herat
ShirkJunví.
oKABUL
^ctbuL R
Accompaniment to the Railway Administration
Report for the year, 1882 — 83.
SRINAGAR
Peshawar
Machesorii-
roCHUZNEE
ffiLUM x i i
Vojja-angabocL- J | S
iKhoricm / jAjffbo
mSLalciMitsoy~v /T
wjRhlr/itti'X.
^wujçat^Sialkot1
^^^^OTxt^dafíhcib^alA-
Wù^'ïyonwalcLi
HSjGxnraxiw-al^L R.
WBhü/í anwaLaT
Wmarrwke i
W^adhokco- À
SHEWING RAILWAYS OPEN TO TRAFFIC,
UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND PROPOSED
ON 31st MARCH, 1883.
WITH ADDITIONS BY SIR WILLIAM P. ANDREW, C.I.E.
Scale 90 miles to 1 inch.
■■'¿.Dalhousie
o-Bakloh,
iaß~ufnko]J •
_, o Dharmsalu
Girislth o.
lake
'hamoon
LWÍÉ Ismael Khon at /
tfpDuryakhajv f(
MuridM
Kali
^KANDAHAR
»cmru
Miles loo
4oo Miles
: FarùDcob
UZodcapara,
==^Dfi'>vrc¿DuTv
iuefctaH
. , t
Ranikhet
Almora
■Mustang
PirChorkL
'/Pithoragarh/
ïMajisurpui
t Kivbtowl
i\Sirdhcmi
Leer lit Cani
jfeidyoj
^ Rajnruigar.t
tRajfotnpur
MiZhcuika.
KELAT
Ecmsi
luttalL
IOLAJJAHAI
[uzuiurTctpt
¡aid
CUNDAWA
\ * DELHj
&JXlÁfíL¡
iripur
•aieiUy
Pcridpixr ^
matehganj \
tSTu-cö xp urKairaAs
<w5iB abrala-
I»
y>uba MuJch.,
j Xagagahot
.Ears cmlil
B ar-vv arad
ULWUR-f
MalaJcherax
'' Rcygcurh£
y Baswa% „
R. Baruiihialg^
/ Ncuxnderau
/ LarkancL-M
Bakraru Ro catTM/
EcuduehsBfj
haiHhat '.
¿"itrrr;
|Ja¡rysur ^
JimrFian, V*$6»*. -fcoM? o*
"M. ^m3acturv
\ ^^Jushwuniruxga,
X ^hhtawali »,
^Kh£ri.j
\\
'Dibrngccrh-
fainqttukh
¿Baraitch.■
\¿Bccrdtu
P^r,u^%3t^ \jfi
*^Sanx> an!
■ J Sandilaqfe.
v£IioliimrCbadym
Kukila Mi
Sita.Road.-_
rimÇii
DaxhiMfa
Bhajil i
«f^TnvonÄl
HUNG
i cufpïirajjÇ LT
AJMpRE fijr \ ,
SarmihahpujP % ,
MaÍ$£ZÍf Knaa'cerabad N.
r» . ^ Bandaniyai-a. \
ptjrrj&s ^!... SingcpyaL j
%i;r X.W.
Sansiri
/ ¡Lainia /<f
ÍMandal y
ÍBhílwaru,
\Hcurúryícxrh- KotaL
\Grtngrer /
Behar
i Gorakjipw
//Golaghat
kedje
fowcjcrniy
Jhow
ianmo»—
MororRd
(«VA1.IOJ
,Vi>ujrt
Arurici,
hxmgojxjx^aJy&Tuui
• Dojrvfojnx
oPumeaK R.Saictp'-O'"
0^%£<ufguri9 _ m '
^ ir -
BELAH
CTuilixdii
Dornen^
i btalipur
iBeLwai
IShaRgcay
I Kata. Sarai
PacTybucLrix
Mubvt
es5*
S^&5e"
Shilling
oJooval
Petar o
Bbtxee
Bolarim
Zch.iiory} '-. "
fÄh/cliarräfcf. . Í
'¿Mvmbohera. ; v
Jfcoigaon 1
^LNeemuch
iXŒarkiaKnjxL
\ SMuLUxrgax^c
\ %Tharoa& \
: &Mandsazi>\
: \Dalcuida, J
BRimanaylfi^oh*ra- P-
■^¿McuvolJÍ u
" ^ ín. '."^^crotna.
^ Stir '
Wp alan p ur
jmhalpuiAs-.
tetwtxr
Sutaa.1
Bijapu*
SO. Patoa
R ftygowa
\ bturart
, SINGH'
Burhee
IIW ^
II w
» w
'!Ha3:ci^xb<
*tlbr«et
rhurbai-«
DcdtCJiyery\£
Pcúxujioi
NajrsûigJicfarh /■I
tbacLRoaxL
%a HARIA
ieenii
"eisancv
jadeen
cxigarwa
¿Sadra ,¿¿
V
ÍMEDAHAD+'P,
tehidpivr
\taakm.iNa"Ji
:>h1
S "" Hu ay a
BoTV>'
SírdaTP^¿S>,<^k
»I >vc
•ohk^-ÎKR
BhiLscc
Tany cuxsvaii-
UJJAINt
Bar^e1
WÄDHWAN*
j57icirwit%
Z¿77TÍ>7-¿:
Howrí
i: ají.,
ER Ü ORE
WP/fmef
Ä
Hosha^i
Mid.Tiapur[
DwarkcL
kCANNINI
•MANDÁLAV
íChorcCL
) as pur
Y
MO ITT H S
Dharocra Riyer
\MaJirauLi
í| -NaxLsari
i'a^fuxlscupi,
uThmgrí
rBulsarh
DfiaLia,
Dia.1.
rocfcuiyhat
|)WARORA
^MeadaXb ' ^Allaruayi
^Thoyelmyo|| f
Ghoiwaoß
I) ahorca Jtoaa¿
Waru/aork
Boiscü
PalgTu
oapha
E¿
Bassion. Rot
^hiUslP*^
fchaJeh.
I ífc TOUNG
JpRDME \
V!mu I
y^Sunmosway '
AiThxiLaqn. \
I 17 Hpyooo
\ IFowrigday ^
V\ I Zeegem \
\\ ijKorinûb-yu*^
il Jot P^ains-gy«
7/
oAhxri
Gópalpicr
Ban dorai
Grant .tioad-i
BOMB AT J|
-, CP^?
■chowlc
]at R.y
Sandowayl
°Mcdanyur \\
\\
|i
/" :v* ^ JB
»€>* -B*
í / O "T urenda
r Bars i. RvauL
fMitrha... . a
ffî'Éimlipa.tctni
'yV¿zag<xptxtcin>
» .yV
» // t°v
> YcLcLagcri
I SaxcUtp ur Road
^Krishna,
I^Cfuksagar
^Efenchur '1 R
JKMldnwrrL*,\K
^Bjuagabiidra.
Kolapua
of IróLVf &
fSoojyyPS' mumool
LAiZoru". j! 1
^Auspre.e. v \
ËMoic^iwzo. y \
pLGoondncul 'R. /
Htek.Gool.yyr ^
^fenhdp utr i^R.
^LKonAxpunam,
oodorwa!*^.
\ \v ^^^JferragoontL
^ R. C-uH ti apa^^u.
i WhniuiLetía^g^
\ "V- . RnjarW
Ongole
KAR WAR
NELLOR
TuadxxLore
LANGALQ]
MangaZorei
ÇkL.TENCIZ NOR
fjGuriev
■forapçor
Wtdlapur-ajr^
¡rvctry
Tifcrav:
PTPONDICHERRY
I CuHdalore^yiew Town
(¿LctdtxLo r». f Old. Town, )
BAB 1ST AN / <
KUL TURKESTAN
«S/r ûgria
Companies Ut Ut
Lines under Survey or not commenced
-cyo
OQtACAM^ND
Cahùct)^
BEYTOOHL*
IVTozdohi
IjaJjcarai Chatiracun
'Jujrvrn. Ko vi].
tranquebar
NEGAPATAM
Vladikavkaz yo"
Kungrado'
Locomotive Stations
TTUOVUTI
(BeshditcHk
Refreshment Rooms
Dindigut^f
Amayanaïkanur^L
Sholavandan^
SarniaawXLorrt
Madura'
OKHOKAND
Erivan.
Naraical,
j\CASHGAR,
Forts
Caching
Bilmani
•rengj^f
Military Rest Houses
Eizi] Arvat
(oYARK
,MERV
Askaba«
haitaparax
¡TÜTICORIN
BALKH
KOONDOOZl
\°Xarixv
MESHED®!
TEHERAN
AKoostk ^
HERAT
^jterl^Rud~
SRINAGAR
JO Paagony
Khuhbi
'Attock ¿.mURREEj
Green
laftuai \ y _ y1
IjHELUM PaÜwrOwl
'GHUZNEE,
'Shsd/ra,
/oFurrakl
LAKE/&S1-
1HAtfiOON
KasK
■ SIMLA
.AHORI
Brown
MCASIfY
M~~^^^erajdMviyoc
5&- %&ompoloL
rfcavalap cbtya
9*00 LTAt
Loaoral ^
«MORAÓABAD
J ON KIN I TAL
COLOMBO"
SHIRAZ
PERSIAN
C ULF
JÉhaziabï
, -Milhaj kaSftJT'Shajxpar
CUNDAWA
PUBLICATIONS
BY
SIB WILLIAM P. ANDBEW, C.I.E.,
F.R.G.S., Etc.
1846. Indian Railways.
1847. Letter to the Shareholders of
the East Indian and Great
Western of Bengal Rail¬
ways.
1848. Is India to have Railways?
1853. Railways in Bengal.
1856. The Scinde Railway
„ Letter to Viscodnt Palmerston,
K.G., on the Political Impor¬
tance of the Euphrates Val¬
ley Railway.
„ Telegraphic Communicaton
with India. Letters re¬
printed from the " Times."
1857. Memoir on the Euphrates Val¬
ley Route to India.
„ On the Establishment of a
Flotilla of Steam Vessels.
„ London to Lahore ; or, the Eu¬
phrates, Scinde, and Punjaub
Railways.
„ Telegraphic Communication
with India. Letters re¬
printed from the " Times."
„ The Indian Guarantee on Rail¬
ways compared with the
Foreign and Colonial.
„ Tramroads in Northern India.
v Port of Kurrachee, Depth of
Water, and Commerce.
„ The Punjaub Railway.
1858. Colonisation in India and Aus¬
tralia compared.
„ The Indus and its Provinces ;
their Political and Com¬
mercial Importance.
„ Letters reprinted from the
" Times " on Telegraphic Com¬
munication with India.
1861. The Government Guarantee on
Indian Railways.
1869. Leiter to the Duke of Argyll
on the Completion of the
Railway System of the Valley
of the Indus.
1870. Letters to Secretaries of State
for Foreign Affairs and India
on Euphrates Valley Rail¬
way.
„ Lecture before Society of Arts
on Railways in India by Gua¬
ranteed Companies.
1871. Letters to the Grand Vizier of
Turkey and the British Am¬
bassador at Constantinople,
etc., on the Euphrates Route
to India.
„ Letters on the Euphrates Val¬
ley Route to India. Re¬
printed from the " Times."
1872. Paper read before British As¬
sociation at Brighton on Eu-
phhates .Valley Route to
India.
1873. Lecture delivered at the
Royal United Service Insti¬
tution on the Euphrates
Route to India in connection
with the Central Asian
Question.
„ The Break of Gauge in Indian
Railways.
1874. The Strategic and Commercial
Evils of a Break of Gauge in
India.
1878. India and her Neighbours.
1879. Asia Minor and Euphrates
Valley Railway.
1880. The Bolan and Khyber Rail¬
ways.
„ Paper read before the Society
of Arts on the Euphrates
Route to India.
„ Our Scientific Frontier.*
* " In these border-lands (Beloochistan and Afghanistan) to have a rival in
¡prestige and power wonld be dangerous—to have a superior impossible."—India
and her Neighbours, p. 319.
*«?a #i tm.
'O 'O NOADK:H£¥iA
su:.*io:-;oo3 ¿y.wTvy .¿o nvaaos
-SI/ ■ Lb X i ^
INDIAN RAILWAYS
AS CONNECTED WITH
BRITISH EMPIRE IN THE EAST.
BY
SIR WILLIAM P. ANDREW, C.I.E.,
etc., etc.
CHAIRMAN OF THE SCINDE, PUNJAUB, AND DELHI
RAILWAY COMPANY.
Author of " India and Her Neighbours," " Our Scientific Frontier,"
" Memoir on the Euphrates," " The Indus and its Provinces,"
&c. &c. &c.
"Justum et tenacem propositi virum
Non civium ardor prava jubentnim
Non vultus instantia tyranni
Mente quatet solida, . . ."
—Horace.
FOURTH EDITION.
With Map and Appendix.
LONDON:
W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE.
publishers to the india office.
1884.
LONDON î
PRINTED BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE. S.W.
To
The Right Honourable
|i£ ||fe£«rait ||
the following pages are
DEDICATED
in grateful remembrance of
powerful support and encouragement
in efforts
to establish improved means of
communication in and with india.
THE AUTHOR.
29, Bryanston Square,
July 1884,
1
CONTENTS.
