OUR KIN ACROSS THE SEA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2262, 8 January 1887, Page 1 (Supplement)

OUR KIN ACROSS THE SEA.

[UY J. C. FIRTH,]

VI. AMERICAN RAILROADS. The American railroad system is a vast network of iron, covering a large area, stretching from ocean, to ocean, and from the Canadian frontier to tho Gwlf of Mexico, and connecting all the principal cities of the Great Republic. It has pushed on the United States to a point of development which it conld not otherwise have reached for another century. This enormous development of American, Railroads will be apparent from the following Statement drawn from. "rOOK's MANUAL OF UAILHOAISS, 1886." Statement No. 1. In 1827, first railroad opened. Miles. In 1830, in operation ... 23 In 1859, in operation ... 24,593 In 1884, in operation ... 135,379 The total railroads throughout the world, will be seen from a Statement prepared by M. Paul Trasenester, of Liege, as follows :—■ Statement No. 2. Lengths of Railroads in operation in 1884. Milos. In Europe .* ... 111,764 In Asia 12,217 In America 141,020 In Africa 3,058 In Australasia 7,142 Total miles in operation in 1884 276,701 It will be seen from these two Statements, that the United States had in ISB4, nearly as many miles of railroads in operation as all the rent of the world.

The total cost of the 135,379 miles of railroads in the United states (giving even millions) amouuts to 5073 milliou dollars, or IGI4 million pounds sterling. Of this vast sum, about one half is represented by Stock (Share) capital, the other half being the amount borrowed on Bonds (Debentures). ' AUSTRALASIAN INDEBTEDNESS. I may here make a short disgreasion, by way ot referring to a subject having some relation to the questiou of indebtedness on account of Railroads. I had not been many hours in the United States, before I was interrogated about the indebtedness of New Zealand and Australia. Some very strong, adverse comments were made regarding the indebtedness of Australasia, both on this and on many subsequent occasions at the various cities I visited. I had, however, taken measures to make myself acquainted with— 1. The Public Debt of the United States. 2. The indebtedness of the various States of the Union. 3. The expenditure of the United States people on railroad account. On the first occasion of my being interrogated, as on all subsequent occasions, I frankly admitted that New Zealand, and indeed all Australasia, had borrowed far too heavily, and that, so far as New Zealand was concerned, I and others, from the first initiation of the borrowing policy, had publicly and strongly protested against the scheme. But, nevertheless, though the debt of Australasia was large, and had doubtless arrived at the limit of safety, I stated that Australasian resources were ample, and far more than equal to the burden imposed upon them by their indebtedness, and that, in New Zealand, a strong and general determination existed to put an end practically to further borrowing. To all my interrogators I submitted the substance of the following comparative statement of the general liabilities of the United States people, and of the Australasian Colonies :— Statement No. o. Millions of dollars. United States debt May 1885 ... 1303 Ditto, bonds to Pacific Railroads 04 U.S. General indebtedness ... 13(!7 Separate State indebtedness ... 253 U.S. Railroad indebtedness (about one-half to Stockholders and one half to Bondholders) 8073 Total indebtednes 9703 Or, nine thousand seven hundred and three million dollars, equivalent to nineteen hundred and forty million pounds sterling. Million pounds sterling. Australasian debt July, 1885 ... 133 Equivalent to six hundred and sixty-livo million dollars. Jn'the United States Liabilities I did not include the cos>t of 104,000 miles of telegraph construction as I could not obtain the figures. In the Australasian Liabilities, the of constructing all tho telegraph lines jo {Deluded,

STATEMENT No. 4. Showing indebtedness per head for population : — Population of United States, July, 1885, estimated at ... 55.000,000 Millions of dollars. The liabilities aa quoted above 7,003 dollars Showing a liability per head of 17(i Equivalent per head of population to £35 4s Population of Australasian Colonies, July, 1885, estimated at '. 3,377,000 Millions sterling. Tho liabilities are quoted above 183 Showing a liability per head of £30 10s dollars. Equivalent per head of populalationto; ... 197 i Showing, a liability for tho Australasian Colonies per head of population of ... ... £39 10a or 107 i And for the United States £35 4s or 176 Showing a liability of United States citizens, smaller than of Australasian calonists, per head of ££ Gs or 21J I pointed out further, that in Atistralasia, with one or two exceptions, not one acre of Public Lands, beyond that required for line tracks and station sites, had been appropriated up to July, 1885, for the construction of railroads; whilst an area of Public Lands to be reckoned by hundreds of millions of acres had been donated by the Governments of the United States to the Railroad Companies. It was, of coarse, stated to me that the United States, as a nition, was not liable for railroad indebtedness, the whole of the railroads having been constructed by companies, and not by Government, and that at least one-half of that indebtedness was due to stockholders or shareholders, and that the other half only was due to bondholders.

