The life of George Stephenson, railway engineer - Lighthouse ...

464 RAILWAY SYSTEM AND ITS EESULTS.
interests of the public and of the Companies are identical, and not
antagonistic.
It is not necessary to this argument to conclude, that in all cases
fares should be fixed at a minimum rate. On the contrary, they should
be regulated by local circumstances and considerations of public convenience
and facility. In London, and other parts of the kingdom
where the population is dense, and where millions desire conveyance
over short distances, say, of from two to ten miles, low fares are indis-
pensable, and wherever they have been tried, have proved thoroughly
successful. As the average railway fare throughout the kingdom does
not exceed Is. Gd. per passenger, or the cost of conveyance, in a first-
class carriage, from London to Wimbledon, a distance of seven miles
and a half, it will be seen how preponderating a proportion of railway
receipts arises entirely from local traffic ;—that local traflic can be
most completely developed, wherever there are centres of public at-
traction and interest ;—and that whether to a Crystal Palace, or to a
country fair, or market, a low fare for a short distance, on the return-
ticket principle, or otherwise, is sure to pay. It is the lowiless of price,
in these cases, which is the real temptation to the population, and the
fare should be regulated by that consideration. But there are other
cases in which the lowness of price will not be the consideration. In
a journey, for instance, from London to Edinburgh, or to Aberdeen,
the amount of time consumed is necessarily so large, that, however low
the fare, the great bulk of the public could not abandon other avoca-
tions for a sufficient interval to undertake the journey. No mere inducement
of low fare, therefore, would be likely greatly to increase
the traffic on so long a route. The public who have to perform so long
a journey want, in such cases, high rates of speed, together with those
increased comforts and conveniences which are the more needed by
travellers in proportion to the length of their journey. Provided these
are afforded, liberal fares may be demanded from the public for these
longer routes. And from this argument it may be deduced, that an
invariable policy of either high or low fares is equally vicious, if ap-
plied to all cases ; that every case ought to be treated upon considera-
tion of its local circumstances ; and that a system which, under one
condition of things would be fatal, may, under another state of cir-
cumstances, be developed with success.
The facilities afforded by Railways to the Post-office are, no doubt,
of the highest public consequence. The speed which is attained in
the transmission, would appear at first to be the greatest item in the
catalogue of those facilities ; but it may be doubted if it is the most
important. What is really of the greatest value to the Post-