PJLGB
Preface to Fourth Edition vii
Dedication of Second Edition ciii
Preface to Second Edition ...... cv
Introductory Remarks 1
Political and Military Importance of Railways in
British India ........ 7
The Social and Commercial Advantages of Railways in
British India 25
East Indian Railway, from Calcutta to Mirzapore - 51
Great North of India Railway, from Allahabad to
Delhi 59
Great Western Railway of Bengal, from Calcutta to
Rajmahl 62
Diamond Harbour Railway and Dock Company - - 77
Northern and Eastern Railway 80
Madras and Bombay Direct Railway .... 83
The Madras Railway, from Madras to Wallajahnuggur
and Arcot - 87
Great Indian Peninsula Railway, from Bombay to
Mhow, Hosungabad, Sholapore, &c..... 93
1 *
iv
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Suggestions as to the Mode of Introducing the Railway
System into India - 102
General Management and Terms of Concession - - 123
Cost of Construction, <£;e. 135
Classification of Passengers, &c. 143
Conclusion 149
APPENDIX TO THE SECOND EDITION.
Modes of Travelling in India and Pares - - - 159
Clearing House System as Applied to Railways - - 161
Price of Labour and Materials in India ... 165
Price of Labour and Materials in England ... 167
Transverse Strength of Woods 169
Staple Articles of Commerce of Bengal ... 171
Table of External Commerce of India - - - - 174
APPENDIX TO THE THIRD EDITION.
Statement of the Traffic between Calcutta and Delhi,
from Officially Authenticated Government Returns - 177
Average Speed and Cost of the Present Modes of
Conveying Passengers and Goods in Bengal and
N. W. Provinces 181
Table of the Quantity and Yalue of Tropical Produc¬
tions Imported into England 182
CONTENTS. V
APPENDIX TO THE EOTJETH EDITION.
PAOE
Report upon the Practicability of Introducing Railways
into India, from P. W. Simms, Esq., Captain
A. H. C. Boileau, and Captain T. R. Western - - 187
Report on the Introduction of Railways in Bengal,
Addressed to Sir Archibald Galloway, K.C.B., Chair¬
man of the East India Company, by W. P. Andrew,
with Introductory Remarks by the Editor of the
" Artizan " 212
Letter to the Editor of the "Artizan" by W. P.
Andrew 233
Extract from Administration Report of Railways in
India, 1882-3, by Colonel P. S. Stanton, R.E., Direc¬
tor-General of Railways 242
Feeder Roads for Railways, by Colonel J. G. Medley,
R.E., Consulting Engineer to Government of India
for Railways in Scinde and the Punjab, dated
February 27th, 1884 - - - - - - 247
Improvement of Trade in India, by Mr. J. Lightfoot,
Auditor, Scinde, Punjab, and Delhi Railway, dated
March 12th, 1884 254
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION.
So many years have elapsed since the last edition
of this work was published, under the nom de
jplume of " An Old Indian Postmaster," that it
appears both necessary and desirable that a suc¬
cinct account should be given of the more recent
progress of railway enterprise in India. With
this view, and to make it more clear to the
general reader, we will cast a hasty glance at
what was accomplished in the early days when
the old magnates of Leadenhall Street began to
realise the fact that sleepers could be laid and that
water would boil in their great eastern dependency,
and that nothing was better calculated to arouse,
than the whistle of the locomotive, the apathetic
viii
PREFACE.
Hindoo to the knowledge of the value of time, and
to assume among the nations an aspect of renovated
power.
Roadless When England became the dominant Power in
condition of t u
India before India, probably there never was a country with a
the introdnc- . .
tion of people so rich and intelligent, in which roads were
so few and travel so difficult. For the rich the
camel, the elephant, the horse and the palan¬
quin, for the poor the pony and the pack-bullock,
were the only means of conveyance by land.
Springless wheeled carriages called ekkas, drawn
by horses and ponies, and bullock-carts, could
generally only be used on a few of the main roads,
that might be enumerated on the fingers of one
hand, or in the neighbourhood of populous towns.
In the south-west of India, from November to
June, small bullock-carts could travel in certain
districts on what have been called the " natural
tramways of the country," otherwise in ruts,
formed in black cotton-soil, which after two days'
rain become a morass impassable for horses, diffi¬
cult for bullocks and buffaloes, and such was
frequently the distress of these animals that they
sank under their burdens, and their bones whiten¬
ing the route acted as land-marks to travellers.
Over thousands of square miles wheeled carriages
were unknown, and had never been seen by the
oldest inhabitant. Merchandise could for the most
PREFACE.
ix
part only be carried on buffaloes, camels, and paek-
bullocks, at a cost of from 6d. to Is. a ton per
mile. Grain merchants were then men of enor¬
mous wealth, with agents in large towns, and
droves upon droves of buffaloes and bullocks.
In Central India many a septuagenarian corn- The cultivator
_ Iii* i i i , couW find no
factor laments the good old times, when he bought market for his
at what price he liked, and the humble hard-working other'evils
cultivator could send his grain nowhere, but must wTnttf road's!
arrange for its sale with the grasping money-lender
and corn-merchant at his door, or leave it in under¬
ground pits, or in fragilè storehouses of wattle and
mud, or in earthen jars, exposed to fermentation
and the ravages of the weevil. In times of scarcity
these receptacles of store grain are sometimes
opened, and often when the damp has penetrated
and the grain fermented the stench is quite unbear¬
able. The poor, driven by famine to eat this rotten
grain, die by scores. The mortality is set down to
cholera.
Prices varied from village to village, the weights
and measures of one hamlet differed from those
of its neighbour. Even now in one large grain-
producing province there are some seven different
tables of capacity by which grain or sugar or salt
is sold, and within the last twenty years villagers
of the Balaghat district refused to take copper
money for any humble purchases that might be
X
PREFACE.
made, but demanded cowries.* In one part of the
country, grain was almost valueless ; in another
place, not a hundred miles off there might be
scarcity ; whilst still further beyond, but yet not
very remote, famine raged.
Wandering gipsy-like tribes, called Brinjaras,
followed armies with stores, or carried salt, coarse
sugar and grain on buffaloes and pack-bullocks
during the open season. In the rains, or from the
middle of June to the middle of October, that is
for five months in the year, there was no traffic,
there were no travellers. Pilgrims to religious
shrines, surprised by the approach of the rainy
season stopped during the rains in the villages
where they happened to be, and for the sake of
daily food served as clerks or school-masters,
astrologers, or village priests, until after some five
months' detention travel again became possible.
As the country was destitute of roads, so the rivers
were but imperfectly utilised for the transport of
goods. There were rude country craft, which, if
the wind were fair, sailed slowly up or down the
stream, and were rowed and poled wearisomely
* Small shells of the Cyprœa moneta, a native of the
Pacific and Eastern seas. Many tons weight of this little
shell were annually imported into England, and again
exported for barter ; in 1848, sixty tons of the money cowry
were imported into Liverpool.
PREFACE.
xi
against the stream if the wind failed. There was
no regular service. A passenger might hope to
reach his destination some time or other. Every
man's hand was against the merchant, every petty
landholder who could collect a score of ruffians ex¬
acted transit duties. In the long decay of the Mogul
Empire the few roads, and even the canals and irri¬
gation works that once existed, had been suffered
to fall into disrepair. It is ever darkest before the
dawn. When the English became the paramount The English
T is- ., . . Government
power m India, road-making was a vital necessity. commence to
But it was not till 1836 that a road was commenced make road"'
from Calcutta to Delhi, which was afterwards pro¬
longed to Peshawar, a distance of 1,420 miles, at a
cost of £1,500,000 ; it was finished when middle-
aged men who saw it commenced, had grown old.
In 1842 a road between Bombay and Calcutta, 1,170
miles, was begun, and completed at a cost of
£600,000 ; and a third road uniting Bombay and
Agra, 734 miles, at a cost of £250,000, was made.
The total cost of all the roads constructed between
1839 and 1849 was £3,460,000. In 1838 over an
area of 30,000 square miles in four of the collec-
torates adjacent to Bombay there were little more
than four hundred miles of roads, of which only one
half were passable in the rains. All the towns of
the interior were during that season so many
isolated points ; and however important it might
Xll PREFACE.
be, it would then have been impossible to pass
heavy carriages along even the made roads, which
had been constructed without care or cost as to
their foundations, were generally unbridged, and had
but few ferry-boats.*
The creation Though the roadless state of India attracted the
of the Public . „
Works attention of successive Governor-Generals, yet it
Department „ . „ .
by Lord was not until the time of Lord JDalhousie that
and the com- systematic efforts were made to give India the
mencement . .
of railways roads she required. "With a view to create them,
in India when , . -i , -, . . ,. tip i
there were no and to repair and extend irrigation works, he formed
them.tofeed the Public Works Department. His rule com¬
menced in 1848. Railways had then made some
progress in England. In the first quarter of a
century after their commencement in 1825, there
had been constructed in the United Kingdom 6,621
miles of railroad, being an average rate of 265
miles per annum. England, indeed, by her admirable
system of roads, her organized mail-coach and van
traffic, was prepared for the introduction of rail¬
roads ; but in India, before railroads, there were
neither roads nor road-makers. The larger rivers
were unbridged, and the Hindoos, at least, thought
it would be impious to bridge the holy Ganges,
or the sacred Narbada. Both roads and rail-roads
* Report on a Proposed Railway in India. By Mr. Vignoles,
F.R.S., Past President Inst. O.E., dated 22nd September
1842.
PREFACE.
siii
had to be made at the same time ; there were
neither skilled artizans, nor sturdy navvies, nor
surveyors, nor engineers. Works had to be carried
on sometimes through pathless jungles, over scarcely
trodden hills, through tracts of country rendered
uninhabitable by wild beasts and miasma.
A great proportion of the Engineers who com¬
menced the railway works did not live to see them
completed ; they succumbed to hard work in a
climate then often deadly. If the first railways
thus constructed cost much, is it surprising ?
Even now whole tracts of country are roadless.
In some districts there may perhaps be one made
road, the means of communication between two
far distant towns. But off that road neither
wheeled carriages nor carts can be used ; * and
there is no system of local traffic that can be
utilised to feed a railroad.
"Take," says Colonel Medley, R.E., "the case
of the best section of the Scinde, Punjab, and
* In 1881, in the cold season, an officer travelling about
seventy miles from the nearest railway and ten miles from
the chief civil station of a district, had to collect labourers
to make a track between two villages passable for two
bullock-carts. It took him eight hours to travel some
fourteen miles. On another occasion, in another locality,
he found it simply impossible to take a cart anywhere off
the solitary unbridged road running through the district.
He kept to the plains ; he attempted no hills ; carts were
simply not used and unusable.
xiv
PKEFACE.
Delhi Railway, that from Lahore to Ghasiabad,
a length of 335 miles. This is fed by metalled
roads only at the stations of Amritsar, Jullun-
dur, Ludhiána, Rájpura, Umballa, Saháranpur,
Muzaffarnagar, and Meerut, i.e. at intervals of
32, 49, 35, 53, 13, 55, 36, 35, and 27 miles ;
while the other stations, thirty-six in number, are
practicably unapproachable by cart traffic for three
months in the year, and during the remaining nine
months only at a heavy cost in carts and bullocks,
which have to make their way over the village
tracks which do duty for roads. To anyone who
sees the actual state of the case, the wonder is that
a large portion of the traffic ever gets to the line
at all. I have shown, indeed, in more than one
of my Inspection Reports, from cases that have
actually come under my notice, that the cost of
cartage to the line, even in fair weather, is from
ten to forty times the cost of carriage over the
same length on the railway ; though even this is a
mild statement of the case, for such is the state of
the cross-country roads that, in the rainy season,
they are practicably impassable by carts, and traffic
is more or less suspended all over the country.
" Let it be borne in mind that the above line
passes through a richly cultivated and populous
country for the whole of its length, and is very
much better provided with roads than other lines
PREFACE.
XV
in the north. The Punjab Northern, the Indus
Valley, and the Mooltan and Scinde sections of the
Scinde, Punjab, and Delhi Railway may be said to
have no metalled feeders whatever ; and on the
Indus Valley line traffic is practicably suspended
during the flood season, i.e. from June to October.
It is not very wonderful, therefore, that these lines
do not pay.'' *
This being a fair statement of the case in the
comparatively dry North-West, the much more
deplorable state of things may be imagined in
Bengal, where the rainfall is more than double
that of the Punjab.
Still, in some of the grain and cotton-producing
districts of India may be seen droves of pack-
bullocks and buffaloes, the chief transporting media
between villages and towns. These means of
transport fail in the rains. Unbridged rivers
become raging torrents, and country roads alive
with traffic in the dry season are mere deserted
tracts of mud. Even when made roads exist,
they are sometimes so cut up that the best advice
to travellers is " keep off the roads " ; and you
may see bullock-carts slowly dragged at the sides
of the road, or, even worse, the whole traffic
* Papei• on Feeder Roads for Railways. By Colonel
Medley, R.E., Consulting Engineer to Government for the
Punjab and Scinde Railways, dated 27th February 1884.
xvi
PREFACE.
stopped whilst repairs are in progress, or the road
consolidating.
