ENGLISH AND AMERICAN RAILWAYS. UNKNOWN.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2127, 25 February 1886, Page 4

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN RAILWAYS. UNKNOWN.

Ami-kh \s-i who bp< :i I a \acation in Europe mv* it !•■ MtiMiunly fuiin the opinion tliit tin 1 c Miiji iiiim nt c images must i'\«iituilly '„'isi place to c.u ■> of tliu Am. mm [i it*' •i) A mvi !y casual survi \ . mkii o tin* tiavil ot the touii^t atluul--, ot tin in uiueto autl li. lints ot c \ e I . a |)<_u[>li- .i^ ixatl^ allied to Aineiicms as tin- Eiig!i 5 h dots not convey any adequate idei ot thu device in winch the «li- tt liutions of ela^s govern matters of the kind. A i.ulway carnage is a modification of the puvate carnage, the pust-chai->c, tho stagecoach, .md the earner's wa^on Tuou v chivies ha\e been unii'ly adapted to stiam fraction and railway schedules, and the conventions which characterised their use before Stcpheiison's time remain uu chang'd in their new conditions. The Kn^hihmau who travels in the United States inverts the impressions of the casual visitor to Great Britain, and there is much reason to believe that his inferences have a much rounder foundation. Ho notices in American railroad travel the rapid growth of the class distinction, aud the eagerness with which its conventional advantages are availed of by a constantly grow ing proportion of the public. It appears to him ahat the differences of the conditions of travel in the two countries aio ically very slight, and that the distinctions of u first, second, and third class exist already in America in m> slight degiee, and will, before the lapse of many yeaia, be quite as emphatic and characteristic in Aineiica as they are in England. It io not rasy to argue succosstully with an Englishman when he makes this statement. He supports his view by pointing to the difference in our cars. He asks you what is the practical difference between one of the Muni boudoir cats —an execrable di'M^Mntioii to apply to a \ chicle— and an English tiist class caiiiage. There is, not any difference, except that the one is cntmd at the sides and the other at the i'iid-> The seclusion of the pnssjnirei , or of the gtoup-i of passengers, is pieciscly thf fe.nni', and is the end that is sought to hi> obtained. "Your designations in these matter s," our phlegmatic observer sa\s, "are .i little turgid an 1 extravagant, nuil not a little elusive. Your pal ico Lai«> are only another form of first or second eh^s carnagi s. There is not'iiiij p il.itial about them, any more than then* is about wliat we call a gin palace in London— a term which is of a fct'ini humorous or satirical oiisjin. Why noi admit the cla s distinction as openly as >ou adopt it in practice? If I want to go fiom New Voik to Boston, thoie aie three classes open to mi*. The ordiniry car, well equipped, well ventilated, and comfortable, that I call your thiidclass, > our oii«inal earner's waggon or stage coieh, in which I am exposed to the dang >i of ha\ ing to .sit for some hours side by hi. X with a common woikm.vior pel son of vciy inferior social condition — an individual whose close companionship is as lepujn mt to me as I a-seit that it is lcp ign mt to jour cultivated and wealthy classes — tint is your third-class, di.s.'uw t.ie fact as ji.u may. Your sec )Md-e!asi ii the open saloon of your "pailom 1 ' or "chair" cir. There I bccuie, by .in r\tia pavnient, one of ■>ome tu>'iity annchaTs wliu-li arc disposed on e.ieh ".ide. and I make my jouriuy witliout the dai'gfr of any di*-agieeablo intrusion oi piopimpiitv. Your first class is c-a-sdy attaint d is the exthisne seclusion whicn u afloulud by one of the c impart • mt'nts in these j-ailour, palace or chair car»— compartments which have room for two, tour, or more persons, and in which I cm travel under the very same conditions as those which I enjoy on an English railway. I detect two differenc s. In England I am conspicuously labelled as a fnsl-clabs pa«-tenger, whereas hcie J hive the advantages of one without formal or cciemonial emphasis. In England I secure my exclusive compattmentby a gratuity to the conductor or guard ; here 1 effect it by paying the