Rambles on Railways

by Sir Cusack P. Roney

“The one cylinder which alone was at work during my visit produced a strong current through the heading, and a perceptible current almost up to the face of the excavation. I learnt that a fan ventilator was employed to produce similar effects on the Italian side.”

[139] There are no such shafts upon railways as there are in mining. The shafts of the Consolidated and United Mines, Cornwall, are 1,488 and 1,650 feet. The shaft of the Nesvain Copper Mine is 2,180 feet; of the Veta Grande Mines, Mexico, 1,092 feet; of the Valenciana Mine, Mexico, 1,860; of the mines of Himmelsfurst, Saxony, 1,080 feet; of the salt mines near Cracow, 1,783 feet. Several mines in the Harz Mountains, in Bohemia, and in Cornwall, have also been worked to a depth exceeding 2,000 feet. The deepest in Bohemia is Keettenburg, said to be 3,000 feet below the surface of the soil. The deepest in Cornwall is that of Fowey Consols. The shaft of the Fahlam Copper Mine of Sweden is 1,300 feet deep. The shaft of Mr. Astley’s colliery at Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, is 2,100 feet deep. The deep workings are 1,500 feet below the bottom of the shaft. The shaft of Wearmouth Colliery is 1,600 feet deep; that of Dukenfield, Cheshire, 2,004 feet; and the lowest working in the colliery is 2,504 feet. At Pendleton, coal is worked from a depth of 2,505 feet. One of the collieries at Wigan is 1,775 below the surface. Many of the Durham collieries are equally deep. For further particulars see Dr. Ure’s Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines, edition of 1861.

[140] See note, page 373.

[141] This is a suggestion that may prove of great value in the working of the railway through the Great Tunnel of the Alps.

[142] The largest number of passengers ever conveyed in one day was on the 10th June, 1867 (Whit Monday), 113,075. The total carried that week was 542,833.

[143] It will be seen by the subjoined extract from the London and China Telegraph of the 15th November, 1867, that a contract for the conveyance of our Eastern mails (referred to ante, page 241), has been entered into between the Government and the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. Henceforth, the service to and from Egypt and India will be weekly, instead of four times a month; to and from China, fortnightly, instead of twice a month; to and from the Australian Colonies, once every four weeks, or thirteen times a year, instead of twelve times, or once each calendar month, as at present. It will be perceived that, as usual, St. Martin’s-le-Grand is opposed to a more complete postal system, because the outlay involved “is more than the Post Office will sanction.” The service is undoubtedly an improvement on the existing one, but it falls far short of what will have to be conceded, probably even within another twelvemonth.

“At length the terms of a new contract for the conveyance of the India and China mails have been arranged with the Peninsular and Oriental Company, and the new service, which will come into operation in February next, will be organised on a basis which in most respects must be considered very satisfactory. The contract is for a longer period than the previous one, and its terms are much higher. The Marseilles route will still be adhered to, and between that port and Alexandria there will be a weekly direct line of steamers in conjunction with a weekly line between Suez and Bombay. The Bombay mails will be made up in London each Friday evening, and the service abroad will be arranged with a view to insure the delivery of the homeward mails in London on Monday morning. There will be a fortnightly service between Suez and Calcutta and China, connecting at Galle, as at present; and the mails for these places will be despatched with every alternate Bombay mail. In like manner the homeward China and Calcutta mail will be timed to reach Suez simultaneously with every alternate Bombay steamer. In short, the China mail in future will be a fortnightly one, instead of twice in the calendar month; it will be despatched every alternate Friday, and delivered here, all circumstances being favourable, every alternate Monday. On this side of the Isthmus the whole system will consist of a weekly vessel between Marseilles and Alexandria direct, with another to and from Southampton, touching at Malta as at present. It will be observed that no contract has been made for a line between Brindisi and Alexandria; as the port of Brindisi could not be substituted entirely for Marseilles, an extra service has been decided against, on the score of outlay. The Australian mail will be once in every four weeks, joining the China steamer at Galle, as at present. The advantages of the scheme are obvious. The uncertain intervals between the making up of the mails, owing to the difference in the lengths of the months and the intervention of Sundays, disappear in favour of a system of regularity and fixed days. The partial amalgamation of the two services cannot fail to have a favourable effect in promoting increased punctuality in the delivery of the inward mails. The days selected for despatch and arrival are beyond doubt the most suitable ones. And it is satisfactory to know that the new era we are about to enter upon is a permanent and not an experimental one. It will be observed that the existing system of one line between Suez and Calcutta, and another between Bombay and China, with transhipment at Galle, is still to be retained, instead of giving place to the direct trunk line from Suez to Hongkong that we have always advocated. We must, however, rest content with this arrangement for the present, as the outlay involved by the direct line is more than the Post Office will sanction. We are assured, however, that the boat from Calcutta will always be despatched in time to avoid the possibility of detention to the China mail. It will be seen that the new service, however satisfactory in itself, will not harmonise with the French line at all; indeed, if the Messageries steamers continue to be despatched on the 19th of the month, probably in most cases the facilities at present offered by the French mail will be absolutely nullified. We imagine, however, that the French company will find it expedient to make a corresponding alteration by despatching their vessels on a given day in every fourth week, so as to bring their departure midway between two of the Peninsular and Oriental mails. We trust some such arrangement as this will be urged by our own Government on that of France. We may add that Saturday is the day fixed for both arrival and departure of the Southampton steamers, and that the duration of stay at Singapore, and the question of calling at Penang, are still undecided.”

By the now existing contract the company have a subsidy of £230,000 per annum, equal to about 4s. 6d. per nautical mile. By the new contract the subsidy will be £400,000 per annum, or at the rate of 6s. 1d. per mile. There are two new and special conditions attached to the contract. It is to be for twelve years instead of six, as heretofore; and when the net profits of the company exceed 8 per cent., a fourth of the surplus is to go to the Post Office, it being understood, on the other hand, that when the dividend sinks, from unavoidable causes, below 6 per cent., the subsidy is to be raised to an amount that will cover the deficiency, but it is not, in any case, to exceed £500,000 a year.

[144] The Government press of Rome has just published the census of the population of the city for 1867:—The city and the suburbs are divided into 59 parishes, containing a population of 215,573 souls, being an increase since 1866 of 4,872. Of these 30 are cardinals, 35 bishops, 1,469 priests and ecclesiastics, and 828 seminarists. The occupants of religious houses are 5,047, 2,832 being monks and 2,215 nuns. These belong to 61 different congregations or orders. There are also 49 seminaries or colleges, among which are the French Seminary, tenanted by 48 pupils; that of South America by 50; that of North America by 33; the German Seminary has 58 pupils; the English 21, and the “Pie Anglais” 14; the Scotch 12; and the Irish 52, &c. The number of males educated in colleges amounts to 258, and females in pensionnats to 1,642; 775 males and 1,088 females live in charitable institutions. The number of families is 42,313, composed of 98,176 males and 93,438 females—to whom must be added 7,360 following the military profession, 320 detenus 4,650 Jews, and 457 other dissidents. There have been 1,615 marriages contracted during 1867.

[145] It appears, from the Third Report of the Select Committee on Postage, 1838, page 49, that in the mails despatched from London at that time, the chargeable letters formed only 7 per cent. of the whole weight. An increase in the number of those letters to nine-fold, or by 800 per cent., would therefore advance the total weight of the mails by only 56 per cent., or little more than one-half, even if the average weight of a letter had continued the same. That average has, however, been considerably reduced.