The Project Gutenberg eBook of Rambles on Railways, by Cusack Patrick Roney.

1. Rajmahal Hills.
2. Raneegunge.
3. Kurhurbali.
4. Jherria.
5. Bokaro.
6. Ramghur.
7. Karunpoora, North and South.
8. Eetcoora.
9. Palamow.
10. Sirgoojah, Singrowlie.
11. Upper Sone.
12. Koorba, or Belaspore.
13. Talcheer.
14. Nerbudda, and Pench River.
15. Chanda.
16. Kota.
17. Cutch.
18. Sind.
19. Salt Range.
20. Murree, and other places.
21. Darjeeling.
22. Assam.
23. Khasia Hills.
24. Garrow Hills, Cachar.
25. Cheduba, Sandoway.
26. Burmah.
27. Tenasserim Provinces.

“The Raneegunge coal-field is at a distance of 120 to 160 miles north-west of Calcutta. It extends from a few miles to the east of the village of Raneegunge to several miles west of the Barakur, the greatest length being, near east and west, about 30 miles, and the greatest breadth about 18 miles. The area included by the coal-bearing rocks is about 500 square miles. The coal of this field, like most Indian coals, is a non-coking bituminous coal, composed of distinct laminæ of a bright jetty coal, and of a dull more earthy rock. The average amount of ash is some 14 to 15 per cent., varying from 8 to 25 per cent. The Raneegunge field has the advantages of two branches of the East Indian Railway, which traverse its richest portions, and afford great facilities for the removal of coals.

“The small, but valuable, coal-field of Kurhurbali is about eighty miles distant from the Luckieserai station of the East Indian Railway. When the chord line from Luckieserai to Raneegunge is opened this colliery will be put into active working. Patches of coal or lignite have been found along the outer range of the Himalaya Mountains, and at the foot of the Darjeeling Hills. In Assam several good coal seams have been discovered. There is also very good coal in the Khasi Hills; but the coal beds exist at an elevation of 4,000 feet above the adjacent country. It is known that there is not any coal in British Burmah. On the whole, the East Indian coal, especially that accessible to railways, is so inferior in quality that it comes nearly as expensive as English coal. It is, therefore, evident that companies will have in the main to rely upon wood as fuel for their locomotives.”

[103] “The coal mines of the East India Coal Company Limited, situated in the district of Raneegunge, Bengal, were sold by auction to-day by Mr. Murrell for £20,000 under the Winding-up Act.”—Times (City article), 13th November, 1867.

[104] The Madras Railway continues to exhibit very striking results, both as regards its progress of development and its working expenses. During the half-year ending the 30th June, 1867, the number of passengers conveyed over the North-Western line was 1,019,164 as against 930,845 in the corresponding half-year of 1866. The goods were 164,334 tons as against 132,052 tons in the first half of 1866. The gross receipts were £241,010, against £213,676; the net £141,182, against £117,873. While the receipts had increased upon the half-year 12¾ per cent. the expenses had only increased by 4¼ per cent. Of the general goods traffic of the railway, salt still held its place as the largest item; the quantity carried in the half-year was 24,697 tons, yielding a gross receipt of £20,191. The quantity of cotton carried to Madras was 9,422 tons, against 3,486 tons in the corresponding half of 1866.

The receipts per train mile on the South-Western Line and Bangolore Branch were 6s. 11¾ d. in 1867 as against 6s. 9¼d. in 1866. The expenses, in 1867, 3s.½d. as against 3s. 1¾ d. in 1866. On the North-Western Line the receipts per train mile were in 1867, 7s. 10¾ d. as against 6s. 5d. in 1866, the expenses 2s. 5½d. as against 2s. 1¼d. in 1866.

[105] The following are the lengths of some of the European Railways open for traffic on the 1st of January, 1867:—France, 8,989 miles; Prussia, 5,483; Austrian Dominions, including the non German Provinces of Austria 4,001, excluding them 2,066 miles; Bavaria, 5,208; Saxony, 1,587; the total length of railways in Germany and the German Provinces of Austria were 12,450 miles, not including amongst them those exclusively used for coals and minerals; Belgium, 1,910; Italy, 3,040; Spain, 3,216; Russia, 2,893.

[106] The Debt of India.—“The public debt of India has expanded very considerably of late years. In 1840 it was £34,484,997; in 1841, £35,922,127; 1842, £38,404,473; 1843, £40,478,640; 1844, £41,833,451; 1845, £43,502,750; 1846, £43,891,849; 1847, £46,884,225; 1848, £48,757,213; 1849, £51,050,512; 1850, £53,934,768; 1851, £55,099,315; 1852, £55,114,693; 1853, £56,233,686. During several of the foregoing years wars of more or less magnitude prevailed. In 1854 the debt was reduced to £53,683,468; but it rose in 1855 to £55,531,120, and in 1856 to £57,764,239; then came the Indian Mutiny. In April, 1857, the debt was £59,461,969; but by April, 1858, it had risen to £69,473,484. In April, 1859, it was £81,171,308; April, 1860, 98,107,460; in April, 1861, £101,877,081; April, 1862, £107,514,159. By April, 1863, it had fallen to £104,495,235; April, 1864, to £98,518,145; April, 1865, to £98,477,555. During 1866 and 1867 there has been some increase of the debt, making it about £100,000,000. The charge for interest in 1840 was £1,595,778. In 1845 it had risen to £2,009,039; in 1850, to £2,558,939; in 1855, it had fallen to £2,189,433; in 1860, it had risen to £3,889,191; in 1865, to £4,482,385. The increased charge for interest in 1865, over that for 1860, was £593,194, whilst the increase of capital was only £370,095, thus showing that India pays a higher rate of interest on her loans than formerly.”—Times, 28th of August, 1867.