In reply, I readily admitted that this was so, hut that, practically, it came in the end to the same thing, with this important difference, so far as the safety of the stockholders or bondholders was concerned (a very large proportion of whom were not citizens of the United States, but were residents in England and elsewhere), that whilst in the case of the indebtedness of the United States Railroad Companies, the railroads and the lands held by them were the only securities for re-payment of this indebtedness ; but in the Australasian Colonies the security for the indebtedness not only consisted of the railroads, but was further assured by the fact that the Customs revenues, and every acre of public lands in territories nearly as larpe as the United States, formed a portion of the security I upon which the money had been borI rowed. I I also pointed out that one great advantage of Governments constructing the railroads, as in Australasia, arose from the fact, that after the interest on money borrowed and working expenses had been 1 paid, any profit remaining, was the proj perty of the general Public, and not of private stockholders or shareholders, but was available ior a reduction of transit rates, or for the reduction, of general taxation, I do not think there is anything egotistical in my adding here, that in no case' did I find anyone of the numerous gentle--1 men, with whom. I discussed the subject, able to shako the conclusions as above detailed ; and further, that in the great majority of c ises, I met with a ready and frank admission, that they had not seen the Australasian indebtedness put in this way before, and, that it now appeared to them, to be upon a much sounder, safer, and more reasonable basis, both as to its extent and .Necurity, than they had hitherto supposed. RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION. The railroads in the United States have been constructed entirely by public companies, of which there are about one thousand. To many of the companies the United States Government has given very large areas of land, usually in alternate sections on both sides of the lines. The Government has thus denuded itself of enormous areas of public lands. These vast areas, owing to the great advance in the values of lands, may possibly, ultimately more than repay the entire cost of construction of some of the lines. EQUIPMENT. The railway tracks are well laid and well kept. The locomotives are very powerful, and of an excellent type, which is generally adopted on the whole railway system of the States. Locomotives, carriages, and trucks are mostly on the Bogie system ; the two latter have sets generally of six wheels, occasionally of eight wheels, under each end of the car, so adding greatly to the comfort of passengers, and avoiding much unnecessary grinding of wheels and rails. The car wheels are of larger diameter than those in New Zea.land, and are usually of cast iron, thu« greatly reducing , the cost of rolling stock. A wheel very rarely breaks, and when that does happen, cars having generally six wheels iu a set, no sudden stoppage occurs. The guage is, I think, 4ft. On most of tho lines I traversed, there were no raised platforms, fixed steps providing access to the cars. These low platforms prevent many accidents. THK SEEEI'EK CAR. In a country so extensive, the trains run day and night, Sundays and weekdays. The Pultnan sleeping car is a necessity. These cars are elegant and costly affairs. Each car is attended by a coloured " porter," a courteous and active fellow, who arranges the beds in the car with great celerity polishes your boot, and brushes you down each morning. These sleeping cars, admirable as they are, might be greatly improved by a little more " head-room " in both upper and lower compartments. The sleeping car is a great institution on American railroads. During the day they nre comfortable enough, plush lined, cross seats for two on each side of the central passage, with mirrors in every direction. At night the porter, as 1 have said—a good-humoured, handy negro— fixes witli great despatch two tiers of sleeping sections on each side the passage. Thick curtains secure the necessary privacy. At each end of the carriage a small dressing-room is provided — one for ladies, the other for gentlemen —furnished with all washing requisites, drinking water conveniences, and stove or heated pipes for winter use; each sleeping car being also provided with an elegant smoking room. You travel day and night in comparative comfort and with little fatigue, if you are fairly well, and fidgetty. Nevertheless, much night travelling in "sleepers" will, I think, bo found injurious to health. The peculiar lateral and vertical motion, especially in the upper compartments, can hardly fail to affect adversely the nervous system. Two successive days and nights in h ' 'sleeper" were as long as I cared for. One goutletnan informed mo that of the previous twenty nights, ho had passed seventeen in "sleepers," transacting business during the day at various points, SEPARATE TRAINS. On nearly all the main lines I traversed, "mixed trains" wero rarely run, passenger trains and freight or goods trains being run separately. This " separate" syntem has groat advantages over tho "missel" cy-stom ourruut iu Now Zoa^