Lord Dalhousie, with his accustomed energy,
took up the question of railroads. As Yice-
President of the Board of Trade during the
administration of Sir Robert Peel, and during the
railway-mania of 1845-1846, Lord Dalhousie had
acquired considerable experience, experience which
enabled him to shape a safe course in India. He
held, that whilst it was no part of the business of the
Government to conduct an enterprise undertaken
mainly for commercial purposes, in which private
persons were willing to engage, yet that such
enterprise should be directly, but not vexatiously,
controlled by the Government of India acting in
the interests of the country. In 1842 Mr. C. B.
Yignoles, F.R.S., had submitted a report to the
Honourable Bast India Company on the establish¬
ment of railways in India. Before this, as mentioned
by me in the earlier editions of this work under the
signature of "An old Indian Postmaster," the con¬
struction of a railroad between Madras and Banga¬
lore attracted attention so long ago as the year 1832,
and in 1836 a line, in this direction was surveyed
by an eminent officer in the Madras Engineers.
When the first edition of this work appeared, in
1846, and the Government of India, in spite of many
prophesies of failure,, were about to commence to
PREFACE.
xvfi
construct railways, I ventured to mention that rail¬
ways would more than double the effective strength
of the army of occupation. I said that in the
annual relief, infantry regiments were moved from
one end of India to the other at the rate of ten
and a half miles a day, with six days' halt in a
month. It took six weeks to travel at this rate
from Calcutta to Benares. In 1845, when the
first Sikh war broke out, all officers whose regi¬
ments were in the field, were ordered to join the
army. About one hundred engineer, cavalry, and
infantry officers were required to go from Calcutta
to the north-west frontier of India. They were
sent at the public expense, and with the greatest
despatch ! The Postmaster-General could only
send three daily ! As the journey took sixteen
days, travelling day and night, few of these
officers rejoined their regiments before the war
was over ! On the 18th June 1830, Sir Henry
Durand, then a young officer in the Engineers,
was ordered to proceed from Calcutta to Cawnpore.
He started three days later, but did not reach his
destination until the 7th September.
But we hasten with our narrative. In 1845
the East Indian and the Great Indian Peninsula Estabiish-
Companies had been formed. They found it im- guaranteed
possible to raise the necessary funds for their companies,
proposed schemes, It was therefore determined th^gulmntee,
2
xviii
PREFACE.
by the Indian Government to guarantee to the
railway companies for a term of ninety-nine
years interest at 5 per cent, upon the capital
subscribed ; the companies to repay from rail¬
way profits the advance on account of interest.
The net receipts are paid into the Government
treasury. If they amount to less than the sum
due for interest, the deficiency is made good
to them from the revenues of India ; if they
amount to more, half the excess is added to the
dividend of the shareholders, and the other moiety
is applied to the repayment of the sums previously
paid by the Government on account of the guaran¬
teed interest. If the receipts are not equal to the
amount paid for working and maintaining the rail¬
way, the deficiency is chargeable against the
guaranteed interest., and the dividend payable to
the shareholders is thus reduced. "When the
whole of the sum given by Government for in¬
terest, with simple interest thereon, has been
repaid, then the companies are entitled to the
whole of the profits. The railway companies
have the power of surrendering their works at
any time after any portion of the line has been
opened for three months, upon giving six months
notice to Government, who repay the whole of
the amount expended with their sanction on the
undertaking.
PREFACE,
xix
Government has the power within six months
after the expiry of twenty-five or fifty years respec¬
tively from the date of the contracts, to purchase the
railway at the mean market value in London of
the shares during the previous three years. It is
also entitled in the event of the railway companies
failing to complete the railways, or to work them
satisfactorily, to take possession of them, repaying
within six months the sums properly expended.
The land required by the railway is given by the Land
1 . required for
Government, but at the end of ninety-nine years it railways,
reverts to the Government ; and if the railway
companies have not availed themselves of the
power of surrendering, the works also lapse to the
Government, which purchases the rolling stock,
&c. at a valuation. In any case in which under
these provisions the Government becomes bound
to repay the capital, or to purchase the railway,
it can instead of giving the gross sum pay an
annuity.
The reasons for the employment of private ^eea®™sfor
enterprise in the making of railways are obvious struetion of
1 cd j railways by
enough. private
. enterprise,
1st. Lord Dalhousie, in his famous minute of
1853, regretted the absence of private
enterprise in India. He wrote : " One of
the greatest drawbacks to the advance
of this country in material prosperity has
2 *
XX
PREFACE.
been the total dependence upon the Go¬
vernment in which the community has
placed itself, and its apparent utter help¬
lessness to do anything for itself." Hence
he maintained that it was the duty of the
State to encourage the investment of
English capital and English energy in
India, by intrusting the work of supply¬
ing her with railways to associations
formed for the purpose. He foresaw that
if such associations could be formed a
large non-official class of Europeans would
be introduced into the country, who would
be at all times both a strength to the
Government and a check upon any de¬
spotic action, and that if English capital
were profitably invested in railways, addi¬
tional capital would also seek for invest¬
ment in other industrial undertakings.
He welcomed the influx of private
English gentlemen and of English capital,
of those same men, who, when in 1869 it
was determined on the plea of economy
to reverse the policy of Lord Dalhousie
by the creation of State railways and
the discouragement of guaranteed com¬
panies, were styled by an advocate in the
Westminster Review, " adventurers " and
PREFACE.
xxi
the " servants of adventurers," the di¬
rectors and their shareholders being some
of the most eminent servants of the
Crown connected with India ! By the
construction of railways by the State,
the flow of British capital to India is
checked, and private enterprise dis¬
couraged.
2nd. The comparative cheapness of private
agency as compared with the proverbial
costliness of State industrial departments.
We shall show further on, that though
some portions of the railways constructed
by guaranteed companies have been costly,
yet that extravagant expenditure is not
necessarily inherent either in the guaran¬
teed system, or in the gauge finally
adopted.
3rd. The great facility of obtaining money for
expenditure on railways by the establish¬
ment of guaranteed companies—as re¬
marked by Mr. S. Laing when Finance
Minister of India, " one of their greatest
advantages is, that when money is raised
in shares with a proper deposit paid at
first, you are safe of getting your money
when you want it, by making calls. But
for this, Indian railways must have been
Xxii PREFACE.
stopped on many occasions from the sheer
inability of the Government to find funds."
Had Lord Dalhousie determined to make
railways by the State instead of by
guaranteed companies, no candid man
can deny that, owing to the great straits
the Government of India has been put to
for money by the Mutiny, by famine, and
by war, the railways would not merely
have, as complained in 1869, cost much,
but would not have existed on anything
like the present scale : instead of there
being 10,000 miles of railway open, there
would not have been 5,000. Because
the guaranteed companies were such suc¬
cessful pioneers of railway enterprise, the
construction of railways by State agency
became possible.
Supervision. Lord Dalhousie, then, having determined to con¬
struct railways by guaranteed companies, it became
necessary to supervise the expenditure and proceed¬
ings of the companies. The Government also
selected or approved the line to be pursued by
the railway. This supervision is exercised both
in England and in India.
In England an official Director is appointed, who
attends each Board of the Railway Companies in
London, and possesses under the deed of contract
PRÉFACE.
xxiii
a power of veto on all proceedings of the Directors.
This power of veto, Mr. Juland Danvers, Govern¬
ment Director of Guaranteed Indian Railway
Companies, and Secretary to the Public Works
Department in the India Office, has used with
rare courtesy and discretion. In India the follow¬
ing rules have been promulgated :—
1st. All questions of general importance shall
be referred to the Government for de¬
cision.
2nd. Under the above will be included the
general direction of all lines of railway,
the position of stations, the general
arrangements of the more important
stations and works ; but after the general
sanction of the Government has been
given to any project, all questions of
detail may be disposed of within the
limits of the original sanction by their
Consulting Engineer.
3rd. All matters of routine, or acts in accor¬
dance with rule, precedent, or special
agreement duly sanctioned, or undisputed
contingent expenditure, may be dealt with
by the Consulting Engineer without re¬
ference to the Government.
4th. All designs, estimates, and indents, whether
for works or for establishments, for carry-
XXIV
PRÉFACE.
ing into effect objects already generally
sanctioned by Government, may also be
disposed of finally by the Consulting
Engineer.
5th. The Consulting Engineer may, without
reference to the Government, reduce the
amount of indents, or direct designs or
proposed operations to be modified, if he
thinks it necessary ; but the Agent of
the Company in such cases, if dissatisfied
with the decision of the Consulting Engi¬
neer, may always request that the matter
may be referred to the final orders of
the Government.
6th. In all cases in which the Consulting Engi¬
neer has any doubt as to the decision to
which he should come, the question
should be referred to the Government
for orders.
7th. When the sanction of the Consulting Engi¬
neer is given to any proposals of the
Agent, in which both of these officers
concur, excepting in those matters of
great importance specially excepted above,
the sanction so given shall, so far as the
Government is concerned, be final.
8th. The Consulting Engineer shall submit to
the Secretary of the Government a weekly
FBEFAÖE. XXV
schedule of his proceedings in the usual
form, in which shall be explained con¬
cisely the nature of all sanctions or
directions given under the authority now
granted to him.
These powers have been given to every chief The Indian
1 ° J Government
Government railway officer in each of the local are f«ny
J responsible
administrations. We have quoted at length the fo1'a11
expenditure
provisions for the dual government of the lines of on guaranteed
, lines, as much
guaranteed companies, so that it may at once be so as if they
. . were State
apparent that if m any case any of the guaranteed lines.
lines have been unduly costly, for such expenditure
the Government is as responsible as the companies.
For, the controlling powers of the Government have
not always been exercised on the side of economy ;
on the contrary, there are many instances, which instances in
J # which the
will occur to every engineer officer employed by cost of a line
t -t • • t • i t h&s been
the guaranteed companies, in which the cost of a increased by
line has been enhanced by the direct order of the of the
Government. Thus Mr. Bruce, formerly Engineer Goveinment-
in Chief of the Madras Railway, proposed to build
his stations with low platforms. He argued that
what was good enough for England was sufficient
for India ; but the Government would have high
platforms,, and so the expense of the stations
increased in every way.
Mr. Bidder, Consulting Engineer on the Scinde,
Punjab, and Delhi Railway, had framed a con-
xxvi
PREFACE.1
tract with Messrs. T. Brassey & Co. for the con¬
struction of the Delhi Railway. It was to some
extent an experimental work, as no reliable data
could be obtained regarding the large rivers it
had to cross. To lessen the risk to the company, it
was his desire to secure the skill and attention of
the contractors in aid of the work by making them
liable for the maintenance of all the work, including
the bridges, for a period of three years. The
contract was sent out to India for the approval of
the authorities, and was returned with the remark :
" The charge for the maintenance, both as regards
time and amount, is too great. Three years is
unusual, and in such a climate even two years is
excessive." The time of maintenance was, there¬
fore, shortened, and a loss of £200,000 by injury
to the works was incurred, which would have been
prevented by the payment, as proposed, of £90,000
for maintenance.
On two occasions, as mentioned by me in my
capacity as Chairman of the Scinde, Punjab and
Delhi Railway Company, in the discussion in 1873
on Guaranteed and State Railways, and on gauges,
before the Institute of Civil Engineers, Govern¬
ment engineering officers altered the sites of
bridges in the Punjab, to the great loss of the
Railway Company.
To give one example. The Sutlej bridge was
PREFACE.
xxvii
built in the most exposed part of the stream,
because the Government would have it so, the
object being that it might be under the guns of
the fort at Phillour. Before the first girder of
the bridge was in its place, this arrangement was
changed, and all the guns, magazine, and European
troops, had been moved eighty miles away to Fe-
rozepore. The truth is, that when railways were
first made in India, economy formed no part of the
Government scheme. The Government did not
narrow the broad view of Lord Dalhousie to the
simple consideration whether the construction of a
certain line would pay an immediate and direct
return of 5 per cent, on a sum equal to the
guarantee.
All fares and rates are fixed with the appro- Fares and
n it* rates 011
val of the Government, and alterations can guaranteed
only be made with the concurrence of the same
authority.
Railway Companies are also bound to convey Mails con-
the mails and Post Office servants free of charge, Ihlrgefand°f
to take military officers in first-class carriages at Zu£ib, army
second-class fares, and soldiers, when on duty, in thT'
second-class carriages at the lowest fares ; also loT'eEt rat68*
horses, guns, wagons, and military stores at the
lowest rate for the time being chargeable for the
carriage of such goods, animals, &c.
Lord Dalhousie left nothing to chance. Directly
xxvíii
PREFACE.
Determination
of Lord
Dalhousie to
have only
one gauge
in India.
Gauge
selected ;
comfort of
Indian
railways
constructed
by the
guaranteed
companies.
he had determined on the construction of railways
through guaranteed companies, he settled the
question of gauge. In his minute of the 4th July,
1850, he writes : " The British Legislature fell
unconsciously, and perhaps unavoidably, into the
grievous error of permitting the introduction of
two gauges into the United Kingdom. The
numerous and grievous evils which arose from that
permission are well known, and will long be felt
throughout all England. The Government of
India has it in its power, and no doubt will care¬
fully provide that, however widely the railway
system may be extended in this Empire in the
time to come, these great evils shall be averted,
and that uniformity of gauge shall be rigidly
enforced from the first. But I conceive that the
Government of India should do more than this,
and that now, at the very outset of railway
works, it should not only determine that one
uniform gauge shall be established in India, but
that such uniform gauge shall be the one that
science and experience may unite in selecting as
the best."