[107] The value of the imports into the United Kingdom only, from British India, £36,897,743, deducted from the gross exports from India, will show that our Eastern Empire has done trade of the value of more than twenty millions sterling with other nations. In 1865, the value of the British Indian merchandise imported into Great Britain was £37,395,425; in 1864, it was £52,295,595; in 1863, £48,434,740; in 1862, £34,133,551; in 1861, £21,968,752; in 1860, £15,106,597; in 1859, £15,244,869; in 1858, £14,989,030; in 1857, £18,650,223. The high price of cotton and the large imports of that staple from India since 1861 have, of course, swelled the totals of the last few years. But quite apart from this trade, our commercial relations with India have experienced both a solid and a permanent extension.

[108] The cotton importations of the first nine months of the present year have amounted to 988,314,096 lbs., being 9½ per cent. less than in the same period of 1866, and 62 per cent. more than in 1865. The supply of American this year, however, has been 5 per cent. beyond that of last year, while the quantity from India has experienced a reduction of 29 per cent. Of the total arrivals, the proportions this year have been as follows:—American, 46 per cent.; Indian, 33 per cent.; Egyptian, 10 per cent.; Brazilian, 6 per cent.; Turkish, 1 per cent.; and other countries, 4 per cent.

The total amount of the cotton crops of India is about 2,400,000,000; so that England only receives about a fourth of it. The average weekly consumption of cotton for all purposes in Great Britain is about 45,000,000 bales. The weight of a bale is 320 lbs.

[109] The only other British Colonies from which we receive cotton, are the West Indies, including the Bahamas and Bermuda. In 1852, they only sent to the mother country 703,606 lbs.; in 1865 the quantity had risen to 19,814,480 lbs.

[110] The New York Albion, of September 15th, 1867, very truly says:—“A oneness of purpose, and that mutual sympathy which inspires mankind with a collective and national patriotism, is rapidly taking root throughout British North America, and it is in these deep-rooted, but slow-growing sentiments that we implicitly place our trust for the future. When the Canadian is animated by the same feeling which wrought the ‘seven days’ wonder’ last year in Central Europe, and which still adheres to ‘German Unity’ as its watchword; or is inspired with the enthusiasm that recently made Italy one, ‘from the Alps to the Apennines;’ or with the national pride of even the Frenchman or Russian, there will be no fear of her policy being fixed or her destinies materially influenced by the outer world, no matter how boisterous the demonstrations, or unprincipled the purposes of her assailants.”

[111] “Easy Travelling.—The Pullman Sleeping Car Company have just placed on the Great Western Railway of Canada a new passenger car, which they call an ‘Hotel Car,’ and which combines the comforts of a first-class hotel, the luxuries of a drawing-room, and the speed of an express train. Like all American passenger cars, it is open at each end, with a platform in front of the doors; its length to the end of the platform is 71 feet 4 inches, width 10 feet 6 inches, with a ceiling 10 feet 6 inches from the floor. At each corner of the car, making four in all, is a private bed-room or state cabin, containing a sofa, two arm-chairs, and a centre table. These are convertible into comfortable beds, with mattresses, pillows, sheets, &c. The rooms are adorned with mirrors of large dimensions. The doors and fittings are of black walnut; carved and gilt ornaments of bronze are introduced. Each of these rooms will contain six passengers. Then follows a small room, fitted as a kitchen and steward’s pantry. Here meals will be cooked, coffee or tea prepared, and drinks dispensed. A bell with wires communicating all over the car—or shall we say the edifice—will summon the steward. A central passage runs down the length of the car from door to door, and on each side are three other compartments, each intended for four passengers. Berths are made up exactly as on board a steamer, the bed appurtenances being conveniently stowed away during the daytime. The partitions dividing the compartments being moveable, when used as a drawing-room rise no higher than the backs of the seats, which are covered with rich Genoa velvet; the floor is carpeted, the ceiling is painted in fresco, and the walls richly carved and gilt. A stove heats the interior, with provision for ventilation, and a washing-room and other conveniences complete the internal arrangements.

“The exterior is painted a rich lake crimson, relieved with gold ornaments. On two oval panels on either side are copies in bronze of Thorwaldsen’s figures of Sight and Hearing. The car is placed on two trucks of eight wheels each, with lateral motion springs.”—Railway News.

[112] We learn from the Sydney Empire, that the first locomotive made in New South Wales was launched from the yard of Messrs. Vale and Lacy, engine manufacturers, in January last. She is upwards of seventy horses power, and is now employed on the inclines and zig-zags of the Great Western (of Australia), between Redfern and Pyemont. “The trial,” says the Sydney Empire, “was pronounced by the scientific gentlemen present to be very satisfactory.”

[113] The Telegraph system of Australia deserves a few words of record:—At the end of 1866, New South Wales had 2,624 miles, upon which, during the year, 138,175 messages had been sent; Victoria, 2,626 miles, its messages 256,380; Queensland, 1,131 miles, messages 47,697; South Australia, 855 miles, messages 112,344. The reason of South Australia having so many messages in proportion to its mileage, is that St. George’s Sound is on the direct course of the mail steamers to and from Suez. It is, therefore, the first Australian land touched at on the outward passage, and the last on the homeward.

The lowest telegraph charge within New South Wales is one shilling for 17 miles; from 20 to 50 miles, it is two shillings; all above 300 miles, four shillings. The longest telegraph distances in New South Wales are from Sydney to Moama, and from Sydney to Hay, each 520 miles. The Border passed, there is a uniform charge with the other colonies; to Victoria (excepting a few Border Stations), eight shillings; Queensland, nine shillings; South Australia, nine shillings. Within Victoria the highest charge is three shillings. To the other colonies there is a uniform rate; to South Australia (with one exception, to Port Augusta, seven shillings), six shillings; to Queensland, nine shillings. In Australia each single message consists of ten words only, exclusive of the addresses of sender and receiver.

[114] The following are the heights, at their summits, of all the passes of the Alps available for carriages. Two of them, however, are not carriage roads throughout their entire extents—the Little St. Bernard and the Great St. Bernard. Commencing at the Western extremity the height of the Col di Tenda is 5,890 feet; Mont Genevre, 5,850; Mont Cenis, 6,658; Little St. Bernard, 6,780; Great St. Bernard, 8,200; Simplon, 6,636; St. Gothard, 6,808; Benardine, 7,115; Splugen, 6,940; Stelvio, 9,272; Brenner 4,650. These passes are referred to, ante, at pages 8 to 13.

