The old mails, therefore, cost as follows:—
| Payment by Post Office for working | 2½d. | per mile. |
| Exemption from toll, with coach, say | 5d. | ” |
| —— | ||
| 7½d. |
without occasional extra payments. So that the real sum allowed for mail coaches was nearly as large as the sum allowed to railways.
But the Post Office Report admits that the mails, which were formerly carried by coaches, now leave London “in a concentrated form”—that for example, the North-Western Railway does the work of no less than thirteen of the old mail coaches: i. e. the mails to Edinburgh, Leeds, Halifax, Holyhead, Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow, Carlisle, Derby, Birmingham, Hull, Worcester, and Dublin. The cost per mile, therefore, must be multiplied by thirteen, on the North-Western line alone, in order to represent the actual payment the Post Office would have had to make to the old mail coaches, as contrasted with the payment they are now making to the railway. And so as to the other railways, in proportionate degree.
It is to be borne in mind, also, that the Post Office authorities obtain facilities and advantages from the railways which they could not exact from the mail coach proprietors; and for which they pay nothing. Not only have they the power, under Act of Parliament, of ordering the trains at any time, at any speed, and to stop at any place, but they have, also, the power to direct the railway companies to provide all the carriages they require; and the railways actually find carriages for the Post Office, which cost, not the £120 which the old mail coaches cost, but no less than £500 each. In many cases the mail trains are run, under Post Office direction, at such inconvenient hours, that only three, or four ordinary passengers ever travel by them, for any part of their journey; so that the only remuneration received by the railway is the payment made for carrying the mails. It happens, also, on some railways,—such for example, as the line from Shrewsbury to Stafford—that the mail train is the only train run in the night. The consequence is, that clerks, porters, sidesmen, gate-keepers, telegraph clerks, and nearly all the staff of the railway must be kept at night-work solely for Post Office purposes, for which the railway company has to pay.
“No doubt,” says the Report, “this result (i. e. high rate of charge on railways) is attributable partly to the necessity for running certain mail trains at hours unsuitable for passenger traffic; but even when the Post Office uses the ordinary trains established by the companies for their own purposes, the rate of charge, especially considering the regularity and extent of custom, is almost always higher, than that made to the public for like services.”
What are the “like services” rendered to the public? The public are conveyed as the mails are conveyed; but do the public take the control of the trains into their own hands, choosing where they will stop, and when they will go on, and preventing alteration of times? The public accommodate themselves to the regulations of the railways; but the Post Office takes its own time, and interferes in any way it pleases with the conveyance of the public and their goods. What are the charges made for conveying mails by “the ordinary trains established by the companies for their own purposes?” The Post Office has not furnished a list of these charges; but it appears from the table, which I have before quoted, that there are trains which carry mails in England at as low a rate as one farthing per mile. These are, no doubt, “ordinary trains established by the companies for their own purposes,” and if that charge is “almost always higher than the charge made to the public for the like service,” all I can say is, that I can hardly conceive how a smaller coin could be substituted for such a service.
“It fortunately happens,” says the Report, “that Mr. Stephenson furnishes, in his address, the data for checking his own accuracy on this particular point. He says, that the locomotive expenses on railways do not, on an average, exceed 9½d. per mile, and that the cost of running a train may be assumed, in most cases, to be about 15d. per mile. Compare this with some of the rates actually paid by the Post Office to different companies at various periods within the last few years, amounting, in one instance, to the enormous price of 4s. 6d. per single mile.”
This is not a correct deduction from my observation. Although locomotive expenses do not, on an average, exceed 9½d. per mile, and although the current expenses of running a train may he assumed, in most cases, to be about 15d. per mile, you are all aware that “locomotive expenses” and “the cost of running a train” are not to be taken as representing the cost of supplying the service required by the Post Office. These charges were estimated for different purposes. They are the bare cost of power, &c. They do not include any calculation for establishment charges, wear and tear of road, interest on capital, or payment of expenses of station officers and porters. Of course the estimate does not include any compensation for extra services, such as are required by the Post Office, nor any allowance of any sort for profit.
A somewhat unfair use has been made, by the Post Office, of my statement with regard “to the cost of running a train.” That statement was made, as you will see by reference to my Address, for the purpose of enabling you to consider the broad principles which ought to govern railway companies in respect of passenger traffic. It is palpable that I never contemplated, in that estimate, what would be the cost of running a train, put on without reference to the convenience of the public, or to the advantage of the railway company, and yet entailing all the charges of a special engine and night-service. The Post Office has, however, quoted and made use of this expression, as if it was applicable to all cases.