Finally, the 5 ft. 6 in. gauge was selected ; and
anyone who has travelled on Indian railways
can testify to the comfort, speed, and steadiness
with which long railway journeys are performed in
India. The ordinary railway carriages in England
PREFACE.
xxix
are not to be compared for comfort in long journeys
with those in use in India.
Mr. J. Maclean, in his paper on the State
monopoly of railways in India remarks: "Lord
Dalhousie was determined that India should not
be annoyed with that battle of the gauges which
had caused so many heart-burnings and wasted
so much money in England. ... It was
his ambition to build these new roads on a
grand scale, and as solidly as the Romans built;
and travellers in India must always feel grateful to
him for the comfort which this decision has secured
to them. There is no better travelling to be had
anywhere in the world than that which is afforded
by the guaranteed lines in India ! The rolling
stock is excellent in quality, although, as is said of
the British infantiy, there is sometimes not enough
of it. The track is thoroughly well laid, and the
width of the gauge allows, when necessary, of a
high rate of speed and gives every facility for
additional power to the locomotive."
On this system, then, railways under guaranteed Great
.. difficulties to
companies ana with broad gauge commenced be overcome
to be constructed in India. The difficulties at first com-
first were enormous. There was no body of skilled imUa"' ™
artizans accustomed to the work, or of hardy
labourers habituated to the use of the pickaxe ;
the commonest implement of labour, the wheel-
XXX
PREPAGB.
barrow, was unknown and had never yet been
introduced. When earthworks have to be con¬
structed the earth is carried in small baskets mostly
on the heads of women and children. I have
already depicted the want of roads; then the rivers
had no boats sufficient to transport railway material.
The Bast India Bailway Company, it is said, lost
more than 15,000 tons of material* in endeavouring
to convey them in native boats. The mutiny of
the sepoy army delayed the progress of the rail¬
way, and cost the guaranteed railway companies,
it has been calculated, some three millions of
money ; yet the railways steadily progressed in
spite of war and disease, and their officers gave
the most brilliant examples of couragef and patient
endurance. Mr. Juland Danvers, Government
Director of Railways, after a visit to India and
personal inspection of the railways, wrote : " The
civil engineer in India had to contend against
the forces of nature to a far greater extent than is
the case in this island. He had to overcome the
difficulties which the gigantic features of the
country placed in his way ; he had often only poor
materials and inferior labour at his command, and
* See Daily News of 31st July 1869.
f The gallant conduct of Mr. Boyle, the engineer of the
celebrated Arrah defence, is well known.
PREFACE.
XXXI
he had to meet the danger of exposure to a burn¬
ing sun by day and malarious vapours by night.
To his skill and professional knowledge he had
accordingly to bring more than ordinary courage
. and endurance. Many have broken down in the
attempt, but their places have been immediately
filled by others, and the result is exhibited by the
thousands of miles of railway which thread their
way over mountain passes, cut through thick jungle,
and span huge and uncertain rivei's."
In our retrospect of the construction of Indian The business
railways we cannot omit to record that when in important
1859 Mr. S. Tredwell, the contractor for the aS'on
stupendous works on the Bhore Ghat incline, died theVeath of
at Khandála, Mrs. Tredwell, in order to prevent hei husband-
serious delay and embarrassment to the works,
conducted with unflinching resolution and high
spirit the business of the contract.
Up to 1869 the policy of Government determined work done
upon in the first instance by Lord Dalhousie had when there
i • i i • i i , it was a break
been consistent : railways were to be made by 0f gauge,
guaranteed companies under supervision and sub¬
let to definite regulations. The main lines had
not then, nor have they yet been completed,
but the Great Indian Peninsula and East Indian
Railways had joined at Jubbulpore, the whole
breadth of the Peninsula had been spanned, Cal¬
cutta and Bombay, Bombay, Delhi, and Lahore,
xxxii
PREFACE.
had been brought into communication with each
other. The question of cheap lines had not then
arisen. It is as well to pause in our narrative here
and to show what had been affected under the
system of guaranteed companies in the face of the
most stupendous difficulties.
Guaranteed
Companies.
Miles
Open.
Total Cost.
Net
Receipts.
Excess
Payment on
Account of
Interest.
East Indian. . .
Eastern Bengal
Great Indian Pen¬
insula ....
Madras ....
Bombay, Baroda,
and Central India
Seinde, Delhi, and
Punjab....
Great Southern of
India ....
Oude and Rohil-
eund ....
*1,353
112
*1,2584
781|
312J
666|
185J
42
£
29,997,342
2,752,143
20,945,620
9,475,904
7,368,579
9,308,016
1,464,533
1,363,298
£
7,198,642
417,102
3,221,365
1,712,461
869,204
301,809
184,101
9,730
£
5,568,960
369,053
3,559,248
2,196,715
1,513,269
2,132,854
210,601
130,375
Total . . .
4,711|
82,675,435
13,914,414
15,681,075
* By the close of 1869, 203 miles of the East Indian Railway had been
laid with a double line, as also had 256 miles of the G.I.P. Line. This
length is not added to the statement of the miles open, though, of
course, it is included both in the cost and interest and receipt
statement.
We have not included in this statement eighteen
miles of the Indian tramway, afterwards the
Carnatic Company, now amalgamated with the
Great Southern of India, nor of the cost of
the Indus steam flotilla, or' the thirty-six miles
PREFACE.
xxxiii
of State line then open. Our statement in¬
cludes only guaranteed lines. It appears that in
twenty years £15,681,075, or including the Indus
flotilla £15,864,344, had, during the construc¬
tion of Indian railways, been drawn from the
Treasury. The average sum drawn was thus
£793,000 a year. The above statement shows
that the railways had cost in construction £17,545
a mile.
For this annual expenditure of £793,000 the what the
mails had been carried free of charge, troops, both the Govern-
horse and foot, had been swiftly and safely con- in return lor
veyed at the lowest fares, and ammunition, camp outlay™8
equipage and equipments, at the lowest rates thepayment
chargeable to goods of that kind. As remarked guaranteed^
by Mr. Juland Danvers, " The saving effected compasea,
must be considerable, and nearly, if not quite,
equivalent " to the average annual charge. The
difficulties of Civil Administration had been much
lessened, supervision became possible, the Govern¬
ments of India, Bombay, Madras, found it prac¬
ticable to migrate annually to Simla, Mahableshwar,
and the Nilgherries. Above all, the railways
enabled the Government to locate soldiers in
healthy stations, and so to diminish the death-rate
and improve the physique of European troops.
Arsenals have been largely reduced in number,
and it has been possible to reduce the European
3
xxxiv
PEEFACE.
garrison. In 1858 Sir Henry Durand estimated
that the Government of India might reduce their
military expenditure by one - fourth when the
system of rail communication was complete. The
hot palatial barracks, sometimes badly built at
enormous cost, have become less necessary. The
lives of many valuable European officers have been
saved. Dotted over the plains of India are to be
seen, often in unconsecrated ground, the graves of
Europeans, who, ordered to a cooler country, suc¬
cumbed to the hardships of a long and tedious
journey to the sea-coast. Many residents in India
still remember the grief caused by the untimely
death of Lady Canning. Had the railway to Dar-
jiling existed during the first period of Indian
railways that we have described, her life might
have been saved, and probably the ripe experience
of Lord Canning might have been preserved to
Her Majesty's Government in England for many
years. The direct advantage of railways by in¬
creased land revenue, improved traffic, the develop¬
ment of the cotton and grain trades, will all be
shown below. They partly indeed belong to the
period from 1856 to 1869, but we prefer to
consider the enormous commercial advantages
bestowed on India down to the latest date—and
once for all.
As recently it has been the fashion, not indeed
PREFACE. XXXV
of capitalists, but of some officers possessed of The indirect
benefits
great weight in India, to take a very narrow view conferred
of the advantage to India of her railway system, by railways,
to dwell upon the immediate outlay for interest on
the guaranteed lines as if all will not eventually
return handsome dividends, we think it advisable to
state at greater length the less obvious advantages
reaped by India from railways. They are the
great civilising power in India. Where they have
penetrated jungle has disappeared, and the culti¬
vated plains " begin to laugh and sing." Famine
in their neighbourhood has been rendered im¬
possible. They have diminished the contemptuous
isolation of caste, and have caused knowledge to
be sought after. The railways do more for mass-
education than all the efforts of the Educational
Department. Their influence even on the language
of the people, and upon their religious ideas, has
been great. The simple peasant, who once
attempted by offerings of fruit and flowers and by
sacrifice to propitiate the rivers that he could not
bridge, has now learnt that the forces of nature may
be controlled by man and rendered his untiring
servants. On this subject and on the conduct of
the independent Englishmen—the engineers and
artizans employed by the guaranteed companies
in India—we cannot do better than quote from the
speech of Sir Bartle Frere, the late distinguished
3 *
xxxvi
PKEFACE.
Governor of Bombay, at the opening of the Bhore
Ghat incline. He says :—
" Among the many difficulties which beset or
were supposed to beset the introduction of railways
into this country, was usually placed foremost the
difficulty of controlling a large number of indepen¬
dent Englishmen—not like our soldiers bound by
the ties of military discipline—not, in any way pre¬
pared to submit their own will to the mere dictates
of authority. We have now ample experience to
enable us to judge what foundation there was for
such apprehension, and what has been the result.
I do not, pretend to say that there have not been
exceptions among the many hundreds of English¬
men employed in other works, it would be strange
if there were not some who possessed the mere
animal instincts of courage and strength, and
capacity for physical exertion, in a higher degree
than that inclination to take the weaker side, the
love of truth and of fair play in which as a nation
we pride ourselves; but looking at the general
results and considering the effects which this
invasion of a small army of Englishmen has pro¬
duced in the country, I think there cannot be a
doubt, not only that the fears which some people
entertained were entirely chimerical, but that the
lower ranks of this railway army, as well as the
higher, have left a deep and beneficial impression
fBEFAOË.
XXX VÜ
on the population among which they have been
employed, and that the result is one for which our
countrymen of all ranks in your service, the
artizans and mechanics as well as the gentlemen
on the engineering staff, richly deserve the grati¬
tude of the Government and of their country. So
far from its being the case that the bonds of official
discipline are necessary to prevent the growth of
ill-feeling between the Saxon stranger and the
natives of India, I find the employment afforded
by the unofficial contractor almost invariably more
popular than that of Government. ... I know of
no sight more impressive or more full of suggestive
topics, to anyone who reflects on the future of
India, than such a visit as I lately paid to the
contractor's works before they were finished. It
was then easy to see how railway works taught the
native labourer habits of method and punctuality,
habits of truth and honesty in his work, and, above
all, habits of independence. It is in this last
respect more than in any other that I believe these
railway works will have an immense influence on
the future of India. We all know that vast sums,
chiefly in English capital, have of late years been
spent in this country. Let us consider for one
moment what has been the effect of all this money
being spent in giving a fair day's wages for a fair
day's labour. I can safely say that as a rule, this
xxxvííi
PREFACE.
was not known before the commencement of what
I may call the railway period; not only were the
wages in most parts of the country fixed by usage
and authority, rather than by the natural laws of
supply and demand, but the privilege of labour
was in general restricted to particular spots, and
nothing like the power of taking his labour to the
best market practically existed. This was partly
due to custom, partly to the absence of any but
agricultural employment, partly to long ages of
despotic and unsettled government; but the result
was that the condition of the mere labourer was
wretched in the extreme, and the best efforts of
Government could do but little to raise him above
the status of a serf of the soil. All this has now, I
am happy to say, changed, mainly as a direct con¬
sequence of these vast railway works ; and for the
first time in history the Indian cooly finds that he
has in his power of labour a valuable possession
which, if he uses it aright, will give to him and to
his family something better than a mere subsis¬
tence, and that there are means open to him of
rising in the world other than by the career of the
fortunate soldier, or of the chance favouritism of
princes.
And what has been the result of this dis¬
covery to him? Has it made him more indolent,
less inclined to labour, more content to be satisfied
PKBFACÊ.
xxxix
with the mere existence that he can now procure
with less labour than formerly? I believe there is
no one who has any experience in the matter who
will not bear me out in saying that this is not the
case ; the labourer is of course more independent,
he is in a better position to make his own terms
with his employer, and that, perhaps, is sometimes
shown in a manner which his employer does not
quite like; but as a general rule I believe the
labourer works far harder, and acquires new and
more civilized wants, in proportion to the high
wages he receives. Follow him to his own home
in some remote Deccan or Concan village, and you
will find the railway labourer has carried to his
own village not only new modes of working, new
wants, and a new feeling of self-respect and inde¬
pendence, but new ideas of what Government and
the laws intend to secure to him ; and he is, I
believe, a better and more loyal subject, as he is
certainly a more useful labourer. Let us add to
this effect on the labouring population the inevitable
and irresistible tendency of railways to break the
bonds of caste and to destroy the isolation in which
the various classes and races of natives have hitherto
lived, and you have an aggregate of moral results
such as may well be the subject of grave thought
to those who are interested in the future of India,
and more particularly to us, who have seen in our
PREFACE.
own time and in our own Continent the vast
effects for good or for evil which must follow any
great change in the habits of life and of feeling of
large masses of the people."