land. It eunbles piv.sciiiror trains !r> bo run (it a much higher srjeen , , say 25 to 30 miles an hour, including stoppage-*, with relatively much leas we.ir and tear on the rolling utook, howido.s avoiding , all shunting iind jars to which passengers on " mixed" trains are so much exposed in New Zealand. The "separate" system enables heavy freight trains to bo run at about half the speed of passenger train, or about 12 miles au hour, thus greatly diminishing , the heavy charges for replacing rails and rolling stook, and securing, much lower transit rates for goods. ACCIDENTS. The platforms between the carriages arc continuous, thus preventing accidents iu passing from car to car. The " Westinghouse Brake" is a perfect success, and immensely superior in every way to the ' brake ' system adopted in New Zealand. I understood this admirable brake would pull up a train at full speed iu not much more than four times its length. Iu the 8000 miles I travelled on American railroads we had only two slight mishaps ; one, arising from an imperfect coupling, causing tho locomotive to run off with a portion of the train ; the other was a case of a heated car axle taking tire. Considering the enormous distances run, and the immense number of passengers carried, the very small percentage of accidents bears highly satisfactory testi mony to the efficient equipment of the j roads, and to the excellent management by which they are operated. HAILKOAD TRAFFIC. I am indebted to " Poor's Manual of Railroads, 1886," for the following particulars, which are full of interest to the general public of this colony, and some of which I think may be advantageously studied by those who are responsible for the supreme control of our New Zealand Railways. Statkment No. 5. Miles operated in 1885 ... 123,110 Passenger train mileage ditto 211,587,(520 Freight train mileage ditto ... 3-12,280,(170 Mixed train mileage ditto ... 0,297,575 Total train mileage ditto... 500,105,805 Passengers carried in 1885 ... 351,427,088 Tons moved ditto 437.040,099 dollars. Earnings—Passengers in 188-5 200,883,911 Freight ditto ... 019,090,991 Other diteo ... 44,735,610 Total 705,310,519 Operating expenses 498,821,520 Net earning 206,488,993 The srross earniuars in 1885, on the entire capital, amounted to 10 per cent, nearly. The net earnings to nearly 3b per cent. Rate of interest paid to bond-holder.-! amounted to 4£- per cent. Hate of dividend paid to shareholder* equalled 2.02 per cent. Expenses of running , compared with gross earnings, 18S5 equalled 66.12 per cent. Passenger earnings, proportion of gross, 20.9 per cent. Freight earning, proportion of 67.4 pur cent. Other earnings, proportion of gross, 5.7 per cens. Earnings per passensrer per mile, 2 198 cents, or a littlo over Id per mile. Earnings per ton of goods per mile,l 057 cents, or about id per mile The charges of Id per mile per passenger, and of id per mile per ton of goods, have been powerful factors in developing the enormous traffic on American railroads, aa detailed in statement No. 5. These low transit rates have exerted a most powerful influence hi rapidly settling agricultural lands, and establishing perfect " hives of industry" all over the United States. They have also made railroad investments profitable ; for, though dividends on stock (share) capital only average about 2 per cent, per annum, it is well-known that many railroad stocks have undergone the process known as "watering " —that is— have had their nominal share capital greatly increased without the contribution of an additional dollar by shareholders ; in some cases, I understand the share capital had been more than doubled by this process. Taking this into consideration, and that 2 per cent, is the average annual divideud over 125,000 miles of railroad, both good and bad, it is evident that low transit rates " pay " on American railroads.

It is also equally evident that the New Zealand system of excessively high transit rates does not pay. It is clear to me, that if Parliament docs not insist on the adoption of much lower transit rates, for both passengers and merchandise of all kinds, it will grievously fail iu its duty to the country. This brings me to the consideration of the vital question of administration. KAILWAY MA.VACiE.MKNT. There may be various opinions as to whether the construction of railroads by Government or by private enterprise is most advantageous, but after our experience iu New Zealand there can be but one opinion—that the Government management of railroads is costly and inefficient. A vital change in management is imperative, and since we caunot resort to private management, wo may at least adopt the mode recently introduced into Victoria with so much success. That colony has abolished Government administration of its railways, placing them under a commission of three capable men, and experienced in the commercial management of railways. These commissioners are appointed by Parliament. They are responsible only to Parliament, being entirely independent of Government control. They are thus enabled to dispense with political patronage—that great barrier to all efficient and economical railway administration. They arc therefore iu a position to employ only good, well-trained officers, and to have no more of those than economical and officient management requires. Until some such system is adopted, New Zealand railways will not pay ; they will not properly promote industry in and direction ; nor will they secure thn real welfare of the colony.