This pamphlet has been printed and published with the assistance of friends who share my opinion that the scheme proposed will solve the railway problem—now at an acute stage. A rough outline of the Scheme has been submitted to Sir Charles Cameron, Bart. (on whose initiative sixpenny telegrams were adopted), and while reserving his opinion as to the advantages of State ownership and the difficulties of purchase, he has been good enough to write that this scheme is the boldest and best reasoned p

Page 15. The Royal Mail.—Letters carried for same price any distance. Why not passengers and goods? Object of pamphlet to prove that this is financially possible with small uniform fares and rates mentioned. A Business Proposition for Nation and Shareholders....

Page 17. All Railways to be purchased by State and amalgamated with General Post Office. Trains of two kinds only, viz.:— (1) Main Line Trains , i.e. , non-stop for at least 30 miles. (2) Local Trains , i.e. , all trains other than Main Line. Passenger tickets vary according to above fares only—no reference to stations or distance. Goods rates , payable by stamps vary only according to weight or size of goods, whether carried in bulk, in open or closed trucks, or with special packing, but irresp

Page 20. 1. Cheapness and regularity of transport. 2. Economy of service;—by unification of railways;—abolition of Railway Clearing House, of expenses of varying rates and fares, of multiplication of receiving offices, stations, &c.,—and by amalgamation with Post Office;—all railway land and buildings available for Government purposes—Postal, Civil, Military and Naval. 3. Progressive increase always follows adoption of small uniform fares ( e.g. , in Post Office); hence progressive incre

Page 27. Present system founded on two principles, both mistaken and illogical, viz.:—( 1 ) According to distance travelled. ( 2 ) According to “what the traffic will bear.” (1) Although cost of building 200 miles, and hauling train that distance is more than for two miles, yet because regular train service required for whole distance, say, A to Z and back, passing intermediate places, therefore cost of travelling from A to B, or to N, identical with A to Z. For goods, cost of loading and unload

Page 33. Writers for and against—All assume that on Nationalisation, system followed of charging according to distance, and to “what traffic will bear”—Fundamental differences between State Monopoly and Private Monopoly—Evils of applying profits of State monopolies in reductions of taxation—Strikes. Four rules to be observed on Nationalisation:— 1. Natural monopolies only to be taken over. 2. When taken over, only to be worked for benefit of community and not for profit. 3. Competition of privat

Page 45. Present averages per annum in round figures taken from Board of Trade returns 1911 and 1912:— Net receipts show average income of 3½ per cent. Average fare for each journey only 6½d. Estimate under proposed scheme :— Page 48. I. Passengers. —Assuming Main Line passenger journeys are 300,000,000, i.e. , under 20 per cent. of the total passenger journeys. Increased number of Main Line passengers required to make up deficiency:— This is £1,750,000 more than the present gross revenue from p

Page 53. If increase of traffic no more than above, increase of working expenses negligible, apart from economies made by unification. Expense of carrying 200 passengers no more than 20. If increase of traffic more, then revenue increases, but working expenses only by about 50 per cent., as expenses of permanent way, stations, signal boxes, and establishment charges but little affected. Expenses of Post Office and Railways to be lumped together....

Page 56. Estimate of annual sum required according to precedent of purchase of the East Indian Railway Company, namely, by annuities for 73 years, equal to 4¼ per cent. per annum on market value, plus liability for Loans and Debentures with interest at 3 per cent. This further traffic brings total increase of traffic to:— Essential to purchase all Railways at same date—Railway Stock to be converted into Government Stock—Price to be fixed by average of market price of Stocks for three years prior

Page 62. Interested parties not prejudiced—Staff now employed in services to be discarded will be required for increased traffic—Facility of transport will increase trade, and open new markets, not only here but abroad—Foreign countries would adopt reform as they did Postal system—Advantages of inter-communication with Foreign Nations....

The Royal Mail! What scenes and memories are conjured up by these words! In the olden days, the Royal Mail coaches—in these modern days, the well-known scarlet Mail carts and motor vans arriving at all the larger railway stations from which the mail trains, always the fastest, convey the mails to every quarter of the United Kingdom, and over the whole world. It is now a commonplace to post in the nearest pillar-box a batch of letters, some to addresses in the same town, others to provincial town

A few examples of the waste attending the present system, both of money and time will illustrate some of these advantages. In the Strand, London , within a few yards of each other, are the following premises:— No. 168, Strand.—The Strand Station of the Piccadilly and Finsbury Park Tube Railway. No. 170, Strand.—Great Western Railway Receiving Office. No. 173-4, Strand.—East Strand Post Office. No. 179, Strand.—Great Northern Railway Receiving Office. No. 4, Norfolk Street, Strand, almost adjoini

Unification enables each part of the country to have as good a service of trains as every other part, notwithstanding differences of population and resources. The Companies now operating on the South Coast cannot provide so good a service as the Northern Companies owing to the lack of the great mining and industrial centres which are served by the latter. One of the most conspicuous examples of this is Ireland . A Royal Commission was sitting for many years on the question of Irish railways, and

Apart from the objection to State ownership there are no doubt many who are now deriving income from railways who will fear that their interests may be prejudiced by the proposed change. Fortunately there can be but very few who will be thus prejudiced . As to the existing staffs, such as booking clerks and the Railway Clearing House staff, whose services would no longer be required in those particular departments, there ought to be more than sufficient vacancies for these in other but more nece

The following are in round sums the average figures for the two years 1911 and 1912, based on the Railway Returns published by the Board of Trade annually under the Regulations of Railways Act, 1871:— The average fare for every journey is therefore 6½d. In other words, if every passenger paid for every single journey, long or short, the sum of 6½d., then the gross receipts from passengers would be about the same amount as is now received. Total tonnage of goods per goods train: The total receipt

There is, of course, no official return as to the proportions of Main line and Local passenger traffic, but it is clear that the percentage of small fares must be very great. Assume that this is over 80 per cent., then there would be in round figures about 300,000,000 (that is under 20 per cent.) of Main line passenger journeys, and assuming that the number of first class passengers will be only 10 per cent. (the above average percentage of first and second class passengers), then the revenue fr

Most critics will contend that the increased traffic will lead to an enormous increase of working expenses. In the first place allowance must be made for the several economies in management occasioned by the amalgamation of the whole railway systems in one and with the Post Office as already mentioned, and of which the following is a brief list, viz.:— Abolition of, ( a ) The Clearing House, ( b ) Separate boards of directors and clerical staffs, ( c ) Legal and Parliamentary expenses, ( d ) Adv

All reforms meet with opposition, mainly from persons whose interests may be prejudiced by the proposed change—also in many cases by experts. As to the latter, one remembers the story of the expert who, when the first proposal was made to cross the Atlantic by steam, wrote a pamphlet conclusively proving, to his own satisfaction, that it was a scientific impossibility to construct a steamer capable of carrying sufficient coal to do the journey! One of the first steamers to cross the Atlantic car