RAILWAYS.

£ At the end of 1909 the length of line (in 3,271,000 equivalent of single track) worked solely by electricity was 204 miles, and that 220 miles were being worked partly by electricity. The 4,518,000 corresponding lengths of line at the end of 1908 were 204 and 2004 miles respectively. The total quantity of electrical energy used in 1909 Was 253 294,628 Board of Trade units as compared with 249,287,308 in 1908.

turned as Factory Accidents have been in-
cluded in the Board of Trade Returns for
the past three years. During the year 1909
only one passenger lost his life in an accident
to the train by which he was travelling-the
first case for a period of more than twenty
months, while the number injured, viz. 390,
was low compared with the average of pre-
vious years. So far as the records extend
there has been only two years, 1901 and 1908,
in which no passengers were killed in train
accidents. The averages for the ten years
1898-1907 were 21 killed and 626 injured. The
numbers of railway servants killed and injured
in train accidents in 1909 were 16 and 129 re-
spectively. The corresponding averages for
the 10 years 1898-1907 were 12 killed and 150

to the running of trains or the movement of
railway vehicles. The average yearly figures
for the previous ten years were 1,155 and
7,036 respectively. This shows a decrease
in the number of fatal, and an increase in
the non-fatal cases. The greatest increase
occurred in the cases of accidents to railway
servants, and is no doubt largely due (apart
from the increase in the number of men em-
ployed) to the operation of the order of the
Board of Trade of Dec. 21st, 1906, which
requires non-fatal accidents to railway ser-
vants to be reported whenever they are such
as to cause the person injured to be absent
from his ordinary work for a whole day at
any time, and partly to the fact that a con-
siderable number of accidents occurring in
goods sheds and warehouses previously re-injured.

THE KING'S HIGHWAY.

sioners for compulsory powers for the acquisi-
tion of land.

The following are the members of the Board:
Sir George S. Gibb (chairman), Right Hon.
Lord Pirrie, K.P., Right Hon. Lord Kingsburgh
(Sir John Hay Macdonald), Lord Justice Clerk
of Scotland, Lord St. Davids, Sir Charles Rose,
Bart.; Secretary, W. Rees Jeffreys.

The third International Road Congress was held in Brussels in 1910. The 1911 Congress is to be held in London.

Under the provisions of the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act, 1909, the Treasury appoints five persons to constitute a Road Board "for the purposes of improving the facilities for road traffic in the United Kingdom, and of the administration of the road improvement grant." The grant consists at present of the proceeds of the graduated tax on motor-cars and the tax of 3d, a gallon on motor vehicles, which were estimated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer to be worth about £600,000 in the financial year 1909-10, and to In a Times article on the first International increase rapidly in productiveness. Lord Den- Road Congress, held in Paris in 1958, it was man stated in the House of Lords in July that stated that there are in Great Britain 27,556 there was then available a sum of approximately miles of main roads, and 117,000 miles of good £300,000 in respect of the proceeds of motor secondary roads. Their money value was spirit duty, less the cost of collection for 1909-estimated thus:10; and there would be available in respect of the current financial year the net proceeds of that duty and the proceeds of motor-car licences for 1909-10 and 1910-11. The receipts from the spirit duty for 1910-11 would be £400,000, and from motor-car licences for the two years 520,000, making a total of 920,000. From that total must be deducted the cost of collection.

The Road Board have power to act either directly by themselves in constructing and maintaining new roads, or indirectly through the existing highway authorities, to whom they may make grauts or loans, with the approval of the Treasury, in consideration of the authorities undertaking either to construct such new roads or effect such improvement in existing roads as appear to the Board to be required for facilitating traffic. Under the terms "improvement of roads" are included the widening of any road, the cutting off the corners of any road where land is required to be purchased for that purpose, the levelling of roads, the treatment of a road for mitigating the nuisance of dust, and the doing of any other work in respect of roads beyond ordinary repairs essential to placing a road in a proper state of repair; and the expression "roads" includes bridges, viaducts, and subways. The sums expended by the Road Board out of income on the construction of new roads or the acquisition of land, or in respect of any loan raised for any such purpose, must not in any year exceed one-third of the estimated receipts of the Road Board for that year.

Both the Road Board and highway authorities may apply to the Development Commis

Main roads, 27.556 miles at
£5000 per mile.
Secondary roads, 117,000 miles
at £2500 per mile

Total value

£137,780,000

£292,500,000

£430.280,000

Great Britain spent in 1906 £2,011,598 on the 27,556 miles of main roads, which works out at 73 per mile.

France spent in 1906 £1,224,558 on 23,823 miles of routes nationales, and the expense worked out at 51 per mile.

