service in Belgium and Switzerland has been a considerable augmentation of traffic. In a few years the transmission of small parcels by post has been nearly doubled, and I believe now they are at an increasing rate of nearly five millions annually in Switzerland. In Ireland the number should be in the same proportion more than doubled, and the branch lines made more largely feeders to the main lines.

The effect of this system on trade in Ireland would be, as it has been in Switzerland, very powerful. It would enable traders to send for goods as they want them, and to diminish the expense of stocks. In Ireland, as in Switzerland, it would enable business to be transacted often with one-third the stocks that have been heretofore found necessary.

In Ireland, however, I apprehend that the stocks in the village shops and the retail shops in general are, from poverty, very low. With them the results of cheap parcel post conveyance, and of a cheap postal telegraph, would be the reverse of that in Switzerland or Belgium. It would be to give them, in effect, indefinite augmentations of stock, by enabling them to send for goods fresh, and as they wanted them. It would also tend frequently to bring the producer directly in communication with the consumer, and to save the cost of intermediate agents. In several of the continental states there are large beneficial results in progress in these directions, which, here in Ireland, as well as in England, are arrested-I say, unavoidably arrested by the condition of railway communication in the hands of disjointed and conflicting companies.

The Railway Commissioners could not well avoid noticing the complaints made of the uncertain and conflicting rates and the imperfect delivery of parcels, and they say:-"Looking at the extent to which the railway system has now reached, the time has arrived when railway companies should combine to devise some rapid and efficient system for the delivery of parcels." They might have added the word "economical" delivery, and also some rapid and efficient system for the collection of parcels.

When I represented the great extent of the ground for which new branch railways were needed, and of the capillaries of the system of internal communication which required to be improved, speeded, and utilized, I did so from impressions derived from passing observation. But the distinct statistical evidence of the extent of the postal system of deliveries, or of those capillaries which they advise the railway companies to rival, was put before the Commissioners, by the evidence of Mr. Page, from the Post-Office, and it is this: The number of miles which mails are conveyed daily by railway in the United Kingdom is 49,700, and, beyond these, the number of miles which mails are conveyed daily, by coaches, mail-carts, and omnibuses, is yet 33,000, whilst the number of miles travelled by the rural post messengers is 72,000 miles daily, or nearly as much as all the mileage of railways and mail coaches put together. Could the Commissioners have minded these facts, or have heeded what they were proposing,

when they proposed that the railway companies should undertake the delivery of parcels-impliedly as equivalent to the plan proposed of a postal delivery-i.e., that the railway companies should undertake the separate service of parcel delivery by separate means, equivalent to this thirty-three thousand miles of postal delivery, by coach or mail-carts daily, or the daily postal delivery of seventy-two thousand miles by foot, to be provided and paid for separately? In Ireland, however, it stands thus, and I adduce the fact for particular attention; whilst the daily conveyance, by mail-coaches, carts, &c., is 8,277 miles, and by foot messengers 8,680 miles daily, by railway, according to the last returns, it was only 4,645 miles daily. That is to say, they were recommending to the existing companies the formation of a triple number of stations for collecting and delivering parcels, multiplied offices and services, clerks, &c., as well as carts, an extra expense for them which must, if charged on the parcels, to a great extent be prohibitory.

In Ireland there are sixteen hundred or more of postal stations. I have not at hand the number of railway stations. But, as some electric telegraph company directors maintain the same doctrines against the utilization of public establishments for the public service, in exemplification of its fallacy, I may mention that, while there are 1,625 postal stations, there are only 92 telegraphic stations in Ireland. In other words, the telegraph stations are to the postal stations in Ireland as one to seventeen. If the public are determined to utilize their postal establishments, as I trust they will be, the trading companies must, in Ireland, have sixteen more separate establishments to compete with them-a supposition that is absurd. Are, then, the sixteen places, sixteen towns or villages out of seventeen, to be deprived of the benefit of quick and cheap intercommunication by message, that the monopoly of a trading company, and its power of making exactions on their necessities, may be maintained ? -a supposition that, as a question of legislation and administration, is also absurd.

In Ireland, where, on the principle I have stated, conveniences ought to be in advance of demand, the proportion of post-offices to the population, which ought to be equal, are less then those in England. The combination of the postal with the railway and the telegraphic services may serve to make them so at reduced cost. In Ireland there is only one postal station to some 3,700 of the popu lation. It is stated to be part of the post-office plan to extend postal telegraphy only to places having a population of 5,000 persons. This can only be accepted as, in the first instance, a tentative extension. In Prussia, which is in many respects the best administered country in Europe, in which the Government well knows what it is about, it has been officially announced that the Government intends to extend the telegraphic system to every place with a population of 1,500 persons, or nearly double the extent of our postal stations.

On the public footing there are other large branches of service for which the telegraph is needed, and which should contribute to the

establishment charges, in reduction of those for the telegraphic post.

As a Commissioner of Inquiry into the organization of a police force, I can state, that by a complete system of telegraphic communication from station to station, and in combination with a general postal system, the efficiency of the police force may be nearly doubled. If I recollect rightly, there are upwards of 1,300 police stations in Ireland. Then there are the coast-guard stations, and the Royal and mercantile marine stations, and all the military stations, which need connexion; and all these will bring telegraphic communication closer than the existing telegraphic stations. The statement made by the Minister of War for Belgium declared that placing the railway under public control had doubled the efficiency of the army, and that the electric telegraph would double it again, is, I submit, especially applicable to Ireland. I am assured, upon good authority, that by a recent invention by Mr. Donald Nicoll, underground telegraphs may be laid down and maintained as cheaply as the present system of overground telegraphs.

