otherwise. The policy of the Act has been severely criticised, both on the ground of the mechanical pressure which it puts upon trade, so preventing an easy and natural self-adjustment, and also because the separation of the two departments prevents the Bank availing itself of much of the bullion. actually in its hands. The function which the Bank discharges in reference to the National Debt will be gathered from what has been said under the head of the "National Debt Office." 1

THE RAILWAY SYSTEM.

RAILWAYS are constructed by private companies under a certain special control of the State.

(1) This control is exercised by restricting the number of railways, and determining in given cases whether a railway shall be made or not. When it is proposed to make a railway through a certain district, the persons who wish to form themselves into a company for the purpose propose that a Bill shall be presented in the House of Commons, in order to carry out their ends. The House, (after being satisfied that certain rules of the House called "standing orders" 2 have been complied with), refer the Bill to a Select Committee of the House, which sits from day to day to examine witnesses as to the need and desirability of the railway, and to hear persons who oppose the railway on various grounds-such as there being other railways in the same district, the small number of passengers or quantity of goods likely to require the use of the railway, or the injury it would cause to property lying in the direction in which it would run. The Committee, after thus hearing both sides, decide whether they shall recommend the passing of the Bill or not. If they

See p. 72 and also Appendix D.

2 See p. 44.

recommend that it should pass, it generally is passed. The nature and effect of the Bill is to form the persons asking for it into a "Joint Stock Company," capable of holding property, making contracts, and suing or being sued at law; to give the company power to buy the necessary land, even against the will of the owners; and to enable them to borrow money up to a certain amount from persons ready to lend money, on condition either of receiving a fixed rate of interest ("debentures"), or a proportion of interest according to the success of the undertaking ("shares").

(2) The restriction exercised by the State has reference also to the control of companies while the railway is being worked; as with respect to the amount of payment by passengers for travelling, and the conduct of inquiries as to the cause of accidents, in which inquiries a State-inspector always takes part. This latter department belongs especially to the "Board of Trade." It is a matter of some controversy in this country whether it is expedient that the railways should all belong as they do to private companies, no more controiled by the State than in the above respects—or whether it would be better, as is the case in most other European countries, for the railways to belong to the State, and either be managed by State officials, or be leased out to private companies to be managed by them. It is said, in favour of the existing system of management by private companies, that the stimulus of profit and the concern that persons always have in matters directly affecting themselves, as well as the fact of free competition, produce a better system of management than Government could supply; and that if the railways were in the hands of Government, the officials charged with the management would be badly appointed, or chosen in view of the private or political interest of the superior Government officials choosing them.

On the other hand, in favour of Government assuming the ownership, and, possibly, the direct management of the railways, it is urged that the Post-office and the Telegraphic

system have been better and more cheaply managed since they were taken out of private hands; that the Government alone could afford to make travelling immensely cheaper, as it need not seek to make the highest possible profit, and would not expend so much money in making the railways or in making more railways than are wanted. In all the Railway Acts passed after a certain date, Government has reserved the power of buying up the lines if at any time it should wish to do so.

THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH.

In England and Wales there is what is called an Established Church: that is to say, a particular form of religious worship is favoured by the State, and to a certain extent regulated and conducted by officers appointed or remunerated by the State. At one time the form of religion which is now established" in England was the religion of the whole people. This is so no longer, and in fact a large proportion of the people, though it is not accurately known what proportion, do not profess the same form of religion as that of the Established Church. The effects of the Church being established are the following:

1. The Queen (or King) must be a member of the Church of England. She is crowned with a solemn religious ceremonial, which the ministers of the Established Church conduct, and it is these ministers who administer to her what is called the "Coronation Oath."

2. The English and Welsh "Bishops," or chief ministers of the Established Church, are ex officio members of the House of Lords, with the exception of the one last appointed, if he be not Bishop of London, Durham, or Winchester.

3. The forms to be observed in the public worship of the Established Church are fixed, and can only be altered, by Act of Parliament.

4. A large proportion of the buildings, that is, the churches and cathedrals, used for public worship belong, in some sense (though not a legal one), to the whole nation, and can only be used by the ministers of the Church, appointed from time to time as trustees for the nation.

5. All the appointments to archbishoprics, bishoprics, and deaneries (that is, the presidency of bodies of ministers attached to a cathedral church, and called "chapters") are in the gift of the Crown, and a large number of appointments to minor positions, or "livings," are also in the gift of the Crown.

6. All irregularities, or church offences, committed by the clergy are cognisable in special Church Courts, and, in the last resort, in the court of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, or (under the Judicature Act) in the Court of Appeal, and by peculiar processes specially defined by Act of Parliament.

7. The partially representative bodies (Convocations of the provinces of Canterbury and York) by which the internal affairs of the Church-so far as they are not regulated by statute—are managed, can meet only when summoned by the Crown, and can proceed to business only by licence from the Crown.

8. For some purposes all persons in the country are treated, or may be treated if they choose, as members of the Established Church. They are entitled by law to the services of the minister of the parish to which they belong for the baptism of their children, for the solemnisation of marriage in the parish church, and for the burial of the dead according to the ceremonies of the Church. By recent legislation, any three male parishioners can (if the bishop of the diocese assent) have the question of the conformity or non-conformity to law of the services, the ceremonial, and the ritual used in the Church judicially determined by a judge appointed for this special class of cases by the archbishops and the Crown conjointly. The judge

is to be chosen from the same class of properly qualified lawyers as that from which the judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature are selected. In order to proceed in the matter, the parishioner need do no more than make a written declaration to the bishop to the effect that he is a member of the Church of England.

It is to be noticed that though in England one form of religious worship is "established" by law, yet the utmost. toleration is shown to all other forms, of which there are a great many. Some of these forms very nearly resemble that of the Established Church; and any breach of contract or wrong done, through which injury is sustained by members. of religious bodies outside the Established Church, is cognisable in the ordinary courts of justice. The place of worship of any religious body, however small or peculiar, can, by compliance with certain forms, be registered so that marriages can take place in it, and its religious services be specially protected against disturbance. It is to be noticed that clergymen of the Established Church are subject to many civil disabilities, especially that of not being eligible to sit in the House of Commons. A clergyman can now rid himself of his clerical character and of its attendant disabilities by executing a deed to that effect, and enrolling it in the Court of Chancery.

It will have been seen that the division of the country into parishes has been largely used both for civil and for ecclesiastical purposes, and a number of civil functions have in course of time been cast upon persons and bodies such as churchwardens, "overseers," and "vestries," which were at first, and are essentially, of an ecclesiastical character.