Mr. John Ball, late President of the Alpine Club, in the Indices to his two Guides for the Western and Central Alps (1863 and 1866) enumerates 370 Alpine Passes for the former, and 239 for the latter. The following are the names and heights of those exceeding 9,500 feet:—On the Western Alps, the Col d’Argentière, 12,556 feet; Blanchet, 9,544; De Bréona, 9,574; De Collon, 10,269; Cristillan, 9,771; Cula, 10,076; Dora Blanche, 11,668; Pas de la Forcetta, 9,898; Galambre, 10,200; Garin, 10,393; Grancron, 11,034; Lauzon, 9,500; Levornea, nearly 10,000; Pas de Lore, 10,049; Maison Blanche, 11,212; Grand Motte, about 11,500; Nenaude, 10,036; Del Color del Porco, 9,604; Des Rayes Noires, 9,680; Mont Rouge, 10,958; Jeleccio, 9,600; Torrent, 9,593; Traversette, about 10,000; Turbat 9,800; Vacornère, 10,335; Val Pellina, 11,687; Zwischenbergen, 10,742.

Those among the central Alps are Passo di Boudo, about 10,000; Capütschin, about 10,600; Cercen, 10,030; Diavolezza, 9,670; Diavolo, 9,541; Fex Forcla, 10,112; Forus, 11,100; Hohenferner, 10,000; Jungfrau, 11,095; Langenferner, 10,765; Lobbia Alta, 9,956; Lobbia Bassa, 9,541; Lötschen Lücke, 10,512; Madritseh, 10,252; Matsch, 10,750; Oberaar, 10,264; Orteler, 11,000; Peter’s Grat, 10,550; Presena, 9,647; Salet, 9,565; Scerscen, 9,912; Sforzellino, 9,950; Strahleck, 10,994; Sterla, 9,515; Zufrid, 9,905.

Mr. Ball also enumerates 398 peaks or mountains in the Western Alps, and 685 in the central.

[115] During the progress of these sheets through the press, we lighted upon the following most interesting account of “Holborn Past and Present,” in the Morning Advertiser Newspaper. Its introduction here, will, we are sure, not be considered inappropriate.

“Perhaps no part of London has undergone such an alteration and business-like remodelling within the last few years as High Holborn, consequent on the construction of the Holborn Viaduct and other contemplated improvements. A few particulars relating to this locality, therefore, may not be thought, perhaps, uninteresting at the present time to our readers.

“Holborn extends from the north end of Farringdon Street to Broad Street, Bloomsbury. It was anciently called Oldbourne, from being built upon the side of a brook or bourne, which Stow says ‘broke out of the ground about the place where now the Bars do stand, and ran down the whole street till Oldbourne-bridge, and into the river of the Wells or Turnemill-brook.’ Holborn was first paved in 1417, at the expense of Henry V., when the highway ‘was so deep and miry that many perils and hazards were thereby occasioned, as well to the King’s carriages passing that way as to those of his subjects.’ By this road criminals were conveyed from Newgate and the Tower to the gallows at St. Giles’s and Tyburn; whither a ride in the cart ‘up the heavy hill’ implied going to be hung, in Ben Jonson’s time. As an instance of the way persons were conducted to the place of execution in by-gone times, we can quote Swift’s lines:—

‘As clever Tom Clinch, while the rabble was bawling,
Rode stately through Holborn to die of his calling,
He stopt at the George for a bottle of sack,
And promised to pay for it when he came back.’

And as to the lessons of morality taught in those days, it is said that an old councillor in Holborn used every execution-day to turn out his clerks with this compliment,—‘Go, ye young rogues; go to school and improve.’

“The average annual amount of traffic between Fetter Lane and the Old Bailey, which has been increasing rapidly during the last thirty years, was in 1838 assumed to be 20,000,000 pedestrians, 871,640 equestrians, 157,572 hackney coaches, 372,470 carts and waggons, 78,876 stages, 82,256 carriages, 135,842 omnibuses, 460,110 chaises and taxed carts, and 352,942 cabs. It was Alderman Skinner, who built Skinner Street, that first proposed to construct a bridge from Snow Hill across the valley to Holborn Hill, and part of the late Mr. Charles Pearson’s plan was to lift the valley seventeen feet.

“On the north side of Holborn Hill, approaching Farringdon Street, is Ely Place. All that remains of this once celebrated Palace, anciently called Ely House, which was then the town mansion of the Bishops of Ely, is the Chapel of St. Etheldreda. The crypt of this chapel during the interregnum became a kind of military canteen, and was subsequently used as a public cellar to vend drink in. It is now a Welsh Church, at the entrance being written—

‘Y.R. E.G.L.W.Y.S. C.Y.M.R.A.E.G.’

underneath

‘St. Etheldreda’s Chapel.’

“Evelyn records the consecration here of Dr. Wilkins, Bishop of Chester, in 1668, when the famous Dr. Tillotson preached; and here, on the 27th April, 1693, Evelyn’s daughter Susannah, was married to William Draper, Esq., by Dr. Tenison, then Bishop of Lincoln.

“At the south-east corner of Middle Row (now in course of demolition), Sir James Branscomb kept a lottery office sixty years ago; and at the ‘Golden Anchor,’ Holborn Bars, Dr. Johnson lived in 1748.

“At Ely House, ‘Old John of Gaunt, time-honoured Lancaster’ died, February 13, 1399, and Shakspeare has made it the scene of Lancaster’s last interview with Richard II. Here were kept divers feasts by the serjeants-at-law in olden times. At an entertainment given by them in 1495, Henry VII. was present with his Queen; and again in 1531, on the occasion of his making eleven new serjeants, Henry VIII. and Queen Katherine were banqueted here with great splendour, ‘wanting little of a feast at a coronation,’ and open house was kept for five days. In 1576, at the mandatory request of Queen Elizabeth, Bishop Cox leased to Sir Christopher Hatton, for twenty-one years, the greater portion of the demesne, on payment at Midsummer-day of a red rose, ten loads of hay, and £10 per annum, the Bishop reserving to himself and his successors the right of walking in the gardens and gathering twenty bushels of roses yearly. Hatton largely improved the estate, and then petitioned the Queen to require the Bishop to make over the whole property, whereupon ensued the Bishop’s remonstrance, and the Queen’s threat to ‘unfrock’ him.^(A) In 1578, the whole property was conveyed to Hatton, and Elizabeth further retaliated by keeping the See of Ely vacant for eighteen years from the death of Bishop Cox, in 1591.