I make no apology for quoting these eloquent
words of Sir Bartle Frere at a time when the
farther extension of railways in India is under
consideration, and when it is about to be determined
whether such extension shall be rapidly and econo¬
mically effected by guaranteed companies, with
perhaps an influx into .India of those Saxon and
Celtic artizans whose good work and example has
been so well described, or by the Government of
India with the instruments it already possesses.
But there is an ample field for all agencies, and
all that their combined efforts can effect must for
many years fall far short of the requirements of so
vast a country.
Sir Evelyn Baring, when Financial Member
of Council, acknowledged that the provisions
made under different heads for the execution of
public works in India were quite inadequate. The
policy of Government for the extension of rail¬
ways in India has not been uniform. It was first
determined to employ guaranteed companies, then
to make railways by the State, then to enlist
private enterprise without guarantee. The most
successful agency hitherto employed is that first
PïtËFACË.
xli
selected by Lord Dalhousie, namely, guaranteed
companies.
In 1869 Lord Lawrence, when Glover nor- Ch*nge of
' policy m
General of India, considered that railways would railway
J construction.
be more cheaply constructed by the State than by
guaranteed companies. Before 1869 no efforts—if
we omit the Nalhati line, of which some 27^ miles
were open—had been made to construct cheap rail¬
ways; they were above all things to be solid, suffi¬
cient even for emergent traffic, for the conveyance
of grain in famine, and of troops, guns, and stores in
war; they were to carry their passengers with com¬
fort and celerity. These objects had been secured.
But in future railways were not to cost more than
£12,000* a mile. So the Governor-General, with¬
out consulting independent railway engineers as to
the possibility of greater economy in construction,
without even attempting to introduce such rules
as would secure economy, recorded a minute that
the future lines should, " so far as is consistent
* Many portions of Indian railways had been constructed
at less cost. Mr. Lee Smith stated, at the Institute
of Civil Engineers, that he had constructed 81f miles of
railway at a cost of £6,160 a mile : 37£ miles were con¬
structed during the Mutiny ; 44 miles had only cost £5,370
per mile, for earthworks, bridges, culverts, level crossings,
permanent way, telegraph, stations, everything complete,
except land and rolling-stock. The rails were either 78 or
82 lbs. per yard.
xlií
PREFACE.
with actual and implied engagements with existent
companies, be carried out by the Government
itself." It is curious to note how the Indian
Government seem unable to look at two sides of
a question. No doubt economy in the construction
of railways is of great importance, but it may be
secured without entailing on the country the
evils of a State railway monopoly. Mr. Herbert
Spencer opportunely enough, in the April number
of the Contemporary Review, shows both the evil
of State railways, and how that, in the endeavour
to avoid one evil, others more potent are often
evoked. He remarks that " the law-makers who
provided for the ultimate lapsing of French rail¬
ways to the State never conceived the possibility
that inferior travelling facilities would result,—
did not foresee that reluctance to depreciate the
value of property eventually coming to the State
would negative the authorisation of competing
lines, and that in the absence of competing lines
locomotion would become costly, slow, infrequent.
For, as Sir Thomas Farrar has shown, the traveller
in England has great advantages over the traveller
in France in the economy, swiftness, and frequency
with which his journeys can be made." A State
railway department will add to that bureaucracy
from which India already suffers, and which drives
away English capital from Indian investments.
PREFACE.
xliii
We do not use the term bureaucracy in any
offensive sense, but merely deprecate any great
increase to that organization of officials which,
once passing beyond a certain growth, becomes
less and less resistible, and at last works for its
own advantage rather than for the common welfare
of all, This recommendation for the construction
of railways by the State, Lord Lawrence based on
the belief:—
1st. That expenditure will be kept more under
control than when incurred through the
agency of companies.
2nd. That India, owing to the works of the
guaranteed companies, now possesses all
the knowledge requisite for the adminis¬
tration and control of railways.
3rd. That when a railway passes through native
States it is much better that it should be
in the hands of Government than in those
of a company.
4th. That the Government is better able to com¬
mand the money requisite to carry on
these important public works.
The truth of each of these allegations is doubtful.
The first is only true if it is meant that expenditure
may be so controlled by the Government as not
to be spent at all upon railways when State exigen-
xliv
preface.
cies are great, or when the Government bring into
prominence the urgent need of irrigation works, or
the importance of roads to feed railways and desire
to divert capital from railways to other objects.
If the Government know exactly what they want,
what is to be the traffic, what the character
and position of the bridges, what the engineering
difficulties to be overcome, then expenditure can
be as effectually controlled on lines constructed by
guaranteed companies as on lines made by the
State. If, however, the Government policy is sud¬
denly altered—if, after providing that a guaranteed
company shall do one thing, they wish them to
do another—if, after directing the construction of
a first-class road, they desire suddenly to have less
stability and to provide for less traffic at reduced
speed, and will not say what they want, but desire
to construct a slow-speed railway, and yet to take
the credit of a first-class line,—then, of course, it is
not so easy to work through guaranteed companies,
the reputation of whose officers, taking a loving
pride in their labour, is at stake, as through officials
dScuifeT5 to wh°m it is a merit to obey orders,
and political u When it is considered that all the Indian Rail-
and military
iSe to'be™ of way Companies have been engaged for many years
considered in iu the common object of carrying out and working
officers, and portions of one Imperial system of Railways ; that
not commer-
ciai resalta, all these parts of a great whole have been located
PBEFACE.
xlv
with the sanction, of Government, the construction
supervised, and the expenditure controlled, both
in India and England, by Officers appointed by
Government, and subject generally, as regards ap¬
pointments, salaries, &c., to a common system of
Rules and Regulations, it appears that to introduce
as a condition for granting Government aid to
the Provident Funds for the benefit of persons
employed on the Guaranteed Railways in India,
the commercial success of the particular Railway,
irrespective of the merits of the Officers or Ser¬
vants concerned, is not only invidious and unwise,
but unjust.
" In many cases the want of commercial success
has had nothing to do with the amount of ability,
experience, or energy shown by the executive, but
has resulted from the physical and other difficulties
which have been encountered in the construction
of lines, which, on account of their political im¬
portance, were promoted and encouraged by Go¬
vernment mainly on military and strategic grounds,
but which from their geographical position afforded
but little promise of either a speedy or adequate
commercial return.
" From this it appears that it is not fair to treat
the Employés on such lines, who have had to
contend with the difficulties of want of transport,
labour, and of almost every appliance for economi-
xlvi
PREFACE.
cal construction, in addition to inadequate traffic
resources, in order to carry out the objects of the
Government, in a less liberal spirit than those who
have experienced none of these obstacles in carry¬
ing out similar enterprises in a populous and fertile
country, which must of necessity yield a certain
and large return upon the invested Capital, without
any particular merit in those who have constructed
or managed the Railway..
" The obvious tendency of such an arrangement
will be to discourage many of the old and tried
Servants of the Scinde, Punjab, and Delhi Railway
Company, some of whom have received the cordial
approval of the Government for their public ser¬
vices, and, by attracting the most skilled and
experienced men to the lines which have least
need of them, will, unless an equivalent in the
shape of higher salaries, is sanctioned by Govern¬
ment, compel the Directors of the less fortunate
lines to appoint Officers of an inferior grade, and
thereby retard the period when surplus profits may
be looked for.
" Examples are not wanting in this and other
countries of a policy quite the reverse of this,
namely, in which the remuneration was made com¬
mensurate with the difficulties to be surmounted.
" The Scinde, Punjab, and Delhi Railway Com¬
pany, in which I am interested, it is fair to state,
PREFACE. xlvii
has had more difficulties to encounter than any
other Company in India. When we began the
Scinde line, so little was Kurrachee known as a
port, that much difficulty was experienced in
obtaining freight, and there were no facilities or
mechanical appliances there for landing the railway
materials. We had to send out boats and cranes,
and when the rails and rolling-stock were landed
they had to be dragged by camels over miles of sand.
"There was no population available for labour,
and we had to import it from China, Persia,
Afghanistan, and various pai'ts of India. The soil
was obdurate, difficult to work, and little culti¬
vated, and commerce at the lowest ebb. On the
other hand, besides the stimulus it would give to
a dormant commerce, the Scinde Railway was
regarded as the first section of a line of communi¬
cation of imperial importance, politically, and
strategically, which would connect Central Asia,
the Punjab, and North-West Provinces with the
sea at Kurrachee, which is marked out by its
geographical position to be the European port of
India.*
" They had to construct and to maintain several
* Justice cannot be done to Kurrachee until Scinde is
annexed to the Punjaub and the two together constitute one
Presidency.
xlviii
PBBFACE.
bridges of large dimensions (in the Punjab),
spanning perhaps the most capricious and difficult
rivers in the world, entailing great hardship
and exposure, which have caused the permanent
loss of health of several valuable officers em¬
ployed in their construction, and subsequent
maintenance.
" The system confided to the Scinde, Punjab,
and Delhi Railway Company has been of the
utmost importance to Government, not only in
affording efficient help in carrying grain in the
emergencies of famine, but in the conveyance of
troops and warlike stores during the Afghan cam¬
paigns, and, with its branches to the Khyber and
the Bolan Passes, is the grand political line in
India, and constitutes the readiest and most powerful
means of offence or defence on our north-western
border.
" Are the men who have planned, constructed,
and maintained these lines of inestimable value in
a political and strategical point of view in the time
of war without or of trouble within our border,
however barren the commercial results may be—
are they to be less considered and rewarded than
those who had little difficulty to encounter in
the construction and management of profitable
Railways ?
" Would the Government of India, or indeed
PREFACE. xlix
any Government, apply this commercial test of a
paying result to works of magnitude necessary for
defence or other State purposes? Do they pay
their Engineer Officers, who are constructing the
Railway along the Cutchee desert, because it is
almost destitute of traffic, less than those employed
in the construction of other Railways ?
" The Servants of the Railway Companies who
have successfully surmounted difficulties, should
be equally considered in every way with those
whose lines have fallen in pleasant places, without
any engineering problem to solve, in a densely
peopled country with a large existing traffic, where
the profitable working of the Railway would be the
inevitable result of such a state of things without
the display of any conspicuous ability on the part
of those entrusted with the construction and
management.
"All the Railway Companies are under one
Imperial system, and I desire to see the S. P. & D.
Company placed in a position, not superior to
others, but on an equality with any other Company
which has had entrusted to it the construction of
Railways in India.
" I venture to hope that the Government will
reconsider this question, and would suggest the
formation of a Fund out of Revenue by each
Guaranteed Railway, irrespective of their paying
4
1
PEEPACE.
more than 5 per cent., to which the Employés
should subscribe ; this would be an equitable
arrangement, and in accordance with the view that
the Railway system is to be regarded as an impor¬
tant part of the machinery of the Empire, and that
the encouragement given to the Employes is not
to be restricted by considerations of localities, nor
measured by financial results."*
But to resume. Whilst the agreement with
guaranteed companies allows the Government full
control over expenditure on a defined project,
it does not allow, without remonstrance, of sudden
change in the original proposals on which expen¬
diture has already been incurred, nor does it
permit the withdrawal of funds for expenditure
on other objects. Can anyone doubt that
guaranteed lines could have been conducted
with economy if rules such as those issued to
officers constructing State railways had been pro¬
posed by the Government? We mention a few of
the rules :—
1st. In every particular except for road and
machinery, the bare necessities of the
traffic should be provided for without
* Letter by the Writer to the Most Honourable the
Marquis of Hartington, Secretary of State for India, dated
21st June 1880.
PREFACE.
Ii
indulging in luxuries or comforts *
which may be postponed till demanded
by traffic.
2nd. The lines should be designed for traffic not
exceeding fifteen miles an hour.
3rd. Fencing should be estimated for ; but it is
probable that a change in the law may
allow of its being limited to the vicinity
of stations, and other places when abso¬
lutely necessary.
4th. The width of bridges and culverts should be
reduced to a minimum, say ten or twelve
feet, consistently with true economy when
in bank.
5th. Large bridges may simply be wide enough
to carry the rails, with foot-ways on
either side.
* Experience shows that this rule is observed on State
railways. An officer travelling with his wife and son, after
paying first-class fare, were accommodated with arm-chairs
in a goods' wagon. This was the only first-class. It is
true that the line was only just open for that part of its
length on which the officer travelled ; and it is true that
even if no chairs had been given, the officer would have
found it convenient to travel by the train. But the point is
not that the first-class rolling-stock was insufficient, but
that, in the interests of economy, guaranteed lines should,
on similar occasions, have for a time similar privileges
granted. Both guaranteed lines and State lines should
work in accordance with equally lenient or equally stringent
rules.
4 *
Iii
PEEFA0E.
6th. Economy of first outlay is to be studied in
all the adjuncts ; and to this end, station
buildings should be of an inexpensive
character, the accommodation being re¬
stricted to the expected present wants of
the traffic. Raised platforms should be
dispensed with.*
A guaranteed company can comply with such
instructions as well as any State engineer. The
hint that the law may be altered, not for the in¬
creased safety of the public, but for the more
economical construction of a State railway, is a
little startling.
