GEORGE STEPHENSON, THE FATHER OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEM.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 365, 31 January 1849, Page 3

GEORGE STEPHENSON, THE FATHER OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEM.

■George Stephenson cannot be allowed to pass, into his grave without a tribute of regret and admiration. It has been. his high destiny to be the main .instrument- in effecting one of the. greatest revolution! our revolutionary era has witnessed, by that combibation of the railway and the locomotive steam to which' Europe and America owe their railway systems. ! -The fulLinfluence which: the passenger^and traffic railway is to exert -on' the" 'relations of * society is far. from being developed, but it ir already great. , Its agency; is *lretdy felfcin> r every department of : public and privateibusf- ;i

sets. Its , speed Mid punctuality «*e changing thebabits of domestic fife,, the anangejnenjs of commence both in detail and in the gross, and even the. civil and military organisation of states. I George Stephenson was, a main instrument in setting afoot the revolution, which is working this great change in social arrangements. We have no wish to exalt, the deceased at the expense of others. The-jailways as a means of diminishing friction, »ud facilitating the transport of heavy loads, over solid surfaces, is due, to others.' The general conception that the steam engine, might be made the instrument of locomotion along these improved roads was entertained, and ingenious attempts to t ealize it made, by others before him. But he did much to improve the planes and levels of the railway — he first conceived the daring idea of laying a solid road on the half-fluid surface of the unfathomable Chat Moss — he constructed the Rocket... The immediate and unequivocal success of the experiment on the Manchester and Liverpool Railway was due to him,- .and through it, the *apid development of the benefits of the railway combined with the steam locomotive which we have since experienced. George Stephenson was one of those natures to whom it is pleasant to owe such obligations. His was one of the plain, genial, manly, self-developed, superior minds of whom it is the boast of England to have produced than any other country. He began life Vy working as a boy for two- pence a day in a colliery. In due time he was promoted to be •the stoker of a stationary steam engine, with Is. a day, and afterwards to take charge of -an engine wifh from 13s. to I7s^ a week. Of an observant and combining, and inventive turn 'of mind, he quickly noted the mechanical agencies amid which he lived, and upon which He was employed. One or two successful experiments in improving the engine of which he had the charge and another in the neighbourhood, gained him the confidence of his neighbours. It appears to have been subsequent to this manifestation of untaught scientific acquirements that he learnt the arts of writing and cyphering. His local reputation continued to increase. About 1815 Lord -Ravensworth and the other proprietors of the Killingsworth .colliery, entrusted him with the money required for the construction of a locomotive engine, and he succeeded. They allowed him to accept, an t invitation to lay down railways at Hetton and Darlington. And the projectors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway had the good sense to take his advice, and to be guided by his counsels. He was employed as engineer to the Grand Junction Railway, -and by his services in laying out that line, by his wonderful work on Chat Moss, and by the construction of the Rocket, is indisputably entitled to the honorable title of father of our railway system. The best evidence of the true greatness of his character is the unwavering faith in his own theoretical conclusions, combined with sound practical judgment, that he manifested throughout his career. About a year ago, he said at a public dinner at Newcastle : — " At Liverpool I pledged myself to attain a speed ■of ten miles an hour. I said I had no doubt it would go much faster, but we had better be moderate at the beginning. It was not an easy task for me to keep the engine down to ten miles an hour, but it must be done, and I did my best. I had to place myself in the witness-box of a parliamentary committee. I could not find words to satisfy either the committee or myself. Some one enquired if I was a foreigner, another hinted that I was mad. But I put up with every rebuff, and went on with my plans determined not to be put down." A simple remark he made about the time he constructed his first locomotive, shows with what vivid reality the then future passenger was present in his mind :—": — " I said to my friends that there was no limit to the speed_of such an engine,' provided the works could be made to stand" the sound practical judgment combined with this daring propensity' to speculative invention, is shown in adoption of tha<t guage which was best adapted to subserve, the traffic of our mining and manufacturing districts, and in his steady adherence to this guage on account of its commercial usefulness. ' His kindly and unsophisticated nature evinced itself in many ways. On an occasion already alluded to he said : — " I saw how deficient I was in education, and I resolved that my son should not labour under the same defect,! but that I would put him to a good school and give him a liberal training. I was, however, a poor man. I betook myself to mending my neighbour's clocks and watches at night, after my -daily labour was done, and thus I procured the means of educating my son. He; became my assistant and companion. He got an appointment as under view er, and at nights we. worked together at our engineering.", Well has .that son repaid such paternal care. George Stephenson'u judicious j kindness was not limited^, to tfie family circle. " Never/ says a writer; in the Derbyshire

Chronicle, " was ft proposition made to him for the mental and temporal improvement of his workmen in his collieries, of whom he had upwards of a thousand, but it was met with his immediate attention and consideration with a deep feeling towards their welfare that could not be surpassed." To the last he was accustomed to express an ingenious surprise that counsel could publicly advocate the schemes of their clients if they knew them to be inferior to those which they opposed. Strangers with whom he occasionally came in contact were delighted with the shrewd observations and playful sallies of their unknown companion. The pleasures of his retirement in his green old age were eminently expressive of healthy, simple, genial tastes. The writer from whom we have before quoted says : — "He was happiest in the country. ♦ * At home in his retreat he was seen among his dogs, his cows, and horses, his rabbits and birds, watching the progress of the various little nests which he carefully guarded in his trees among his melons, cucumbers, and pines." And again, " even in his latter years it was his greatest delight to ramble about bird-nesting or nutting, or indulging in any other rural enjoyment." When we look to our railway system we may apply to George Stephenson the monumental inscription of Sir Christopher Wren — "Si monumentuoa quaeras, circumspice." — Morning paper.