“An old map, still in existence, shows the vineyard, meadow, kitchen garden, and orchard of Ely Place, to have extended northward from Holborn Hill to Hatton Wall and Vine Street, and east and west from Saffron Hill to nearly as far as Leather Lane; but except a cluster of houses (Ely Rents), on Holborn Hill, the surrounding ground was entirely open and unbuilt on. The Bishops of Ely made several attempts to recover the entire property, but during the imprisonment of Bishop Wren by the Long Parliament, most of the palatial buildings were taken down, and upon the garden were built Hatton Garden, Great and Little Kirby Streets, Charles Street, Cross Street, and Hatton Wall. During the interregnum, Hatton House and offices were used as a prison and hospital. In 1772 the estate was purchased by the Crown; a town house was built for the Bishops of Ely in Dover Street, Piccadilly; and the present Ely Place was built about 1775, the Chapel remaining on the west side. At Ely House was arranged the grand masque given by the four Inns of Court to Charles I. and Queen Henrietta Maria at Whitehall on Candlemas-day, 1634, at a cost of £21,000, when the masquers, horsemen, musicians, dancers, with the grand committee, including the great lawyers, Whitelocke, Hyde (afterwards Lord Clarendon), and Selden, went in procession by torchlight from Ely House, down Chancery Lane, along the Strand, to Whitehall.

“Holborn, in past times, was famed for its fruit gardens. Before 1597, John Gerrard, ‘citizen and surgeon,’ had a large physic garden near his house in Holborn, where he raised 1,100 plants and trees—‘a proof,’ says Oldys, ‘that our ground could produce other fruits besides hips and haws, acorns and pig-mess.’ Baldwin’s Gardens were so named after Richard Baldwin, one of the Royal gardeners, who began building here in 1589. Gray’s Inn Gardens were laid out under the direction of Lord Bacon, and in these gardens he erected a summer-house, where it is probable he frequently mused upon the subjects of those great works which have rendered his name immortal. At the corner of Furnival’s Inn, and in Queen Street, Cheapside, Mr. Edward Kidder, the famous pastry-cook, who died in 1739, had two schools, in which he taught 6,000 ladies the art of making pastry.

“The Holborn end of Fetter-lane was formerly a place of execution. Proceeding farther eastward we come to a part which was once supposed to be the worst part of London, and where stood Field Lane, described as ‘an infamous rookery of the dangerous classes,’ which extended from the foot of Holborn Hill northward, parallel with the Fleet Ditch. In 1844 was taken down the first part of Old Chick Lane, which turned into Field Lane. Here was a notorious thieves’ lodging-house, which was formerly the ‘Red Lion’ Tavern, where were various contrivances for concealment, and the Fleet Ditch in the rear, across which the pursued often escaped by a plank into the opposite knot of courts and alleys. But these places, in common with the Fleet Prison, are now nearly forgotten. Dickens, writing about Field Lane in 1837, thus describes it:—‘It is a commercial colony of itself—the emporium of petty larceny, visited, at early morning and setting-in of dusk, by silent merchants, who traffic in dark back parlours, and go as strangely as they come.’

“Skinner Street and Snow Hill would hardly now be recognised by their old inhabitants. Skinner Street, extending from Newgate Street to Holborn Hill, was built at the commencement of the present century, to avoid the circuit of Snow Hill. In Skinner Street, in 1817, was hung Cashman the sailor, who had joined a mob in plundering a gunsmith’s shop (No. 58). At the sign of the ‘Star’ on Snow Hill, at the house of his friend Mr. Strudwick, a grocer, died on the 12th of August, 1688, the famous John Bunyan, and was buried in that friend’s vault in Bunhill-fields burial-ground.

“The foregoing are only a few of the many interesting circumstances connected with this immediate locality; and no doubt, as improvements rapidly progress, very little of this portion of ‘Old London’ will be allowed to remain standing, and large mercantile buildings will be erected on the few spots where small tenements are now standing, and Holborn will be only a reminiscence of the past.”

^(A) Sir Harris Nicolas, in his life of Sir Christopher Hatton, written to expose and disprove the almost innumerable blunders of Lord Campbell in his lives of the Chancellors of England, gives the exact words of this celebrated letter.

“Proud Prelate, I understand you are backward in complying with your agreement; but I would have you to know that I who made you what you are, can unmake you; and if you do not forthwith fulfil your engagement by G—— d, I will immediately unfrock you.

“Yours, as you demean yourself,

“ELIZABETH.”

[116] “The ‘City’ has an area of less than one square mile. During the past fifty years the number of houses in the City have been reduced to 5,581, yet the value of the remainder has so increased that the present few outbid the former many. During the last ten years only, the annual value of the City has increased no less than a million and a-half sterling, or at the rate of 273 per cent. The 17,413 inhabited houses of 1811 had decreased to 13,431 in 1861, but the rental of 1811, which was £565,243, had increased to £2,109,935 in 1866. Therefore, the fewer houses of 1866 are worth more by £1,544,692 than the more numerous houses of 1811. The houses in the City were worth £32 per house, annual value in 1811. They are now worth £137 each, annual value. They were worth, to capitalise them at twenty-five years’ purchase in 1811, £14,131,075; they are now worth, by the same process, £52,748,375, equal to the total revenue of Great Britain only a few years since, and equal to five-sixths of the present revenue.”—City Press, April, 1867.

