinery, is a memorial to Samuel Crompton and Richard Roberts. Take the largest of these groups—the Hartford Ironworks, Oldham—there are 8,000 men under the command of one leading mind, assisted by every aid that mechanical appliances can give, and indebted in almost every one of the details of their machinery to Richard Roberts again, employed in carrying out the ideas of this great inventor for the benefit of themselves, their families, and mankind at large. What a sight to compare with that of a solid chimney standing between four bronze lions! It is characteristic to the engineering profession that the works of our great men form monuments for their names which no national munificence can equal.
“To pass from the memory of those gone by to those who make Manchester what it is at present, viz., the centre and metropolis of mechanical engineering, we need scarcely make an interruption in our cursory reference to the history of mechanics. Mr. William Fairbairn, Mr. Whitworth, Mr. Nasmyth, are fellow travellers of Richard Roberts on the road of progress. They also are erecting monuments to their names; and the great engineering establishments which bear their names, form some of the most important items in the great total of Manchester manufactories, which great total may be considered at this moment to represent almost every one of the more important branches of mechanical engineering in the widest sense of that term. To commence with coal-mining, the Lancashire coal-bed is one of the richest and most important of this country; its different seams are applicable to all the varied branches of industry, commencing with the most valuable of all, the cannel coal, down to the cheapest coal slack, which is still capable of being converted into coke of good quality, and by the assistance of the washing machine can be made to yield the best coke required for the smelting of hematite iron of the highest marks. We have entered in detail into some interesting points connected with the coal-mining and iron manufacture of this district, in our recent account of the Wigan Coal and Iron Company. The iron manufacture in that locality is rapidly rising. It is based upon an exchange of coal and ore with the Ulverstone district, and may thank the introduction of the Bessemer process for its recent prosperity and its excellent prospects for future success. The Bessemer process itself (this important element in modern engineering), has found a centre in Manchester and its neighbourhood. The Bolton Steel Works, the Lancashire Steel Works, the Manchester Steel and Plant Company, the important steel works at Crewe, and the Mersey Ironworks in Liverpool, form an aggregate power of production fully as great as that which is centred in Sheffield, and of course much greater than in any other part of the world, that small district in Prussia, on the banks of the river Ruhr, excepted. The foundries of Manchester, although their production does not reach that of the largest establishments in Scotland with regard to quantity, are fully equal to them with regard to quality and size of individual castings which they are capable of producing. We have had occasion to mention the hydraulic ram of the hoist for charging the Woodward cupola at Messrs. Dobson & Barlow’s works, which has been cast in one piece, 22 feet long, standing on its end, at the Union Foundry in Bolton, and we have been informed that this foundry is laid out for casting articles of the heaviest description, up to a depth of 30 feet. In the Bolton Steel Works, the anvil of the 25-ton hammer, which has been cast in its place, is said to be about 200 tons in weight. Machine-moulding, with all its delicacy and beauty of form, is more developed in the Manchester district than in any other locality. We have heard of wheels 3 feet in diameter, with teeth pitched one-eighth of an inch, i. e., about 900 in number, being moulded by machinery at the Hartford Works, Oldham. The application of machine-moulding to railway axle-boxes we have noticed in our description of the Ashbury Works. For the construction of stationary engines of different sizes Manchester, we believe, admits of few rivals. We have noticed the large blowing-engines, with 100-inch cylinders, 12 feet stroke, made at the Bridgewater Foundry, Patricroft; the pumping-engines for the Abbey Mills Station, and the Liverpool Waterworks engines, now in progress at the Union Foundry, Bolton; the beautifully finished rolling-mill engines for the Barrow Hematite Steel Works, made by Messrs. Hick, Hargreaves & Co.; and Messrs. Musgrave & Sons’ engines at the Lancashire Steel Company’s Works and at Barrow-in-Furness. All these, and numbers of others, which may be counted by hundreds, form the vast group of engine constructions in Manchester. Engineers’ tools have had their early development, and still have their principal seat of manufacture, in this important place. One by one they have come into existence at the Atlas Works in their first and original types, have obtained their graceful shapes, the hollow castings of their framework, the scraped surfaces of their slides, and the dead accuracy of their movements, at Mr. Whitworth’s works, and have then become standard types of form more or less closely imitated by every tool-maker, not only in Manchester, but all over the world.