best qualified to form a judgment on the subject, Railways should not prove a profitable investment; and the Honorable Company should be called upon to make good all or a considerable portion of the interest it has guaranteed, the direct advantage it will derive from Railways in the reduction of military force which they will render practicable, and the many other direct benefits which will accrue to it, politically, com'mercially, and socially, from their existence, will be so great and so palpable, as to render the payment of the guaranteed interest a burden which the Honorable Company may cheerfully and contentedly bear." The profits of the Railway can already bear a dividend more than equal to the one guaranteed, (which is the amount now paid), and it thus appears that a result far more satisfactory than that for which the Government was prepared, has been attained.

Few undertakings have been commenced under auspices apparently more favorable than those which attended the formation of the East Indian Railway Company. The conclusion drawn from the first surveys was, that this country offered more advantages than most for Railway works,-a conclusion, however, which subsequent experience has not altogether borne out. A dividend of five per cent was guaranteed by the East India Company, who also offered the land required for the line and the terminal stations. The undertaking was commenced, with the advantage of the experience dearly bought by most of the English Companies. And in addition to this, the Company had the services of a man who thoroughly understood the capabilities and deficiencies of the country, and the state of affairs both in England and in India, in relation to Railways; it was with good reason supposed, that no abler man than Sir Macdonald Stephenson could be found to carry out the plan for which, principally by his efforts, the Company had been formed. Thus launched, the East India Railway Company could hardly fail to succeed; its shares became as good investments as the stocks, funds, or securities of any Government, indeed very much better than those of most Governments and they have from the first sold at a considerable premium. And though it is true that delays have taken place, results have not hitherto so far fallen short of expectations, as that the Company's affairs can be said to be other than most prosperous and promising, and their prosperity is only limited. proportionally to the speed with which the works are carried on.

It was apparent at the commencement of the proceedings of the promoters of the scheme of railways for India, that it would be almost impossible to undertake such works, without the co-operation of the Government, and accordingly the

Provisional Directors of the East Indian Railway made it a condition upon which the measure was taken up by them, that, as they not very clearly expressed it,-" The undertaking should not be regarded as a purely commercial speculation, but as a national and political object, sanctioned, supported, and protected by the Government." The Railway Company, in fact, could not act without the assistance as well as the protection of the Government. Indian Joint Stock Companies were then in no great estimation, and it is doubtful whether the risk of investment in a speculation, to a great extent beyond the control of the directors in England, would not have prevented shares from being freely taken there without the Government guarantee. It was also probable that, without the full consent of the East India Company, great difficulties would have attended the passing of the Railway Bill in Parliament, and that it would be nearly impossible to obtain the land, and carry on the works in this country.

It appeared that the control, which the co-operation of Government involved, would operate in every way to the advantage of the Railway Company, for the interests of the Government and of the Railway Company in the speedy carrying out of the undertaking were completely identical. Without considering the addition to the commercial prosperity of India certain to arise from the making of the line, it was clear that the rapid means of conveyance would increase the military power of Government, by diminishing the difficulty of moving troops, stores, and the munitions of war, over a great space of country. Public works, moreover, so far as the state of the country would permit them to be, were the object of special attention on the part of the Indian Government; and it was not only as a means of strengthening his military administration, that Lord Dalhousie contemplated a Railway system, though he appears to have wisely held that object as of chief importance. His minute of the 28th of April 1853, shews that he took the widest view of the benefit of railways, that could well be entertained. "Ships from every part of the world crowd our ports in search of produce, which we have or could obtain in the interior, but which at present we cannot probably fetch to them, and new markets are opening to us on this side of the globe, under circumstances which defy the foresight of the wisest to estimate their probable value, or calculate their future extent."

It was at the same time clearly the object of the Government to introduce, not a Railway, but a plan of Railway communication, selected with reference to the requirements of the

country; and to establish a system under which the different Companies then provisionally formed, or likely to be formed, for the making of Railways in various parts of India, might be dealt with on similar terms and with equal facility.

The result was the establishment of a Railway system very different from the English, which asks little but the laissez faire, and rather resembling those of France and Belgium. On the principle of Government co-operation and control, the scheme of the East Indian Railway Company was taken up by the East India Company in the year 1849; and an Act of Parliament passed in that year empowered the Railway Company, not to make the Railway, but-" to carry out such objects as might be agreed upon between them and the East India Company," for the making of it, and in the same year an agreement was made between the Court of Directors and the Railway Company, for the making of an experimental line at the estimated cost of a million sterling, to be advanced by the former and repaid by instalments. On the completion of the experimental line, the East India Company were to grant the Railway Company a lease of the land and works for ninety-nine years, at the end of which time it was agreed that the land and the Railway should become the property of the Government; a right of purchase was also reserved to the East India Company after the expiration of fifty years. With a view to carry out the plan of superintendence and control by the Government, it was agreed that the servants of the Railway Company should be subject in all things to the superintendence of the Government of India, and that nothing should be done by the former without the previous sanction of the latter; while power was reserved to the Government, to give the Railway Company and its servants such orders as should be thought fit. Under this agreement, after much discussion as to the most suitable direction of the line, the Railway to Burdwan and Raneegunge was commenced in 1851.