[117] The following, from the “Brook,” may be taken as an English reading, with additions and variations, of the above lines:—

“With many a curve my banks I fret,
By many a field and fallow,

And many a fairy foreland set
With willow, weed, and mallow:

“I slip, I slide, I gleam, I glance,
Among my skimming swallows,

I make the netted sunbeams dance
Against my sandy shallows,

I chatter, chatter, as I flow,
To join the brimming river,

For men may come, and men may go,
But I go on for ever.”

[118] A writer in one of the French journals, describing the passage of the first locomotive and train over the Mont Cenis, doubtless, having Switzerland and her legendary hero in his mind, says, that “the railway is laid on the system of the distinguished Swiss engineer, M. Guillaume Tell!” The Edinburgh Review, in 1865, described Mr. Fell as an American. He is, however, of English birth and of Saxon descent. In the course of an excellent description of the trial trip on the 26th of August, published in one of the London papers, reference is made to the railway over the Brenner, and the writer adds that, in point of precedence, the Austrian engineers had beaten their English confrères, but the printers, by omitting one letter, made it appear as if the Austrian engineers had eaten those of England!

[119] It is wonderful how ingenious men can be when they are out of temper, and want to vent anger and disappointment. A writer in a professional paper, from whom better things might have been expected, and who has fairly and honestly won reputation in fields where imaginery grievances have not warped and overset truthful judgment, argues that because Mr. Fell’s engine must go up the mountain by the centre rail system, it is most costly, and therefore practically useless on account of the great loss of power occasioned by the necessity of the engine coming down again. Nearly as much power, says the writer, is thus lost in the descent as is required to get the train up to the summit. This maybe so, and very probably is so, but is not this loss the penalty that has to be paid for crossing the mountain at all. If the writer have crossed the Mont Cenis he could not fail to have seen that instead of the eight or ten horses or mules that are required to draw a carriage or a waggon up the pass, only two are required in the descent for the former, and one for the latter, all the other horses coming down the mountain loadless. After all, the disease is not half so bad as the remedy suggested for curing it—twenty-four to thirty miles of tube or tunnel, to say nothing of the mode of propulsion through it.

[120] An article appeared in the Times, of the 18th September last, upon the subject of engines ascending steep gradients and sharp curves. The Fell system was condemned, and grooved rails, within which the phlanges of the wheels were to move, were recommended in substitution of the centre rail, and of horizontal wheels upon the engine. Railway men could at once recognise the writer of the article, both from its style and from the extensive reference made to the plans of one individual who was specially named more than once in it. It does not require to be an engineer to know that the plan recommended would, instead of giving increased adhesion, create friction to an extent that would soon render a locomotive fixed and buried in its own sand, for it should be mentioned that the continuous pouring of sand from the sand-box of the engine on to the rails, and into the groove, was one of the sources from which it was stated, increased adhesion was to be obtained.

Mr. J. M. Heppel, C.E., declining to enter into criticism or controversy upon this point, and doubting the necessity of using sand with the Fell engine, unless in very limited and exceptional cases, proceeds to state, in answer to the assertion, that its vertical and horizontal wheels would not act together:—“The vertical and horizontal wheels of Mr. Fell’s engine are all driven from one pair of cylinders, and so coupled that they must all revolve exactly together; so that, abstracting for a moment from the slip or scrub of the vertical wheels which takes place on curves, if one slips they must all slip; and so long as the total adhesion is sufficient to take up the power, it is a matter of very little importance how it is distributed among them.

“The adhesion of the vertical wheels is due to the weight of the engine, and for any given condition of the rails, is a constant quantity. On the other hand, the adhesion of the horizontal wheels is, within its maximum limit, completely under control, and is given by a powerful screw motion, acting upon springs, which keep them always pressed against the rail with a force practically uniform. Notwithstanding any small inequalities of dimensions, all therefore that is requisite in ascending a heavy incline, is to set up the screws till the adhesion of the horizontal wheels makes up with that of the vertical ones, the total amount required for utilising the traction power of the engine.

“One obvious advantage of this arrangement is that it admits of all improvements of construction by which an engine, at the same time powerful and light, is obtained, a most important point on steep gradients, where gravitation is so formidable an obstacle, and one which has, as far as I am aware, been obtained by no other system in a way to be practically useful.

“Another great advantage is the power of regulating the adhesion to suit the requirements of the case, thereby avoiding superfluous and useless friction, which is always the necessary concomitant of adhesion; and when the latter is in excess must, so far as it goes, both absorb the power uselessly, and wear out the machinery unnecessarily.

“I will not enter into a discussion with regard to the polishing of the rails by the breaks, and the consequent loss of adhesion. I believe that adhesion depends much more on the accidental condition of the rails, due to atmospheric causes, than on any permanent mechanical condition of their surface; but, at any rate, that quite sufficient adhesion will always be obtainable by the means I have endeavoured to describe, to what ever state of polish the rails may have attained.”

[121] Baron Seguier evidently still considers himself the inventor of the centre rail system, for after the announcement in the newspapers of the successful crossing of the Mont Cenis Pass, on the 26th of August 1867, he published a letter in the Moniteur, making a statement to the above effect. He added, however, that he did not intend “to raise any question as to the pecuniary advantages that would be derived by others from the invention.”

[122] It has recently come to light that, through some members of the Mont Cenis Board interfering in details connected with the construction of the engines—upon which they were not competent to pronounce an opinion, but which were, nevertheless, adopted in opposition to the recommendation of Mr. Fell—considerable alterations will have to be made in the rolling stock before the line can be opened for traffic. These alterations can hardly be completed before February of next year.

[123] Tunnels are not the only monuments of great antiquity that have come down to us. In the course of a very interesting article upon the Suez Canal, in the Cornhill Magazine for May 1865, the writer, speaking of the obelisk in front of the Temple of the Sun, at Heliopolis, says, “It is thirty-eight centuries old. It is the father of all obelisks that have arisen since. It was raised a century before the coming of Joseph; it has looked down upon his marriage with Asenath; it has seen the growth of Moses; it is mentioned by Herodotus; Plato sat under its shadow. Of all the obelisks which sprang up around it, it alone has kept its first position. One by one it has seen its sons and brethren depart to great destinies elsewhere. From these gardens came the obelisks of the Vatican and the Porta del Popolo, and their venerable pillar (for so it looks from the distance) is now almost the only landmark of the seat of the wisdom of Egypt.”