cxtio. fare-, which the compaitincnt I select would earn if ail the seats in it were occupie I The latter id the more expensive expedient of the town, but it commends itself to my sense of rijjht I have a very much higher respect foi your Ameiican conductor than I have for our English guard, although I am painfully aware that there is no rate of recipiocity in the sentiment to the detected. It would be impossible for me to oiler your oliioial the equivalent of one half-crown ;in fact, I havo learned that the consequence of an attempt to do so would possible be most disagreeable, if not calamitous. With our gnat d, on the other hand, the 'ip is almost an essential formality, and is inseparable for the attainment oi the higher comfort 3 of tiavc'i-j'' TIiPSt 1 observations imply an awkward social contention which can bo Mfi-ly i elevate Ito the region of daily disctivion. The fact remains for the imn.cdiate purposes of this paper that disti.ictions of class constitute a ruliuir fac'or in English railway travel, and that they are part aud parcel of the "R.-itish i ltistitutiOii. So'ncobfcvin largely in the t'lird-class carnages, but on some lines cmiiigcs or parts of earrhges in each class aie set apart for smokers, and designated smoking carriages You can always smoke in a first-class cariiage if you have, as Anuricui tiavelleis put it, "made yourself solid with the conductor." In America smoking is out of the question, except in the car which is known as the smoker and in the smokiii" compaitmcnt of the pai lor - palace arrangement. The former does a good deal to disconragp smoking on trains. It is almost iuvaiiably an indifferent car, poor in all its appointments, filthy, and ill MiicHine. So foul is its atmosphere, especially in winter, that all eigais smoked in it taste and smell alike, and all badly, Then a large pio,ioition of the people who bad h.odei<cd enough to tiavel in tho smoker ate \iotiin» of the <li->ticssin» habit of chewinc, and it is umicccssaty to desmhe how eu\ ctively tl.es eontuhute to the gencial abomination. The English thitd class tatringc is a couuterpait in many lespcots of the Ameiican smoker. As a primal ink' the tenants, as they arc called, of an KnglKh raihoad coinp pany conti ihiito veivmncii mrie to the comfoi t of the ti.ivclling j'uMic tl'.in do the individual who in Anicnca discharge anilngoiu duti°s Theic is no question that they linpicss ti.welliny Autciicans in that way— a kvj, w liieh can be safely attubuted to the Anutican piactn'e of "invaiiabh going iiist c!as«." It is equally beyond dispute tint they have tlnec cla^sis of riai>n°rs, c>nc for each cl iss of passengei -, and one of the eailiust obsei vations tint o.i" m d.cs at a railway station in the ovt-,kiit-s of London, whne the pas«engeis' tic\ets are colleited prior to ai rival at tlh> terminn*', is of the sensible gndTti. n in the guaids addie-.s. At the liiat cl.i'-s cauiagf window ho deferentially ;a>^ "'l'icLets, please, gcntlemun !" at the second he utteis a lively "Tickets, please;" and at the third 'io growls, Inu&ciy and abruptly, '• Tickets !"

Rkci;nt experiments 1 aye s-liown that tiic firbt choice amon-^ cotoins of all cln'ldien under .seven years of ncjc i- jel'ow. The sutte ia still lankly pia'-ti>eil in India. Over three th'>ii«aiul widows l>y this means devoted themsehes to death last year. Thk a^rimHuinl j»ronp in the French Chamber of Deputies l\i\o resoKod to oppose t'no impoitatiou of Arnericin salt meats "in the ii)t<-re«t .'like of sanitation and of French husbandly." Yes ! It js certainly true. Ask any of yoxiT friends who have puicliastd there. Garlick and Crann ell have numerous unasked for and \trv fa\ourablo coinnicndations from country cus'toircrs on their CNce'lent pickinpr of Furniture, Crockery, and Glass, f,c. Indies any gentlemen about to furnish should remember that Ga^lick and Cranwcll's is tub Cheap Furnishing Warehouse o Auckland. Furniture to suit ail chs'es : aNo Carpets, Flcor Cloths and all House Necessaries. If >orr new house is nearly finished, or, jouarc jroing toget married, \isit Garlick and Cianwell, Queen-street and Lome-street, Auckland. Intending purch&srrs can have a catalogue itp freo {