The Railway Company thus organized was self-dependent, though not independent, and the engineers, and chief engineers, as well as the managing director of the Company, Sir Macdonald Stephenson, were empowered to act only under the control of the Government. All their proceedings were subject to, and required the sanction of, the Government, and the ultimate superintendence of the Railway rested with the department of Public Works. Looking back on the past history of the Railway Company, we find that, while much of the successful conduct of its affairs is due to the deliberate mode of proceeding of the Government officers, still most of the delays that have occurred, and many of the difficulties of SEPT., 1858.

Ga

those who have had to carry on the works of the Railway, have originated in the way in which this control has been exercised. It may be doubted, indeed, how far the very minute superintendence of the Government over all the details of the Company's works, has operated to advance its interests, and whether the exercise of this control, if differently regulated, might not be rendered more beneficial to the Railway Company.

Some delay occurred in putting the Company into possession of the land; and it is easily conceivable that the appropriation of the land in the mode prescribed by Regulation I. of 1824, (which was made applicable to lands taken for Railway purposes by an Act passed in 1850,) would be a matter of time. In whatever way the delay arose, it was much complained of by the contractors, who in some cases were obliged to maintain establishments suitable for the works which they had undertaken, whilst they were prevented from commencing them. The land for the distance of 335 miles from Howrah, including the site of the terminus, cost the Government Co.'s Rs. 3,21,926, which is Co.'s Rs. 2,752 a mile; a very high price, out of which we believe that the head men of villages in many cases made very considerable profits. It is to be regretted now that more land was not taken in some places than was then appropriated, especially near the Howrah station, for the natural effect of making a Railway and terminus is to increase the value of ground in the neighbourhood, for the land now required at Howrah is only to be obtained at the rate of Rs. 150 per cottah, and if too much had been taken it could easily have been leased or re-sold.

In the autumn of 1854, trains began to be regularly run on the experimental line, as far as to Pundooah, 37 miles from Howrah; and in February 1855, being about four years from its commencement, the whole distance to Burdwan and Ranee

gunge was opened for traffic. In the present condition of Railway speculations in this country, all information as to the details of this line is interesting. The contract price for making the line as far as Pundooah was little more than nineteen lakhs; but the cost of the whole experimental line was in fact about £12,000 a mile, so that on the whole distance the estimated cost was exceeded by about £250,000. In this sum, however, is included the cost of the terminal stations, and of doubling the line to Burdwan, which was found to be necessary, and has now been done as far as Hooghly. The Howrah station alone cost, we believe, about £77,000. This expenditure, when compared with that incurred in making the Railway from Madras to Arcot, sixty-five miles in length, which

THE EAST INDIAN RAILWAY.

cost in all only £5,500 a mile, seems great, but then the latter was of much more easy construction, and much of the outlay upon the Bengal experimental Railway, is to be calculated for the whole line to the North-west. In particular the cost of management would come under the category, as well as the cost of a very large rolling stock, much of which is conspicuous to the traveller's view as he passes out of the Howrah station. Making allowance for such additional outlay, we believe the line of 121 miles cost, of itself, no more than £9,800 a mile. of the contract The additional sum expended in excess price originally agreed upon, was borrowed from the East India Company at five per cent., and raised on debentures, since authorized to be converted into shares. Whether cheap or expensive on the whole, there is no doubt that the experimental line may be ranked with the first class English Railways, and in the present state of its permanent way it is The line to Pundooah at first carried 1,500 inferior to none. passengers daily, and it soon appeared that, besides the sources of traffic which had been especially relied upon by the projectors of the Railway, there was another equally reliable and more immediately productive. It had been with good reason supposed that a Railway, in order to succeed, must be laid between the large towns possessing a considerable commercial traffic, and it had been contended, that no line starting from Calcutta would be certain to yield a satisfactory return, if it did not reach as far as Mirzapore, the great central market for the import and export trade of Calcutta. It had in fact been considered, that the points to be looked to for Railway interests, were the traffic between the populous towns; the conveyance of Government stores; and the periodical pilgrimages of the people. Nobody imagined that the ryot and the buneea had such locomotive habits as they soon shewed; that between the small towns or villages, with nothing but a local trade, a continuous traffic would set in; and that, as the event proved, the third class passengers would crowd the Railway and be its main support. In the memorandum laid before the House of Commons in 1857, we find this stated: "It may be remarked that the receipts from this class (the third) are nearly four times as much as from the two higher classes combined, the receipts from the passenger traffic in the half year ending 30th June, 1856, having been Very first class 27,986, second 29,589, third 199,833." little seems going forward in Serampore, Chinsurah, Hooghly or even in Burdwan, (though at the latter place a considerable goods traffic from the grand trunk road comes into the line,) and how so much activity in travelling can co-exist