[124] The extract in the text is taken from Book II, chapter 1, of the “Books of Diodorus Siculus, made English by G. B. Booth, of the City of Chester, Esqre.,” published in London, Anno 1700.

[125] Of Anne, we learn that she was the daughter of James, King of Cyprus and Jerusalem; that she was married in 1433 to Louis, second Duke of Savoy, and second son of Amadeus VIII., who abdicated in 1434, and, although not an ordained priest, was nominated Pope in January 1440, and was the last of the Anti-Popes; his abdication of the Papacy took place in 1444, and his death in 1451. Anne, considered the most lovely woman of the period in which she lived, gained by the beauty of her person and her intellectual capacity such ascendency over her husband, from the time of his coming to the throne, that she not only disposed of all the honours and appointments of the duchy, but founded several useful industrial establishments. She gave the best proof of her own industry and attention to domestic duties by being the mother of sixteen children, most of whom grew up to man’s and woman’s estate. Anne’s death took place at Geneva in 1463; her husband survived her two years.

[126] The language in the text is confirmed by the following paragraph in the Times of the 13th September, 1867. The Genoa Morimento has the following from Nice:—“The news of the success of the Fell system for passing mountains has been received here with pleasure, and two distinguished Nizzards intend visiting Mont Cenis to see how far that system can be applied to the Col di Tenda. The people of Nice well know that the only thing that can give life to their trade is a rapid communication with Cuneo, because by that town they would be in direct intercourse with Piedmont, Lombardy, and Venetia. When the necessary studies shall have been made of the development of the line in question, and of the outlay it would require, the company which would be formed to carry it out would probably ask the Alta Italia Railway Company to take charge of at least the construction of the section which would end at the short tunnel that must be made on the Col itself. The town of Nice would put itself at the head of the company for promoting the work, and would take a large number of shares.” Negotiations are in progress for carrying this intention into effect.

[127] These are four in number of the respective lengths as follows:—Oakley, 800 yards; Belsize, 1,460; Elstree, 900; Ampthill, 640. Total 3,800 yards, or two miles and a sixth.

[128] In 1865 the London and North-Western Railway Company promoted in Parliament the Buxton Chapel-en-le-Frith and Sheffield Railway, the length of which was to have been twenty-four miles. When the Bill had passed the House of Commons, it was withdrawn under arrangements made with its opponent, the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Company. If the line had been constructed, it would have had upon it the two longest tunnels in Great Britain. One would have been three and one-eighth miles, and the other four miles long.

[129] “While upon tunnels, the construction of that upon the West End and Crystal Palace Railway may be referred to, in consequence of the anxiety that was felt on account of its passing very close to the south-west angle of the Crystal Palace, between that point and the Water Tower, the foundations of which were being laid just as the tunnelling was proceeding at that spot. It will be remembered that the present Water Tower replaced one of which the foundation was deemed insufficient. Considering the enormous weight and height of the Water Tower, with its huge tank at the top, capable of containing several hundred tons of water, it became necessary to take every precaution, the matter being of great importance both as regards the safety of the tunnel, with its huge superincumbent weight, and the Water Tower, which, from its great height, and also from being placed at some little distance laterally from the tunnel, might easily have been thrown out of the perpendicular, had any settlement taken place after its erection.

“The precautions taken with the tunnelling were: never to leave the earth resting upon the bars longer than absolutely necessary; to build the crown bars into the work, instead of withdrawing them, as is usually done in less important places; to select the hardest and best bricks, and to have them set in Portland cement, under careful and independent inspection on the part of the Engineers, the Contractors, and the Crystal Palace Company. The average thickness of the brickwork at this part, consisting of nine rings in the arch, five in the invert and side walls, was 3 feet 9 inches. The general shape of the tunnel was a semi-ellipse, 24 feet wide by 16 high.

“No settlement took place, nor was the Water Tower at all affected, although at other portions of the tunnel a small motion of the side walls took place, by their slightly approaching each other, with some crushing of the brickwork.”—Extract from Letter of G. H. Phipps, Esq., to the Author, dated the 16th of October, 1867.

[130] There are about 3,000 miles of canals and navigable rivers in France.

[131] In constructing shafts, French engineers prefer to place them on one side, and not over the centre of the tunnel, partly because they consider it more convenient for purposes of construction, and partly because they think it safer for the line, which is thus less exposed to accident or ill-will, or to the annoyances experienced from wet or dripping shafts.

French engineers construct tunnels on curves more than has been the practice of English engineers. One tunnel, that of Vierzon, 208 metres long, is on a reversed curve, one radius being 1,093 yards, and the other 1,366 yards.

[132] For full particulars of this tunnel see reports of Mr. Storrow, and of Messrs. Laurie & Latrobe, embodied in the report of the Commissioners of the State of Massachusetts on the Troy and Grenfield Railroad, and the Hoosac Tunnel, dated the 12th March 1863.

[133] Drawings of the tunnel entrances, and a section of it, are given in Engineering for September 27, 1867.

[134] Under water between France and England is not going to have it all its own way. In 1864 there was a scheme for very large ferry-boats between Dover and Calais, the boats to come, at each harbour, into a groove or dock specially to be made for them. The plan, however, was abandoned at an early stage, mainly, it is believed, because the French Government declined incurring the very great outlay that would have been unavoidable at Calais. In fact, the plan would have rendered necessary the construction of a new and much enlarged harbour there, involving an expenditure of three or four millions sterling. The present year has brought out several ferry schemes, one of which only we purpose referring to—that of Mr. T. B. Daft, C. E. This gentleman proposes to run his vessels between Dieppe and Newhaven. He has not, however, quite decided whether each ship is to consist of one hull or of two. If the hull be single, his deck is to be 500 feet long and 150 wide. If double, each is to be 50 feet wide, the pair to be placed 30 feet apart, and to be connected together by iron beams covered over by a broad deckway, so that passengers might go from one ship to another at their convenience. But no vessels so united could hold together in a heavy cross sea. The beams would be smashed to atoms by its violent and irregular action, and the difference of elevation of waves only a few feet distant from one another.