The third reason for State railways seems
plausible enough to men not acquainted with
India, and who may be inclined to regard the
Government as the protectors of the people against
the greed of guaranteed companies. But as re¬
marked by Sir Bartle Frere, in the speech we
have already quoted, not only do the natives of
India prefer to serve in workshops and on lines
under construction by guaranteed companies to
service under the Government ; but native States,
not always, but frequently, prefer to have lines
running through them constructed by guaranteed
* Compare with the treatment of Mr, Bruee already
mentioned, vide p. xxv.
PEEFACE.
liii
companies. The Portuguese Government has em¬
ployed a company to construct a railway through
its territory in India ; so has the Government of
the Nizam and that of other native States, the
most recent being the construction of the Patiala
State line by the Scinde, Punjab, and Delhi
Company.
The people themselves much prefer to conduct
all commei'cial transactions with a company rather
than with the State. Rightly or wrongly, they doubt
the impartiality of the State. This is especially
the case in Western India. In the event of any
damage by delay, or of any disputed rate of charge,
if the railway concerned is a State railway, the
officers of the Government are themselves the
defendants in any actions that may be brought
and the judges also. If the railway is managed
by a company, then, though Government officers
are the judges, they are not the defendants.
There is also in a railway managed by a company
less of that routine always the subject of com¬
plaints, but often very necessary, that is called
"red tape." This is a widely spread belief, not
only amongst native merchants, but amongst the
members of English firms. Some years ago an
officer of Government who had to manage a quasi
trading business found the system of accounts kept
very cumbrous, so cumbrous, indeed, that the
liv
PREFACE.
accounts were generally in arrears and thus useless
for all purposes of check. He consulted a Bombay
firm as to the best method of keeping such ac¬
counts. The head of the firm replied, detailing a
simple method which was adopted by the officer
consulting the firm, but added in his letter on the
subject : "We suppose this system will not be
sufficiently cumbrous for a Government office."
We may say, generally, not only do the work¬
people prefer to serve a company to serving the
State, but also that the trading classes prefer to
have dealings with a company rather than with
the State.
The fourth reason for the construction of rail¬
ways by the State is opposed to all experience. It
is notorious that the Government of India are
crippled in all their so-called productive public
works' expenditure by their want of funds. As
remarked by Mr. S. Laing when Financial Member
of Council in 1861 : "A Government cannot be
perpetually raising small loans; and if it can
create through the agency of companies a share
capital of ten or twenty millions, with five millions
paid up, and a certainty of getting the other fifteen
millions by calls just as you want it, whether the
state of the money market is good or bad, it is an
important advantage, and worth paying for."
The sum of £2,500,000 is indeed available out of
PREFACE.
lv
the annual income for the construction of new
railways ; but the Indian Government, instead of
setting aside this sum for the payment of interest
at 4 per cent, on a capital of £60,000,000, which
it might borrow at once, has, as urged by Mr.
J. Maclean, "the pedantry to insist on spending
its two-and-a-half millions a year as principal, and
thus renders itself incapable of making progress
except by driblets."
"What a splendid opportunity is now afforded to
a wise and energetic Viceroy, to men of the stamp
of Lord Dalhousie and Sir Bartle Frere, to provide
for the needs of British commerce, to re-open
closed foundries and looms, to arrest the fall in
exchange, and to enrich by one and the same
policy both England and India.
" I projected and advocated the Indus Valley
line with its branches to the Bolan and the Khyber
passes more than twenty years ago.* In 1863,
after two peremptory refusals from the Secretary
of State for India in Council, I received permission
for the Company to send to India a Chief Engineer
with a staff of fourteen Engineers and Surveyors
* What is now requisite is an extension from Quetta to
Candahar, which place should be strongly fortified and
garrisoned : thus we should bar the advance of any force
to the Bolan, and be able to attack in flank and rear an
army proceeding against the Khyber.
lvi
PREFACE.
to survey the line from Kotree to Mooltan, who
examined the country exhaustively on both sides
of the river, and furnished the basis, supplemented
by subsequent investigation, upon which the choice
of the present line was made.
" This Survey was undertaken and supervised
by me, with the hope and expectation that the
construction of the line would be entrusted to my
Company, and that material benefit would accrue
to the public at large, and to the Shareholders,
whose interest I have always had so much at heart.
The line from Hyderabad to Mooltan on the left
bank of the river had been selected, also compara¬
tive estimates and every preparation made for its
speedy construction, when, from a change of view
at the India Office, I was obliged to order further
proceedings to be suspended, and to dismiss the
staff.
"This was hard upon the Company who had
planned and for so many years advocated the con¬
struction of this line, which they regarded as an
integral portion of their undertaking, " the Missing
Link " in their system.
" The delay which followed amounted to the
abandonment for several years of a work urged
on the attention of Government by Sir John
Lawrence, Sir Bartle Frere, Sir Henry Durand,
Sir Eichard Temple, and many other eminent
PREFACE.
Ivü
Indian Statesmen, as a most important portion
of that system which I had devised for the develop¬
ment of the resources of the Punjab and North-
West of India, and the border countries, as well
as for political and strategical purposes.
" This system, even in its present state, with the
Indus unbridged (at the most important crossing,
at Sukkur), and the branches to the passes in¬
complete, has already justified its construction
by its augmenting commercial advantages, while
its importance in the late campaigns in Afghanistan
has been acknowledged repeatedly by the highest
military authorities in India, and very recently by
Sir Frederick Roberts, who authorised a message
to be sent to me conveying his acknowledgments
and thanks for the services rendered to him and
his troops.*
* Movement of troops, munitions of war, &c. during the
Afghan Campaigns 1879-81 :—
No. of Specials.
Troops and
Followers.
Horses, Mules, and
Ponies.
Bullocks.
Camels.
Guns, Artillery, and
Engrs.' Carriages.
Military Baggage,
Commissariat, and
Ordnance Stores.
Frontier Railway
Material for
Kandahar.
Frontier Railway
Material for
Peshawar.
785
538,364
114,156
15,477
8,646
479
Tons.
145,625
Tons.
29,892
Tons.
63,202
lviii
PREFACE.
" In 1870, Lord Salisbury appointed Sir Louis
Mallet and Sir Frederick Halliday to meet me to
draw up a joint report witb the view of securing
unity of design and management in the con¬
struction and working of the Indus Valley Rail¬
way in connection with the Scinde and Punjaub
Lines, so as to avoid, if possible, foreign agency
being thrust, as it were, into the heart of our
system."*
But instead of carrying out these views, a
suicidal and most disastrous policy was introduced,
a policy of ostensibly cheap railways of the metre
gauge (8 ft, 3§ in. ), a policy which, by its in¬
discreet application, has in fact dislocated the
railway system of India, a policy which has led
to the squandering of large sums of money on the
Indus Valley Railway (500 miles from Kotree to
Mooltan) the Government having made prepara¬
tions for the narrow gauge which had subsequently
to be abandoned, and to the useless expenditure of
still larger sums in the metre gauge railway from
Lahore to Peshawar (270 miles).
If the metre-gauge policy had been carried out
on these lines, the frontier railways in the event
* Letter by the Writer to Juland Dan vers, Esq., Go¬
vernment Director of Guaranteed Eailways, dated 15th
December 1880.
PRÉFACÉ.
lix
of any disturbance on the North-West border
would have been virtually isolated and cut off from
the vast amount of rolling stock of the railways
in their rear ; but after a severe struggle better
councils prevailed, and India was saved from a
great and ignominious failure.
The Government of India having determined Break of
n ^ ^ gauge.
to construct railways themselves, immediately
proceeded to alter the gauge, and thus to in¬
troduce all the evils from which Lord Dalhousie
had determined India should be free. A com¬
mittee consisting of Lieutenant-General Strachey,
R.E., O.S.I., Lieutenant-General C. Dickens,
C.S.I., Mr. John Fowler, C.B., and Mr. A. M.
Rendel, Consulting Engineer to the Government
of India, was appointed to consider, not whether
having some 5,000 miles of railway, constructed
on the 5 ft. 6 in. gauge, it was advisable to
introduce a narrow gauge, and thus to dislocate
Indian railways, but "to consider the precise
gauge and general character for an average narrow-
gauge line of railway in India." * The question
of break of gauge in India was never before its
introduction fairly and fully argued. Could there
* Report on Railways in India for the Year 1870-71. By
Mr. Juland Danvers.
Ix
PEEFÀCE.
be any greater condemnation of State industrial
departments, one of which, the State railway de¬
partment, introduced so great a change before
considering all the consequences. The guaranteed
railways and uniformity of gauge were to fall
together. To use the words of Lieutenant-General
Strachey, the Government of India, in order to
extend railways more economically, determined
that " all lines should in future be carried out
without the intervention of companies, and that
the outlay on construction should be reduced to a
minimum by the adoption of the narrowest gauge
and the lightest rails and rolling-stock compatible
with the requirements of Indian traffic."
Had any serious attempt been made to ascertain
what were the requirements of Indian traffic, much
harm might not have been done. But the opinion
of General Strachey, that the Indian railway sys¬
tem had failed financially, and that such failure
was due to the const ruction of railways by guaran¬
teed companies on the 5 ft. 6 in. gauge, was
accepted, and it was considered that no railway
in India need provide for more traffic than for 840
tons of goods and 1,064 passengers carried over
every mile in twenty-four hours.* This, it was
* Paper of General Strachey read before the Institute of
Civil Engineers.
PBEFACE.
lxi
supposed, was the heaviest traffic ever likely to
occur, because it was then the traffic on the East
Indian Railway. But the traffic on the East Indian
Railway has falsified these figures, 1,417 passengers
and 1,825 tons of goods were carried in twenty-
four hours, over every mile, in 1882, and the
net earnings on capital outlay on some of the lines,
part of a system declared to be a financial failure,
realised for the East Indian line 8*56 per cent., for
the Great Indian Peninsula line 7*11 per cent., for
the Eastern Bengal line 10*28 per cent., these being
about the most expensive lines in the country. In
fact, if only the Government of India will attend
to the roads that are to feed railways, and if some
reforms, including a reduction for the carriage of
grain are introduced, it is hardly possible even to
estimate the profits likely to accrue to railways.
Who can estimate the loss to railways and to con¬
signers of grain that has arisen from the inability
of railways to carry even the existing traffic ?
Such loss has always sprung from preventible causes.
Even famine-prevention railways I should prefer to
be light railways on the ordinary gauge, or even
tramways, in the absence of roads, which may be
economically constructed and worked in sparsely-
populated rural districts. But the Government of
India, directly they determined on State railways,
adopted the narrow gauge system, and rode their
Ixii
PREFACE.
hobby to death. It was even decided* to con¬
struct the Punjab Northern and Indus Valley
lines, those of Raj putaña and Indore, and the
Chhattisgarh line, on the metre gauge. Fortunately
Condemnation for India, this decision was not approved by
of break of # 7 ^ 11 J
i ad'ë°bn th engineers in England. They knew too well the
institute evils of break of gauge. A paper read by the late
Engineers. Mr. W. T. Thornton , C.B., when Secretary Public
Works Department, India Office, before the Insti¬
tute of Civil Engineers in 1873, provided an
opportunity to discuss the whole question, not of
" broad gauge " versus " narrow gauge," but of
break of gauge. It resulted from this discussion,
which I had the honour of leading, and from what
took place in the House of Commons and else¬
where, that the 5 ft. 6 in. gauge was adopted for
the Punjab Northern and Indus Valley lines. The
distinguished engineers and others who took part
in the discussion are mentioned below:—
Against the change of gauge :
Mr. T. Hawksley, President of the Institu¬
tion.
Mr. G. P. Bidder, Consulting Engineer to
the Scinde. Punjaub, and Delhi Rail¬
ways.
* See Beport of Mr. Juland Danvers for 1870-71 on Bail-
ways in India.
PREFACE.
lxiii
Sir John Hawkshaw, F.R.S., Consulting
Engineer to the Madras and Eastern
Bengal Railways.
Mr. C. B. Yignoles, F.R.S.
Members of Council of the Institution—
Mr. George Berkley, Consulting Engineer
to the Great Indian Peninsula Railway.
Mr. G. B. Bruce, Consulting Engineer to
the Great Southern of India Railway,
and formerly Engineer-in-Chief of the
Madras Railway.
Mr. J. Brunlees.
Mr. T. E. Harrison.*
Mr. Edward Woods.
Colonel J. P. Kennedy, Consulting Engi¬
neer to the Bombay, Baroda, and Central
India Railway.
Mr. George Turnbull, formerly Engineer-
in-Chief of the East Indian Railway.
Mr. Lee Smith, late Chief Engineer Pun-
jaub Northern (State) Railway.
Mr. W. Pole, F.R.S., Engineer to the
Imperial Railways of Japan.
* Mr. Harrison is now President of the Institution of
Civil Engineers.
Ixiv
PREFACE.
Mr. W. B. Lewis, one of the Consulting
Engineers to the Victorian Government.
Mr. J. T. Wood, Eastern Bengal Railway.
Former Government Inspectors of Railways—
Captain Douglas Galton, C.B., R.E., F.R.S.
General Sir L. Simmons, R.E.
Colonel Sir Frederick Smith, R.E.
Present Government Inspectors of Railways—
Captain H. W. Tyler, R.E.
Colonel Yolland, R.E.
Civil Engineers—
Mr. W. Dennis.
Mr. C. Douglas Fox.
Mr. G. G. Happel.
Mr. J. Mitchell.
Mr. A. S. Ormsby.
Mr. C. P. Sandberg.