The increase in the cost of the maintenance of main roads since they have been used by mechanically driven vehicles is shown by statistics collected by Mr. H. T. Wakelam, the Middlesex County Surveyor. During the past ten years the average increase of cost in 41 counties has been 41 per cent. Only in Staffordshire has there been a decrease, which 18 10 per cent. The lowest increase is shown by East Yorkshire-viz. 4 per cent.; and the highest is in Surrey, where the increase is 138 per cent. In Middlesex the increase has been only 7 per cent., a fact attributed by Mr. Wakelam to the use on the roads of only the best and toughest basalts, while the roads are painted each year with liquid bituminous covering applied in a boiling state.

The Roads Improvement Association was formed in '86 and incorporated in '98, to secure reform in the system of administering the highways of the United Kingdom, and to obtain better, wider, and more numerous roads and footways. Hon. Sec., W. E. Rich. Offcea: Caxton House, Westminster,

OUR INLAND WATERWAYS.

THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION.

The

The total mileage of canals and navigations Commission published from time to time at present used in the United Kingdom is about a number of volumes of evidence, interim 4670 miles. Of this total extent about 3639 reports, and statistics as to British and miles lie in England and Wales, 183 in Scot- foreign canals, which have been summarised land, and 848 in Ireland. About 3310 miles in previous editions of the ANNUAL. are not railway-owned or controlled; 1360 Final Report on the Canals of England and miles, or nearly a third of the whole extent, Wales and Scotland was issued in December, are so owned or controlled. The net revenue 1909 [Cd. 4979, price 2s. 11d.] The Comfrom these waterways in 1905 was as follows: missioners, with the exceptions hereafter to England and Wales, £536,554; Scotland, be noted, were of opinion that, as a whole, £22,096; Ireland, £25,690: total, 584,340. the evidence presented to them showed that A considerable proportion of this revenue "waterways, even in their present condition, was, however, derived from the letting of land can obtain some share of local traffic in and from other sources not directly connected populous and industrial districts, where with navigation. The total net rental from navi- numerous works or colleries and wharves are gation tolls in 1905 was £232,697. situated on their banks or in their neighbourhood. In such cases, waterways are com peting not against their modern rival, the railway, but against their original rival, the road. But the evidence also shows that our waterways do not, except to a small extent, and therefore, it may be assumed, cannot, in their present state, effectively compete with railways for long-distance traffic of any kind.'

Waterways are of three kinds: canals; canalised rivers, often called "navigations"; and open rivers, including estuaries. The following table summarises, approximately, these divisions as they exist in England and Wales:

Canals
Navigations
Open rivers

Total.

Miles.

1,927

1,313
813

4,053

By far the larger part of these waterways forms part of a connected system-that is to say, a cargo-boat of the narrower kind can pass, though often by devious routes, from any point to any point upon that system. This connected system lies chiefly in the English Midlands and in the southern part of the Northern Counties. It is entirely unconnected by inland water routes with the Scottish canals and rivers.

In 1906 a Royal Commission was appointed to inquire into the canals and inland navigations of the United Kingdom and to report on: (1) Their present condition and financial position. (2) The causes which have operated to prevent the carrying out of improvements by private enterprise, and whether such causes are removable by legislation. (3) Facilities, improvements, and extensions desirable in order to complete a system of through communication by water between centres of commercial, industrial, or agricultural importance, and between such centres and the sea. (4) The prospect of benefit to the trade of the country compatible with a reasonable return on the probable cost. (5) The expediency of canals being made or acquired by public bodies or trusts and the methods by which funds for the purpose could be obtained and secured, and what should be the system of control and management of such bodies.

The Commission was thus constituted: Lord Shuttleworth (Chairman), Lord Kenyon, Lord Brassey, G.C.B., Lord Farrer, Sir John Dorington, Sir John Brunner, M.P., Sir Francis Hopwood, K.C.B., G.C.M.G., Mr. (afterwards Sir) W. J. Crossley, M.P., Messrs. Russell Rea, M.P., J. F. Remnant, M.P., P. Snowdon, M.P., Henry Vivian, M.P., L.A. Waldron, M.P., R. C. H. Davison, C.E., J. P. Griffith, C.E., Dr. A. J. Herbertson, J. C. Inglis, C.E., H. F. Killick, and Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Wilson, Later Lord Kenyon resigned, and Mr. M. J. Minch was added to.the.Commission.

