THE WEALTH CREATED BT RAILWAYS.

Southland Times, Volume I, Issue 23, 23 July 1864, Page 4

THE WEALTH CREATED BT RAILWAYS.

, (From the London Review J)A '• Many, -writers have, contended that the Eunds are a benefit and.hlessing to the country. - What praise, then, is too great for railways which directly stimulate '■ the commerce of the country, and are a source of reproductive profit ? After the opening ofthe iivei'pool >nd Manchester railway, as Mr. M' Cleanpoints but/the accumulated wealth, of Great Britian, ; wliich previous to. that time had been sparingly , invested in public underta'kings was thrownlavisbly into the railway system. Although at certain intervals, this may may have induced excess of speculation .and temporary distrust, yet the progress of railways has ever since been steady, and a reproductive profit has now been assured upon a capital of no less than £400,000,000. "This vast capital," he observes, "hasbeen created because railway securities, on the principle of limited liability, occupy the highest place in public estimation for investing the realisedprofits of the country. They can be purchased with facility, and transferred in amounts suited, to the requirements of every class of society. This leads to a constant accumulation of capital, by inducing people to save a portion of their- iucortte not meiiy for, their own support in after life, but for the benefit of their descendants. The railway securities afford the means of transmitting wealth, as printing does knowledge, from one generation to another." The encouragement offered by railways to the middle classes to save and invest their money in railways, and thus become capitalists, has been not the least of their benefits. Mr. M' Clean reminds us that before the introduction of rail ways, land was almost the only safe means in Europe for the investment of capital. In consequence of the competition of that sort of security, i|sprice was at the highest rato, and the return from it consequently at the lowest. Under these circumstances there was not a sufficient inducement offered to the people to save a portion of their incomes. The construction of railways changed this state of things. By affording facilities for investment they have established a middle class, who have developed the industrial resources and increased the capital of the nation, and who have also promoted the education and increased the comfort of those below them. If railways have largly profited by mineral traflic they have in turn developed the mineral wealth of the island to an enormous extent. The President of the Institution of Civil Engineers forcibly illustrates the wealth of our coal mines. The quantity of coal now raised in G-reat Britain is, he says, about 100,000,000 tons annually, produced by the labor of about 300,000 men. These 100,000,000 tons of coal now raised every year from our mines contain about 50,000,000 tons of carbon. " To produce the equivalent of this in wood would require one year's growth of in round numbers 100,000,000 acres of land — an area of about four times larger than the arable and pasture land of England, which does not exceed 25,000,000 acres." Even if this supply of fuel existed in the form of wood, it would be practically useless as a substitute for coal. The labouring population of the kingdom would be unable to cut and convert it — the whole of our railways and canals would be insufficient to transport it — whilst, if no other obstacle intervened, the cost of these operations would prevent them from being carried out beneficially to society. With these facts before us, how can we refuse | our assent to the assertion ofthe President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, that the extension of the railway system is necessary for the progress and well-being of the world ?" " There is no country," he say, " whicli will not become the richer for the introduction of railways : and the richer a foreign country becomes, the more it adds, by the extension of commerce, to the wealth andprosperity of this kingdom." Besides this consideration, " if the railway system is extended, new harbors, docks, canals, steamships, and other engineering works will be necessary to meet the requirements of traffic and the cemands of increasing commerce :" and, therefore, he concludes his address to his younger brethren by commending to their attention the prosecution of railway works, not only in our own country, " but in Europe, India aud the colonies." Railway interest deserves a new phase of interest from such speculations as these. The railway shareholder, though he is animated by no other hopethan a remunerative investment, is in fact a public benefactor and a creator of national wealth. It is time at any rate, that he ceased to be regarded as a public enemy ,_ and a fair mark for Parlimentary exaction and the operation of speculative lawyers and contractors. Mr. M' Clean's address to _ the civil engineers' is well timed. Hip views are enlightened and comprehensive, for, while be looks to the advancement of his profession, he is not indifferent to the vast interests by which the civil engineers of this country have so largely benefited.