Mr. Price Williams.
Sir G. B. Airy, Pres. R.S., Astronomer
Royal.
Mr. W. P. Andrew, Chairman of the
Scinde, Punjaub, and Delhi Railways.
Mr. J. J. Alport, Manager of the Midland
Railway.
Mr. J. Grierson, Manager of the Great
Western Railway.
In addition to these authorities may be mentioned
PREFACE.
lxv
others who, though not taking part in the dis¬
cussion, have expressed strong opinions against
the change of gauge ; as
Mr. C. H. Gregory, Past President of the
Institution, who has reported officially
against narrow-gauge lines in the Colonies.
Mr. G-. L. Molesworth, now Chief Resident-
Engineer of the State Railways in India,
who has also reported against narrow-
gauge railways in Ceylon ; and
Mr. John Fowler, Past President of the
Institution, who reported to the Indian
Government strongly against the pro¬
posed change in the Punjaub lines.
In support of the change of gauge—
Mr. W. T. Thornton, C.B., India Office,
Author of the paper under discussion.
Lord Lawrence.
Mr. Juland Danvers (Government Director
of the Indian Railway Companies).
General Strachey, R.E., Inspecting Officer
of Machinery and Stores for the Indian
State Railway.
Mr. A. M. Rendel, Consulting Engineer
to the East Indian Railway, and Execu¬
tive Engineer in England for the Indian
State Railways.
5
lxvi
PEEFACE.
Mr. G. 0. Spooner, Engineer to the
Festiniog Kailway.
Mr. Carl Pihl, Engineer of narrow-gauge
lines in Norway.
Mr. E. W. Young,
Mr. G. Allan, • Civil Engineers.
Mr. J. W. Grover,
The enormous evils that would have been
inflicted on India, had the Government per¬
sisted in constructing the frontier railways on the
metre gauge, were happily averted. With Eussia
at Merv, who can estimate the danger that might
arise had there been a break of gauge between
Hydrabad (Scinde) and Mooltan, and between
Lahore and Peshawar ? * But though the maxi¬
mum evil was thus happily averted, yet enough
* Sir Henry Durand, in a letter addressed to Sir Bartle
Frere on the 4th September 1870, says : " I still entertain a
faint hope that we shall, not commit the blunder of a break of
gauge in our Indus Valley and Punjab lines. I was always
opposed to it, and only gave way because Lord Mayo would
have thrown up the whole thing on a plea of economy.
Bather than that, I would tolerate anything, even a break of
gauge. But when one recollects that all the inconveniences
of a break of gauge from 5 ft. 6 in. to 3 ft. 6 in. (sic) only
gives a saving in construction of one-tenth, and how dire
and costly these inconveniences will be in time of peace, and
how ruinous they may prove in time of war, I confess that
I think the one-tenth of present saving but short-sighted
economy."
PREFACE.
lxvii
mischief has been done by the construction
on the metre gauge of the Rajputana-Malwa,
and Chhattisgarh lines. Mr. J. Maclean, in a
paper read before the Society of Arts on the
15th of last February, mentions that recently
in Rajputana " three different trains on three suc¬
cessive days were required to move a squadron of
cavalry a distance of 240 miles." Government
moves but slowly ; but we suppose that already
the order has been issued to relay the Chhattisgarh
line, the line that will eventually be the direct
route from Bombay to Calcutta, passing through
one of the greatest granaries of India, which has
at present no outlet, and will, with the increase
of roads and the reduction of grain rates on the
Great Indian Peninsula line, go far to render
England independent of America for her corn.
The economy of broad-gauge lines with light rails
and worked at a low rate of speed seems never to
have come practically before the Government of
India.
There are no less than five different gauges on There are
five different
railway lines m India :— gauges in us
on Indian
Miles.
Sanctioned. Opened.
railways.
1. The 5 ft. 6 in., or standard
gauge -
2. The 8 ft. 8f in., or metre
gauge -
7,485£ 7,054*
4,951* 8,091
5 *
lxviii
PREFACE.
Miles.
Sanctioned. Opened.
3. The 4 ft. gauge - - - 27f 271
4. The 2 ft. 6 in. gauge - - 134f 94f
5. The 2 ft. gauge - - - 56-J 50
12,655f 10,317j
I do not advocate broad-gauge lines for hilly
districts, with stiff gradients and sharp curves, but
I desire a uniform gauge for the plains, as what is
now a branch to an outlying district may speedily
become part of a trunk-line. At first there may
well be economies of light rails, slow speed, and
cheap stations with low platforms, and generally
speaking all those economies now enforced on State
lines.
Narrow-gauge Economy is not necessarily an attribute of the
railways not J J
necessarily metre gauge ; there is no magic in the name.
superior to ° ° °
those of Because it was found convenient to replace the
broad gauge.
broad gauge of the Great Western by the English
standard gauge, it has been supposed that a narrow
gauge is necessarily superior to a broader gauge.
But if the evidence of Mr. J. Grierson, Manager of
the Great Western Railway, be read, it will be
seen that a broad-gauge line is not more expensive
to work than a narrow-gauge line, and that the
change of gauge on certain portions of the Great
Western line " did not arise from any objections
to the broad gauge, other than a desire to prevent
a break of gauge." In some cases in India, arising
PEEEACE.
lxix
from the nature and amount of the traffic, or
the character of the country, it may be advisable,
where isolation is likely to be permanent, to adopt
a narrower gauge than the 5 ft, 6 in. gauge now
in use ; but usually, for jute, cotton, hides, and
all bulky stores, crowds of passengers to religious
shrines, and the miscellaneous traffic of an Indian
railway, and more especially for the conveyance of
troops and heavy artillery, the standard gauge is
incontestably superior to the metre gauge, and may
be as economically worked and constructed with
light rails and for a low rate of speed. Or if it be
allowed that the first cost is greater, it is abun¬
dantly compensated for by the advantage of an
interchange of rolling stock, and the possibility,
when necessary, of rendering the line capable
at small cost of carrying a maximum traffic in
emergencies, or as the commercial capabilities
of the districts through which it passes are de¬
veloped.
The carrying capacity of carriages on the
5 ft. 6 in. gauge is, as compared with those of the
metre gauge, more than proportional to their
increase of weight, as calculated by Mr. Bruce,
Consulting Engineer to the Great Southern of
India Railway.
Comfort and speed are all on the side of the
broad gauge. If it be proposed so to increase the
PREFACE.
rolling-stock on a narrow-gauge line as to give
equal carrying capacity with a line on the stan¬
dard gauge, then i;he extra expense would soon
counterbalance any saving originally effected. An
analysis of the working of some of the principal
railways in India during the year 1882, distin¬
guishing between standing and direct charges, may
be usefully given.
Expenses pee 1,000 Feeight Ton Miles pee Mile op Road.
East Indian.
P
1
3 '1
.3r;3
¡o
£.;3
US
S
Bombay, Baroda, and
Central India.
Eastern Bengal.
Sind, Punjab, and
Delhi.
Indus Yalley and
Candahar.
South Indian.
Eajputaña and Malwa
(metre gauge).
Northern Bengal
(metre gauge).
Es.
Es.
Es.
Es.
Es.
Es.
Es.
Es.
Es.
Es.
Standing
3-341
13-138
6-160
8-123
8-039
9-988
9-462
16-404
9-549
14-388
Direct .
8-942
16-125
15-100
14-148
14-236
14-391
7-585
15-221
12-498
12-213
Fuel
0-345
3-469
3-C90
2-702
1-908
4-403
3-495
4-305
5-713
3-494
Interest .
15-682
44-258
18*797
22-468
21-367
29-434
21-258
33-246
18-089
26-843
Earnings,
Coaching, per
mile
8,754
3,376
5,(86
7,238
8,748
5,327
1,695
3,229
3,370
2,470
Ditto, goods .
21,744
4,472
19,165
14,527
22,440
8,547
5,302
2,434
6,294
5,365
The excessive cost of fuel on the Rajputana-
Malwa line will be noticed. It arises from the
break of gauge, which cuts off that line from the
Warrora and Mohpani coal on the Great Indian
Peninsula line, from the Bengal coal-field, and
from the coal measures of Umaria and Johilla.
The average cost of coal on the line was no less
than Rs. 21'23 per ton; 16,100 tons of English
coal were used, costing in wagons at Bombay,
PREFACE.
Ixxi
Rs. 15'31 per ton. Had the Rajputana-Malwa
line been constructed without break of gauge,
it is certain that the saving in fuel alone would
in a few years meet any additional cost. When the
Umaria and Johilla coal is worked, the necessity
for the use of English coal will not exist, as Umaria
coal can be delivered at Jubbulpore at Rs. 8"7 per
ton. On no line, except that of the Punjab
Northern Railway, was coal so dear. The average
price may be thus compared for a few lines :—
East Indian.
Great Indian
Peninsula.
Sind, Punjab, and
Delhi.
Bombay-Baroda.
à
I
«
-g .
g'S
II
ÍA
o
d
S à
■S %
*3
■aw
M
Average price
2-19
13-10
20-84
15-29
11-77
21-23*
* Had there
of coal per
been no break of
ton in terms
gauge, the ave¬
of Rs.
rage cost per
ton ought not to
have exceeded
Rs. 15, and had
Warrora coal
been taken it
would have been
less.
Frequently during this brief review of Indian
railways we have noticed the evils arising from
break of gauge. They may be enumerated once
Summary
tor all. of evils
1. Rolling-stock cannot be interchanged, so break of
the efficiency of the railway system is flaS!m
lxxii
PREFACE.
crippled precisely when the lines are most
wanted, namely, in exigencies of commerce,
war, and famine.
2. The transfer of goods between lines of
different gauge is attended in India—
1st. By great expense.
2nd. By serious damage, especially to
grain, if rain fall.
3rd. By loss from pilfering.
4th. By the demoralisation of railway
servants by bribery.
5th. By delay.
6th. By loss of traffic.
We are sure that no man who has travelled
much on Indian railways during the last ten years
has not been both, grieved and indignant at the
immense loss of grain caused to merchants by its
detention at railway stations and exposure without
covering to heavy rain. Generally speaking, mer¬
chants only grumble at their loss, and determine
not to send grain far by railway unless the profits
are very tempting ; sometimes they recover
damages. The East Indian Railway Company
in 1877 suffered a loss of ¿628,049 by an unex¬
pected downpour of rain in January. It is a large
sum to lose in one year, but it is not a tithe of
what is lost in any year from grain lying at small
stations in bags exposed to theweather. Such
PREFACE.
lxxiii
loss diminishes traffic, even if the railway companies
have not to pay damages. On the East Indian line
the loss in traffic was 123,897 tons of grain and pulse,
on the Great Indian Peninsula it was 75,388 tons,
and on the Rajputana-Malwa metre-gauge it was
43,859 tons. It thus amounted to 16, 11, and 27
per cent, of the amounts carried on the above lines
in 1881. On the other hand, there was an increase
of 113,226 tons carried on the Scinde, Punjab, and
Delhi Railway, of 55,504 tons on the Indus Valley
and Khandahar line, and of 38,434 tons on the
Nagpur Chhattisgarh line, of which a part had
been newly opened. Other lines show less increase.
Thus there was a loss in traffic of 36,497 tons of
grain and pulse on all the Indian railways during
1882. The increase on the Scinde, Punjab, and
Delhi Railway was considerable, and amounted to
50 per cent, of the grain and pulse carried in the
previous year. It is of course alleged that the
movements of trade occasioned the decreased traffic
in grain and pulse. But all the decrease did not
arise from that cause. So great indeed are the neces¬
sities of Indian traffic, that although the Directors
of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company, in
their Report for the half-year ending June 1883,
announce a partial recovery of their wheat traffic,
the fact remains that, as stated by the Bombay
Chamber of Commerce, merchants were " obliged
lxxiv
PREFACE.
to stop purchases against orders, so as not to have
unduly large stocks lying exposed at the railway
stations, whence thejr could not be transported by
the railway company owing to the deficiency of
the company's engine stock." This deficiency
had been notorious for years—for three years. Had
not these forced stop pages occurred, the purchases
of wheat would have been larger. Eventually
when money had been lost all round—by the
Indian cultivator, by the merchant, by the freight-
owner, by England—then the Secretary of State
sanctioned an addition of 100 engines to the
rolling-stock of the company.
So also the Oudh and Eohilkhand Railway
Company had, in 1883, to refuse large quantities
of produce " owing to the block at the Howrah
terminus of the East Indian Railway." The loss
for the half-year ending last December is estimated
at ¿25,000 to the Company alone; to native mer¬
chants it must have been very considerable—their
wheat was depreciated in value, and in some
instances spoilt. Increased accommodation at
Howrah has at last been sanctioned. The Scinde
Railway had a large quantity of wheat damaged
from want of protection at Kurrachee, and had to
pay considerable damages to native merchants ;
consequently increased accommodation at that
station has been sanctioned.
PREFACE.
