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

466 RAILWAY SYSTEM AND ITS RESULTS.
almost a nominal charge. To what do the public owe the valuable
information embodied in those documents, but to railways ? Except
as parcels by wagons, or by canal boats, they never could have been
conveyed, prior to the existence of the railway system ; and if they
never could have been distributed, we may rely upon it that they
never would have been printed. The reasoning which applies to
" The Times " and to State Papers, applies to newspapers generally,
and to the distribution of {he Prices Current of merchants, and of
magazines, monthly publications, and bulky parcels of every descrip-
tion. Without railway facilities they would probably never have
been circulated at all,—certainly they never could have been circu-
lated to the extent necessary to make them profitable. Hence, the
railway, as before observed, is the great engine for the diffusion of
knowledge.
Bearing these things in mind, it is obviously the duty of the Government
and of the Legislature to deal with railways upoa an enlarged
and liberal basis, in respect to all matters relating to postal communi-
cation. It is, no doubt, of the highest importance to the public, that
the advantages railways are capable of affording to the Post-office
should be secured. Looking to the public interest, it is difficult, if not
altogether impossible, to contend against any Act of Parliament that
peremptorily insists upon postal facilities being afforded, to the full
extent they may be required for the public interest. At the same
time, whilst we may admit that railways have a duty to perform to the
nation, in facilitating postal communication, it is clear that the pecu-
liar and extraordinary advantages they afford in that respect, entitle
them to a large share of consideration and to very liberal compensa-
tion for the work which they perform. It does not, however, altogether
appear that the Companies have, hitherto, always been met by
the Post-office in the way in which they conceive themselves entitled
to be treated. No fault, on this account, attaches to the Post-office
officials, who execute their arduous and important labours with very
commendable zeal and with all possible courtesy ; but the system of
the Government has been to require heavy service, and to allow the
Companies little or no profit for its performance. A i-ent is paid,
amounting to a fair rate of interest upon cost, for the carriages and
vans which are employed upon a line ; with, in addition, the exact
amount of haulage and other special current expenses, which can be
proved to be entailed by the conveyance of the mails ; but should it
chance, that upon any line the ordinary trains do not suit Post-office
purposes, the companies may be compelled to put on trains at suitable
hours for the mails, for which, ordinarily, very little remuneration is