Mr. Daft proposes four pairs of engines of the collective power of 2,400 horses for his boats, to receive which there are to be special floating harbours at Dieppe and at Newhaven, so arranged that the trains can at once be put on the deck of the vessels at the departure harbour, and landed at that of arrival without disturbing passengers or luggage. Mr. Daft makes up his figures as follows:—Expenditure on capital account £1,000,000; 600,000 passengers during the year at 5s. each, £150,000; 300,000 tons of merchandise at 8s. each, £120,000; gross probable receipts £270,000. Per contra, wages of crew, £4,680; coals, 15,200 tons for twelve voyages per week, £11,250; stores, light dues and pilotage, £920; interest at 5 per cent. on capital £50,000; insurance, repairs, and depreciation, £100,000, making a gross annual expenditure of £166,850, thus showing a divisible profit (besides the 5 per cent. interest on the million of capital) of £103,150. We sincerely hope that the shareholders may find it, if ever these vessels and harbours be constructed. The only objection we shall dare to offer to the plan is the possible inconvenience to which a gallant male passenger may be subjected when a lady, whom he had perhaps found a most charming conversational compagnionne de voyage on terra firma, may all of a sudden, in a rough sea, ask him to be so good as to hand her the basin!

[135] M. Metres.

[136] C. Centimetres.

[137] For the first Half of 1867 only.

[138] On the other hand, Captain Tyler, in his report to the Board of Trade of his inspection of the Mont Cenis Railway, dated the 4th September, 1867, states, that, by the favour of the Italian Government, he visited the tunnel works on the 24th of August, when “on going with Signor Copello, the chief engineer of the French side, into the Grand Tunnel on that side of the Alps, I found that a great improvement had been effected in its ventilation since my visit of last year. A wooden partition had been completed under the roof for a distance of 1,500 metres. Four cylinders had been constructed, each four metres in diameter, and with a stroke of two metres, for drawing out the foul air at a maximum rate of ten strokes per minute. The head of water for working these cylinders was 70 metres.

“The one cylinder which alone was at work during my visit produced a strong current through the heading, and a perceptible current almost up to the face of the excavation. I learnt that a fan ventilator was employed to produce similar effects on the Italian side.”

[139] There are no such shafts upon railways as there are in mining. The shafts of the Consolidated and United Mines, Cornwall, are 1,488 and 1,650 feet. The shaft of the Nesvain Copper Mine is 2,180 feet; of the Veta Grande Mines, Mexico, 1,092 feet; of the Valenciana Mine, Mexico, 1,860; of the mines of Himmelsfurst, Saxony, 1,080 feet; of the salt mines near Cracow, 1,783 feet. Several mines in the Harz Mountains, in Bohemia, and in Cornwall, have also been worked to a depth exceeding 2,000 feet. The deepest in Bohemia is Keettenburg, said to be 3,000 feet below the surface of the soil. The deepest in Cornwall is that of Fowey Consols. The shaft of the Fahlam Copper Mine of Sweden is 1,300 feet deep. The shaft of Mr. Astley’s colliery at Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, is 2,100 feet deep. The deep workings are 1,500 feet below the bottom of the shaft. The shaft of Wearmouth Colliery is 1,600 feet deep; that of Dukenfield, Cheshire, 2,004 feet; and the lowest working in the colliery is 2,504 feet. At Pendleton, coal is worked from a depth of 2,505 feet. One of the collieries at Wigan is 1,775 below the surface. Many of the Durham collieries are equally deep. For further particulars see Dr. Ure’s Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines, edition of 1861.

[140] See note, page 373.

[141] This is a suggestion that may prove of great value in the working of the railway through the Great Tunnel of the Alps.

[142] The largest number of passengers ever conveyed in one day was on the 10th June, 1867 (Whit Monday), 113,075. The total carried that week was 542,833.

[143] It will be seen by the subjoined extract from the London and China Telegraph of the 15th November, 1867, that a contract for the conveyance of our Eastern mails (referred to ante, page 241), has been entered into between the Government and the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Henceforth, the service to and from Egypt and India will be weekly, instead of four times a month; to and from China, fortnightly, instead of twice a month; to and from the Australian Colonies, once every four weeks, or thirteen times a year, instead of twelve times, or once each calendar month, as at present. It will be perceived that, as usual, St. Martin’s-le-Grand is opposed to a more complete postal system, because the outlay involved “is more than the Post Office will sanction.” The service is undoubtedly an improvement on the existing one, but it falls far short of what will have to be conceded, probably even within another twelvemonth.