The

The survival of the existing traffic in England is probably due, to a considerable extent, to the nature of the labour employed. Just as, in many parts of the country, farming is most successfully carried on by a small farmer and his family, so inland navigation is mainly worked by families of small means living day and night in barges. In 1906 there were in England and Wales 12,782 canal boats registered for use as dwellings, besides the open barges and lighters not SO registered. Carrying, throughout the United Kingdom, is conducted generally by small firms and owners of a few boats. The traffic carried on the waterways consists for the most part of articles the value of which is least in proportion to their bulk. The information collected in the returns made to the Commission shows that by far the larger part of the total traffic by water consists of coal (which provides 45 per cent. of the total tonnage), iron ore and pig-iron; building materials, such as stone, bricks, tiles and slates, timber, cement; road material; sand, gravel, and clay; town manure, refuse and sweepings; with some grain, artificial manures and food stuffs, etc.

After considering at length the great policy of waterway improvement adopted in France, Belgium, and Germany, and the results of that policy, the Commissioners believed that, with the modifications which differing circumstances make necessary, it could applied to this country. Their first recom

be

mendation is the constitution of a central public authority, or Waterway Board, consisting of three or five Commissioners, which should acquire certain existing routes by a procedure resembling that adopted in the Port of London Act. The routes in question constitute what is popularly known as the "Cross," since they take the plan, roughly, of a St. Andrew's cross with its centre at Birmingham and its extremities at London, Hull, Liverpool, and Gloucester. The Commissioners propose that the navigation over these routes should be made capable of accommodating barges of 100 tons at an

estimated cost of about 17 millions, to be defrayed in part by the State. They do not, however, press the adoption of this scheme without further inquiry. They recommend that the Waterway Board should, on appointment," review the whole situation on the lines of practical business"; and they further suggest that the Development Commissioners under the new Act might exercise controlling functions over the waterways, leaving practical administration to the Waterway Board, as in the case of the roads and the Road Board.

The report was signed without reservation by only eleven of the nineteen commissioners. Lord Farrer, Sir John Wilson, Mr. L. A. Waldron, and Mr. H. F. Killick were not satisfied by the evidence that improved waterways would supply cheap transit as compared with railways, or that there was any prospect of a reasonable return on capital invested in the acquisition and improvement of waterways. Nor could they support the suggestion of the majority that the cost of acquisition of waterways, as distinct from that of improvement, should be borne by the State, either without any pecuniary return, or on other and less onerous terms than apply to outlay on improvements. "The arrangement," they said, seems to us to be either unnecessary or undesirable, unnecessary if, as some members of the Commission consider, there is a prospect of a reasonable return on capital thus invested, and undesirable if there is no such prospect, because tending to produce an erroneous idea of the financial result of the operation."

Mr. Russell Rea signed the report with a reservation dissenting from that portion of the majority scheme which contemplated the work of improving the Rivers Trent and Severn, so as to admit sea-going vessels of 750 tons to Nottingham and Worcester, and of 600 tons to Stourport. Mr. J. F. Remnant disagreed with the majority report almost in its entirety. He contended that "the causes which have operated to prevent the carrying out of improvements in canals by private enterprise are economic in their origin,

Capital is not forthcoming from the public for the maintenance of a system recognised to be obsolete, and the evidence showed that there is no probability of its being provided from this source. Legislation cannot alter this, and it is no more justifiable that the State should find the capital required for this purpose than that it should attempt by the same means to revive the running of stage-coaches or other antiquated methods of transit.' Mr. R. C. H. Davison and Mr. J. C. Inglis also disagreed. Mr. Davison urged that such waterways as show signs of vitality should receive every encouragement to become more efficient; and that the Development Commissioners should have powers conferred upon them to promote the amalgamation and unification of such canals into groups, on the application of the predominant member or members of such groups; and to acquire, by agreement or compulsorily, and hand over to such groups any railway-owned canals necessary to complete them. He could not, however, join in the recommendation "that the State should find vast sums of money for the improvement of inland waterways, for, in addition to there being no prospect of a reasonable return on capital so expended, improved waterways would not give the traders of this country, as a whole, relief from high transport rates." Mr. Inglis pointed out that the amount of traffic per ton per mile required to give a reasonable return on the cost of carrying out the "Cross" scheme would be more than double the tonnage carried on the waterways of Belgium, which are, admittedly, the most highly developed of any country in the world. He held, moreover, that any question of the application of State funds towards the cheapening of transportation should include consideration of every form of transport, with the object of assisting that form which is best suited to the proved requirements of the trading interests of the nation. In other words, the question of transport must be treated as a whole. It is not, he said, within the sphere of practical politics to draw a dividing line between the different forms.