The chief economical and administrative conclusions which I have now to submit, are:-That communication by railway forms part of a connected system, for the transit of persons, letters, information, and goods. That as a regulating and predominant controlling function, constantly acting, to ensure punctuality in the departure and arrival of trains, as well as the postal deliveries connected with the trains, the postal function has properly a chief place. That the exercise of this controlling function, for ensuring punctuality in the conveyance of letters, is of importance for ensuring punctuality in the conveyance of passengers, as well as of parcels conveyed by quick trains. That the postal stations and the services of the postal officers and servants should, for the public economy, be utilized for the conveyance of telegraphic messages as well as of small parcels, as in several continental states. That the police stations, and the naval and military stations, should be combined in a complete system of telegraphic communication. That hence it follows, as a question of administrative improvement, that the exercise of the functions, for the conveyance of letters, telegraphic messages, passengers, and goods should be combined under one chief and responsible public authority.

Unity of management, under a public authority of a railway communication, will be in itself an important advance in public improvement. Unity of management of telegraphic communication in connexion with the post will also be in itself an important and muchneeded improvement. But jarring action will be avoided-the improvement in the pecuniary and other results will be the more complete and speedy-if the requisite combination and subordination of administrative functions be considered and provided for at the

outset.

Ireland has, in its general police, the elements of administrative improvement in advance of England. Ireland has, too, an adminis

tration of relief provided for the destitute in advance of that of England. I trust that, through its representatives, it will have, as it ought to have, the lead in the necessary improvement of all the means of internal communication.

If I may use a simile derived from sanitary science, I would say that, to give entire freedom to the main arteries of communication, to complete the capillaries of the system, the branch railways-to provide for it, as it were, a new set of nerves of quickened sensation and motion, by a cheap system of postal telegraphy, would tend to put the body politic in a condition of healthy and prosperous action, such as has been imparted to Belgium by the like means. By those means unhealthy formations may be made to slough off, and morbid conditions, and febrile action, the result of deficient and interrupted circulation and stagnation, may be best dissipated.

Should the Railways of Ireland be purchased by the State? By S. M. GREer.

IT!

T has been observed in regard to Irish railways that their rates are very high, their speed very low, and their trains very few, while the remuneration to the proprietors is very small. To render these lines more useful to the country, to enable them to carry five or six passengers and five or six tons of merchandise, where only one is carried at present, would be one of the highest achievements of statesmanship, one of the greatest blessings to Ireland. This problem is now taxing the energies of some of our most distinguished legislators; and I propose to describe briefly to this meeting in what way it has been suggested that this great work may be accomplished without prejudice to the vested interests of railway proprietors.

Whether owing to the want of capital, want of enterprise, or want of commercial activity, or to all these causes combined, the construction of railways in Ireland has proceeded more slowly, and made less progress, than in either of the sister countries. It appears from the Board of Trade returns for 1865, the latest now published, that there were then only 1,838 miles of railway in active operation in Ireland, divided among thirty-five companies, and realizing a gross revenue of about £1,700,000 per annum, less than a third part of the receipts of the English North Western Railway Company. The great number of independent lines making up the Irish system, and the want of concert and co-operation in their management render them comparatively inefficient and unserviceable to the public. For this reason, and on account of the high charges for the conveyance of goods and passengers, the people of Ireland have come almost

unanimously to the conclusion that it would be a signal advantage, even to the remotest parts of the kingdom, if the railways were purchased on equitable terms by the Government and worked upon one uniform system for the public good, and not merely, as at present, for the benefit of the shareholders.

The policy of such an arrangement has for the last three years been the subject of frequent and earnest discussion in the press and on the platform. It has engaged the attention of both Houses of Parliament, and been the subject in part of one Royal Commission, whilst a second Royal Commission is about to tax the energies of some of our most experienced and scientific men to ascertain the present circumstances and actual value of the Irish railways, in case Government should obtain the sanction of Parliament for their purchase. The right of purchase as to all the railways of Great Britain and Ireland has been specially reserved to the State by the Railway Act of 1844, subject to certain conditions embodied in that Act for the benefit of railway proprietors; so that all railways undertaken in Ireland in 1844, or any subsequent year, have been undertaken upon this express condition. The right of purchase is therefore beyond dispute. The policy of such a measure still remains to be discussed, as also the terms on which it should be carried out, if at all, and the manner in which the working of the railways should thenceforth be conducted under the auspices of the State.

As a general rule the government of a country ought not to interfere in undertakings of a commercial character, which would bring the resources of the State into competition with private capital and enterprize. And when there has been such interference in this country, even for public purposes, such as building ships of war and constructing guns and other weapons of offence, it would seem that private enterprize has generally triumphed over the Government establishments in skill and workmanship. But there are some undertakings specially suited for the action of the Government, and which can be carried out by it with great advantage without being brought into competition with private individuals. The Post-Office service is of this character. It pervades the whole country, performs its duties well and cheaply, is extremely sensitive to the feelings and wants of the public, and has shown wonderful powers of adaptation and arrangement to supply the maximum of accommodation with the minimum of expense. If similar benefits could be rendered to the Irish public with respect to railways it would be an unspeakable advantage.

The purchase of the Irish railways should, however, be made, if at all, not under the Act of 1844, which contemplated a gradual piece-meal purchase, leaving wholly out of account the older lines, but under a new Act, which should apply to all existing lines, and which should make their purchase as far as possible simultaneous, and should also provide funds for that purpose. The purchase of the Irish railways by the State was first brought under the notice of Parliament in April, 1865, by the Right Hon. W. Monsell, and the