“At length the terms of a new contract for the conveyance of the India and China mails have been arranged with the Peninsular and Oriental Company, and the new service, which will come into operation in February next, will be organised on a basis which in most respects must be considered very satisfactory. The contract is for a longer period than the previous one, and its terms are much higher. The Marseilles route will still be adhered to, and between that port and Alexandria there will be a weekly direct line of steamers in conjunction with a weekly line between Suez and Bombay. The Bombay mails will be made up in London each Friday evening, and the service abroad will be arranged with a view to insure the delivery of the homeward mails in London on Monday morning. There will be a fortnightly service between Suez and Calcutta and China, connecting at Galle, as at present; and the mails for these places will be despatched with every alternate Bombay mail. In like manner the homeward China and Calcutta mail will be timed to reach Suez simultaneously with every alternate Bombay steamer. In short, the China mail in future will be a fortnightly one, instead of twice in the calendar month; it will be despatched every alternate Friday, and delivered here, all circumstances being favourable, every alternate Monday. On this side of the Isthmus the whole system will consist of a weekly vessel between Marseilles and Alexandria direct, with another to and from Southampton, touching at Malta as at present. It will be observed that no contract has been made for a line between Brindisi and Alexandria; as the port of Brindisi could not be substituted entirely for Marseilles, an extra service has been decided against, on the score of outlay. The Australian mail will be once in every four weeks, joining the China steamer at Galle, as at present. The advantages of the scheme are obvious. The uncertain intervals between the making up of the mails, owing to the difference in the lengths of the months and the intervention of Sundays, disappear in favour of a system of regularity and fixed days. The partial amalgamation of the two services cannot fail to have a favourable effect in promoting increased punctuality in the delivery of the inward mails. The days selected for despatch and arrival are beyond doubt the most suitable ones. And it is satisfactory to know that the new era we are about to enter upon is a permanent and not an experimental one. It will be observed that the existing system of one line between Suez and Calcutta, and another between Bombay and China, with transhipment at Galle, is still to be retained, instead of giving place to the direct trunk line from Suez to Hongkong that we have always advocated. We must, however, rest content with this arrangement for the present, as the outlay involved by the direct line is more than the Post Office will sanction. We are assured, however, that the boat from Calcutta will always be despatched in time to avoid the possibility of detention to the China mail. It will be seen that the new service, however satisfactory in itself, will not harmonise with the French line at all; indeed, if the Messageries steamers continue to be despatched on the 19th of the month, probably in most cases the facilities at present offered by the French mail will be absolutely nullified. We imagine, however, that the French company will find it expedient to make a corresponding alteration by despatching their vessels on a given day in every fourth week, so as to bring their departure midway between two of the Peninsular and Oriental mails. We trust some such arrangement as this will be urged by our own Government on that of France. We may add that Saturday is the day fixed for both arrival and departure of the Southampton steamers, and that the duration of stay at Singapore, and the question of calling at Penang, are still undecided.”

By the now existing contract the company have a subsidy of £230,000 per annum, equal to about 4s. 6d. per nautical mile. By the new contract the subsidy will be £400,000 per annum, or at the rate of 6s. 1d. per mile. There are two new and special conditions attached to the contract. It is to be for twelve years instead of six, as heretofore; and when the net profits of the company exceed 8 per cent., a fourth of the surplus is to go to the Post Office, it being understood, on the other hand, that when the dividend sinks, from unavoidable causes, below 6 per cent., the subsidy is to be raised to an amount that will cover the deficiency, but it is not, in any case, to exceed £500,000 a year.

[144] The Government press of Rome has just published the census of the population of the city for 1867:—The city and the suburbs are divided into 59 parishes, containing a population of 215,573 souls, being an increase since 1866 of 4,872. Of these 30 are cardinals, 35 bishops, 1,469 priests and ecclesiastics, and 828 seminarists. The occupants of religious houses are 5,047, 2,832 being monks and 2,215 nuns. These belong to 61 different congregations or orders. There are also 49 seminaries or colleges, among which are the French Seminary, tenanted by 48 pupils; that of South America by 50; that of North America by 33; the German Seminary has 58 pupils; the English 21, and the “Pie Anglais” 14; the Scotch 12; and the Irish 52, &c. The number of males educated in colleges amounts to 258, and females in pensionnats to 1,642; 775 males and 1,088 females live in charitable institutions. The number of families is 42,313, composed of 98,176 males and 93,438 females—to whom must be added 7,360 following the military profession, 320 detenus 4,650 Jews, and 457 other dissidents. There have been 1,615 marriages contracted during 1867.

[145] It appears, from the Third Report of the Select Committee on Postage, 1838, page 49, that in the mails despatched from London at that time, the chargeable letters formed only 7 per cent. of the whole weight. An increase in the number of those letters to nine-fold, or by 800 per cent., would therefore advance the total weight of the mails by only 56 per cent., or little more than one-half, even if the average weight of a letter had continued the same. That average has, however, been considerably reduced.

[146] The evidence more particularly referred to is that of Mr. Louis, the Surveyor and Superintendent of mail coaches, who had a thorough knowledge of the details of the service under his control.

[147] This amount includes the cost of the inconsiderable extent of railway mail service at that time in operation.

[148] Only a portion of the bags which these mails formerly carried is now sent by the London and North-Western Railway.

[149] This statement, as regards weight, is completely refuted at pages 85, et seq.—C. P. R.

[150] In 1856 the Eastern mails were only forwarded twice a-month, viâ Marseilles. They are now forwarded four times a-month, or forty-eight times a-year. From and after the 1st of February, 1868, they will be despatched weekly, or fifty-two times a-year. The average number of boxes despatched on the three nights of each month, when the Australian mail is not forwarded, is 178; on Australian mail night the number is 374.—C. P. R.

[151] The successive Reports of the Postmasters-General, from one to twelve, both inclusive, abound in misstatements similar to the above. They are very discreditable to the department.—C. P. R.

[152] Since the 1st of October, 1860, the mail trains run twice a-day in each direction between London and Holyhead, in 6 hours 35 minutes. The distance is 263 miles.—C. P. R.

[153] In consequence of the service now being performed by the finest steamers in point of speed at present afloat, in 3½ hours, instead of a minimum of 4 hours 40 minutes, in 1856, the price paid is £78,000 a year.—C. P. R.

[154] The Royal Commissioners upon railways disapprove in their Report, dated 7th May, 1867, of the Post Office becoming parcel carriers. See ante, page 122.—C. P. R.

[155] This mis-statement is dealt with at page 80.—C. P. R.

[156] This is quite true. The Post Office has been unceasing in its efforts to put a stop to the transmission of newspapers through the post, except with postage stamps affixed to them. In 1855, the Treasury, at the urgent instance of the Post Office, abolished the transmission of newspapers with the impressed stamp to foreign countries and our colonies, unless, in addition, postage stamps were affixed.—C. P. R.

[157] Since the 1st of October, 1860, the mails are conveyed between London and Dublin in eleven hours and-a-half. The distance is 335 miles.—C. P. R.

[158] It now costs £100,000 a-year.—C. P. R.

[159] Unfortunately, Mr. Stephenson died without mentioning his proposed arrangement; but if he had lived until now, he would have seen that the ill-will of the Post Office towards the railways is as great as ever it was.—C.P.R.

[160] Viâ Mont Cenis.