THE TRAMWAYS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.
The following details are taken from the
returns issued by the Board of Trade (Railway
Department) as to the Street and Road Tramways
and Light Railways of the United Kingdom. The
returns are made up to Dec. 31st, 1908, in
respect of Companies, and to March 31st, 1909,
in respect of Local Authorities.

wise than by electric traction had further
diminished from 178 miles to 166 miles.
The following are the latest figures, for the
year 1908-9:

In 1909 there were 176 undertakings belong. ing to Local Authorities, with 1680 miles of line open for traffic, and 122 to other than local authorities, with 846 miles open for traffic. The capital expended on the former was £47,134,754, and on the latter £23,888,485.

The number of passengers carried in the year was equal to about 60 times the estimated population of the United Kingdom. Of the total of 1680 miles of line owned by local authorities, 1490 miles were worked by those authorities themselves, and the remaining 190 miles by leasing companies. In 1908 the route mileage open of electric line was 2285 miles out of a total of 2464; in 1909 it was 2360 miles out of 2526. The mileage worked other

Authorised Capital
Paid-up Capital .
Capital expended

Miles open
Horses employed
Loco Engines
Cars running, electric

Gross Receipts
Working Expenses
Net Receipts

£90,731,680

£70,345,155

£71,023,239

2.526

4,243 48 11,361

1,015

non-electric

£12,641,437

£8,045,658

£4,595,779

Appropriated to Interest

or Dividend.

£1,862,347

Debt Repayment or Sink

ing Fund

£977,321

Relief of Rates

£280,225

Passengers carried

2,659,981,136

Electrical Energy (B.T.

Units)

463,901,137

BRITISH TRADE IN 1910.

THE PROGRESS OF OUR FOREIGN COMMERCE.

As a preliminary to the detailed consideration of the main trade movements of 1910 it is convenient and useful to examine some of the broader features of our commerce. In this way a clear view may be gained of its general characteristics, and indications of its tendency are afforded. It is also advantageous to regard our general trade in sections, with the purpose of ascertaining in which direction progress and in which retrogression seems to be indicated. By way of introduction to this article, therefore, we give a series of specially compiled tables, designed to show what the general movements have been over a long term of years. We begin with a table showing, over a period of nineteen years, what have been the Sources of British Imports. Imports from

1890. 1899. 1909.

whole show decided signs of increase. One of the most notable facts in connection with our receipts from foreign countries is the large increase as regards South and Central America, due largely to the remarkable economic development of Argentina. Imports from France are expanding only slowly, but those from the countries of Central Europe show considerable growth.

In the matter of imports from the Colonies and dependencies, the fluctuations as regards India are due to crop variations. Australia sends much more than formerly, and there has been an enormous growth in the case of the North American Colonies, due to great agricultural developments in Canada.

Destination of British Exports.

Our exports mainly consist, as is shown by a later table, of manufactured goods, and are therefore only indirectly affected by climatic conditions. The main cause of the comparatively limited fluctuations in them lies in general economic circumstances, and especially in the alternation of periods of expansion and activity with times of dulness and lack of enterprise. The figures given below cover a period of nineteen years, during which the growth has been large and marked.

Russia

Exports to

Scandinavia (includ-
ing Denmark)
Germany
Holland
Belgium
France

United States
China and Japan
South and Central
America.
Other countries.

1890. 1899. 1909.

(£1000) (£1000) (1000)

8,846 16,139 18,326

7,822 14,304 16,655 30,516 37,978 47,169 16,446 14,044 16,304 13,595 14,587 19,285 24,711 22,277 31,515 46,340 34,975 59,254 9,586 15,389 17,177

420,692 485,036 624,705

The years compared in the above table were all marked by active trade. In 1890 commerce was very brisk until the Baring crisis near its close, and the figures were better than those of a good many succeeding years. The year 1899 was also noted as being the close of a prosperous period, while 1909 was also marked by prosperity and improvement. Hence in the above figures discrepancies due to commercial stagnation are practically eliminated, and we get a good idea of real, as compared with temporary, expansion.

94,522 94,821 136,319

Grand total. 328,252 329,534 469,526 The distribution of our exports among British possessions and foreign countries is proportionately about the same as in the case of imports, and varies within very narrow limits. India is on the whole our best customer, though in 1909 it ranks behind both the United States and Germany, partly as the result of reduced purchasing power in our largest dependency. South America ranks fourth and Germany fifth. It is noteworthy that 43 per cent. of our exports are to European countries.

As regards the proportions which our imports from foreign countries bear to those from British possessions, fluctuations of rather a marked character are inevitable, as a large proportion of our receipts consists of agricultural products, shipments of which of course depend upon whether harvests have been good or bad. Taking a long average, however, about threetenths of the imports come from British possessions, and the proportion does not on the