It may seem absurd, to those not acquainted with
the working of Indian railways, to estimate the loss
from pilfering as an evil attached to break of
gauge. But whenever goods accumulate at a
station, whenever traffic is worked with insufficient
rolling-stock, there is always in India loss from
theft. In 1877 the Great Indian Peninsula Rail¬
way Company paid £32,762 to make good losses
from theft. It was discovered that grain going to
the famine districts was systematically stolen by
organized bands of thieves, aided and abetted some¬
times by the servants of the company. Break of
gauge causes detention and aggravates losses from
rain and theft. The Bombay Chamber of Com¬
merce remarks, in a memorial addressed to Lord
Ripon, that the delay at Nagpore " owing to break
of gauge, is fully twenty-four hours from arrival to
departure of goods, when the traffic going on at the
terminus is not on a large scale ; but during the
busy season, this delay is prolonged to two or
three days." The same thing occurs at the
Sabarmati break of gauge on the line between
Ahmedabad and Ajmere. There is, the Bombay
Chamber of Commerce continues, " a very material
loss to the trade by the damage and loss in weight
caused in transhipping. The goods are roughly
handled by the work-people, a portion of the bags
are in consequence burst," and weight is lost by
lxxvi
PBEFACE.
exposure to the sun for two or three days. In the
monsoon there is a great deal of damage done by
the rain. The loss from these causes is estimated
at 1 per cent, or about £20,000 a year. This loss
occurs at only one break-point ; but if the narrow-
gauge system were extended the loss to the country
would be very considerable. The Chamber of
Commerce also says t hat the mischief done by break
of line is very inadequately represented by the loss
in money. It is well known that the competition
between Indian and American wheat is now so
close, that even a smaller margin than 1 per
cent, would turn the scales against India and
cause much less business to be done by agricul¬
turists, railways, merchants, and freight-owners.*
* The Province of Punjab now produces, says the Indian
Daily News, about 100,000,000 bushels of wheat annually, of
which 25,000,000 bushels are available for export. Indian
cheap labour reduces the cost of growing wheat to a low
figure, which compensates for the larger cost of freight-
charges as compared wi'ih the cheaper ocean-freight from the
United States. In the Punjab district the Government is
constructing irrigating canals, where nearly a million and a
half of acres of land were taken up in 1881 for wheat culture,
in advance of the completion and opening of the irrigating
canals. The American Consul-General at Calcutta, in his
last annual report to the State Department, furnishes in¬
teresting statistics in regard to wheat eulture in British
India, which is looming up as a possible competitor with the
United States in the markets of Western Europe. Accord¬
ing to this report, about twenty million acres are now
PREFACE.
lxxvii
3. Confusion caused in the conveyance of troops
on lines subjected to a break of gauge.
4. Aggravation of the sufferings of the sick and
wounded from break of gauge.
5. The metre gauge is not so suitable for the
conveyance of artillery and horses, cotton,
jute, and the miscellaneous bulky staples of
traffic of an Indian railway, as the standard
gauge.
6. In time of war and rebellion the destruction
of rolling stock on a metre-gauge line caused
by the conveyance of heavy artillery and
military stores would be very great, and
might be disastrous.
7. The metre gauge will be, so soon as feeder-
roads are properly developed and certain
minor reforms introduced in the rules and
management of railways, insufficient for the
traffic on any of the main lines of India.
8. The break of gauge on the Rajputana line
has separated the iron ore and lime on the
devoted to wheat in India, and the average yield is about
twelve bushels to the aere, although high cultivation and a
resort to irrigation and manure has, in some cases, brought
the yield up to twenty-five and even thirty bushels. The
statistics of the English wheat imports of 1882 show that
out of an aggregate of 19,044,819 qrs., 8,180,578 came from
the United States ; 3,233,238 from Bussia; 1,978,078 from
India ; 719,581 from Germany ; and 626,460 from Canada.
lxxviii
PREFACE.
Assisted
railway
companies
Contract
between the
Government
and the
Bengal
Central
Railway
Company.
Land given
without coat.
State line from the coal of Warrora and
Mohpani on the Great Indian Peninsula,
and of Bengal and Umaria on the East
Indian line.
We have already mentioned the attempt of the
Government of India, to encourage the raising of
capital for railway construction through private
agency on the exclusive security of the success of
the undertaking. The attempt was not successful,
but it led to a modified system of guarantee.
There are now eleven assisted companies. The
length of line sanctioned is l,327f miles, but only
96f miles were, on the 31st March 1883, open
for trafiic. The most important of the assisted
companies are the Southern Mahratta, 435 miles ;
the Bengal and North-Western, 455 miles;
and the Bengal Central, 125J miles. Only two
of these lines are on the standard gauge of
5 ft. 6 in.
The Bengal Central was the first of the assisted
companies. The line is of the standard gauge,
and twenty miles were open in March 1883. The
principal terms of the, contract with the Company
are as follows :—
The Government supply to the Company, with¬
out cost, the land required for the line and
works, granting a lease, free of rent, for
ninety-nine years.
PREFACE.
lxxix
The Company undertake to raise the capital, as Capital,
it may be required, and to pay instalments
as funds may be wanted.
The Secretary of State for India pays to the Int0re3t
Company in London half-yearly interest at
the rate of 4 per cent, per annum on the
capital of the Company deposited with him
until the opening of the undertaking for traffic
throughout, or until the 30th June 1886. If
any of the sections of the railway are open
before then, the net earnings go in diminution
of the guarantee.
All sums advanced to the Company for the pay- RePftymant
i- *j i J of sum
ment of interest by the Secretary of State are advaneed for
J J interest.
to be repaid in London with simple interest,
at the rate of 4 per cent, per annum, by the
appropriation of half the net earnings of the
Company in excess of 5 per cent, on the paid-
up capital.
The Secretary of State has power to purchase fhueri^a®of
the line and its equipment at the end of thirty
years or fifty years from the 1st January
1882, and the Company will then be repaid
the capital expended, and a bonus of 25 per
cent., subject to a maximum payment.
The rates and fares are to be within maxima to Ratos and
fares,
be fixed by the Government.
Ixxx
PREFACE.
maüsaSe °f The arrangements for the carriage of the mails,
troops, &c., are the same as those on the lines
of guaranteed companies.
Mahratta The contract made with the Southern Mahratta
Company. Company was thus summarised in a despatch by
the Government of India dated the 22nd June
1882 :—
1st. The Company shall raise in such instal¬
ments as may be determined upon, and
pay to the Secretary of State, the sum of
three millions sterling, on which they
shall receive interest at the rate of 3|
per cent., paid by an equivalent of rupees
in India.
2nd. They shall construct and work the line as
agents for the Government, the Govern¬
ment supplying the funds for the con¬
struction to the extent of 360 lacs of
rupees, the. railways being the property
of the State.
3rd. The Company shall receive one fourth part
of the net receipts of the railway, the
Government taking the remaining three-
fourths.
4th. For five years from the date of the contract
the Company shall be paid, in addition to
the 3f per cent, interest, such an amount
as will, together with their share of the
PREFACE.
lxxxi
profits, make a further J per cent, on
three millions.
5th. That if a larger sum than 360 lacs is
required for construction, the Company
may make corresponding payments to the
Secretary of State in addition to the
three millions, the terms to be settled as
the occasion arises, with the proviso
that if the Government advance money
in excess of three millions sterling,
interest shall be paid on the excess at
the rate of per cent, from the revenue
before the net receipts are declared.
6th. The contract to be for fifty years, but
the Government to have the power of
terminating it after the twenty-fifth year,
and at subsequent intervals of ten years,
or for breach of contract or mismanage¬
ment; and the Company to have the
right to withdraw at any time on giving
one year's notice at end of the fifth
year.
7th. On the termination of the contract the
Secretary of State shall repay to the
Company the sum of three millions
sterling, together with any sums sub¬
sequently paid to him by them.
6
lxxxii
PREFACE.
The ultimate position of the Company, the
despatch quoted says, will be analogous to that of
the East Indian Railway. The railways will be
the exclusive property of the State, the Company
receiving a certain share of the net profits, and
holding besides a State security. The usual
arrangements are made regarding the carriage of
the mails, troops, Steves, bullion, &c.
Rates and fares for the carriage of goods and
passengers are fixed by the Company with the
approval of the Secretary of State ; provided that
the Secretary of State may require the charges for
the conveyance of salt, coal, and food grains to be
reduced to any rate not below one fifth of a pie per
maund per mile for full wagon-loads, and may
require passengers 1:0 be conveyed at any rate not
below 2 pies per mile, in closed carriages provided
with seats.
sPeoial It is absolutely necessary that the Government
measures J J
should be Qf India should not regard railways simply as so
taken to
secure suffi- many revenue-producing1 machines. Lord Salis-
ciently low J _ °
rates for the bury urged, in 1868, that the Government ought
carriage of _ °
the staples not solely to regard the question as one of profits,
of traffic.
as they were more than compensated for any out¬
lay they had incurred. Sir Stafford North cote,
when Secretary of State for India, also observed
that the political and military advantages to -the
Government of present commercial railways would
PREFACE. IxXXÎii
be cheaply purchased, even were the railway
system more costly to the Government than it was
shown to be. As remained by Mr. Maclean, in
the case of the transport of wheat, whatever is
charged on the carriage of grain, coal, cotton,
sugar, the staples of the country, in excess of
a fair profit, is virtually a toll or transit duty
levied by the Government on the export trade.
The rate sanctioned for the carriage of grain
on the Southern Mahratta line is too high. It
is one-fifth of a pie per maund per mile. The
author of a pamphlet forwarded by the Bengal
Chamber of Commerce to Lord Ripon, calculates
this rate to be, for wheat, " 1*05 shillings per quar¬
ter per 100 miles, or double the American rate."
So, also, the Eastern Bengal Railway in their
contract are allowed to charge "three times the
American rate." The lowest rate sanctioned for
the carriage of grain is on the Scinde, Punjab, and
Delhi railways, one-seventh of a pie per maund per
mile, and these railways have but one rate irrespec¬
tive of the amount tendered. The ordinary rates
for small consignments injuriously affect the small
trader. It is mentioned in the pamphlet we have
quoted, that in America " any discrimination in
freight rates between two points dependent only
on the quantity of freight shipped, has been held by
the Courts to be a violation of the impartial duty
6 *
ÎXXXIY
PBEEACE.
Merchants,
both Euro¬
pean and
Native,
should be
considered.
To fully
develop the
wheat trade
of the Central
Provinces
additional
roads are
necessary.
due to the public from the railway corporation."
In India this distinction of rate diminishes local
traffic and injures the small trader.
Whatever be the feeling of Government with
regard to the construction of railways, successful
working will depend on the feelings and interests
of the trading community, both European and
Native, being conciliated and consulted. The
subject of the rates for the carriage of grain is
mentioned by Colonel Stanton, E.E., Director-
General of Railways in India, in his last report.
From the 7th of May last the through rate
from Delhi to Bombay via Raj putaña has been
reduced 18-J per cent. Lower rates have been
adopted by the East Indian Railway. But the
Great Indian Peninsula Railway, secure in their
monopoly, have not thought fit to make similar
reductions, though a lower cost of carriage would,
as remarked by Colonel Stanton, " doubtless by
stimulating the export of wheat from the Cen¬
tral Provinces, prove most remunerative to the
railway, as well as beneficial to the districts con¬
cerned." To fully develop the wheat trade of
the Central Provinces additional roads are neces¬
sary. Colonel Hancock's last report acknowledges
this fact. He says that traffic during the latter
half of the calendar year will, in the grain-pro¬
ducing districts of the Central Provinces, be gene-
PREFACE.
lxxxv
rally " trifling in extent, and the monetary result
unsatisfactory." There are not sufficient feeder
communications. Many of the existing roads are
merely fair-weather tracks, and are impassable for
carts in the rainy season. It is essential that the
main feeders to the line should be bridged and
metalled roads, passable at all times of the year.
These roads will never be constructed within any
reasonable time unless the Government of India
assist provincial funds. If the Government of
India would attend to the roads, bridges, and
irrigation works of the country, and give every
facility for the construction of railroads under
proper supervision, and be content with attending
to these works of paramount importance and
pressing necessity, and to promoting the educa¬
tion of the people committed to their charge, and
give up all startling political changes, India would
make sure progress, and advance rapidly in the
career of prosperity and general enlightenment.
When the Government of India, by "an act of Co.fofIndian
7 J railways as
most extraordinary imprudence introduced a break eoWpfl2"ed
J 1 with those
of gauge in India," * the advocates of this extra- of oth?r
00 countries.
ordinary measure dwelt upon the excessive cost of
Indian railways. It is as well, then, to contrast the
* Remarks of Sir G. B. Airey, P.R.S., Astronomer Royal,
before the Institute of Civil Engineers.
Ixxxvi
PREFACE.
cost of Indian railways with that of railways con¬
structed in other countries. Of the 10,317 miles
of Indian railway, 7,707§ are constructed on the
broad or standard gauge of 5 ft. 6 in. Of this
mileage, 862^ miles have a double line of rails.
None of the metre or narrow-gauge railways are
laid with a double line.
Country.
Miles
open.
Cost.
Cost per
Mile.
Cost per
inhabitant.
£
£
£
Queensland
867
6,621,189
1,262,939,957
7,636
26
United States .
114,412
11,038
25
United Kingdom
18,457
767,899,570
41,550
21
Victoria
1,354
1,313
19,746,915
14,584
21
New South Wales
16,776,642
12,777
19
Canada
8,069
83,122,362
10,301
19
*France
13,150
430,000,000
32,800
12
*Germany .
3.8,080
370,000,000
68,000,000
20,500
9
*Low Countries .
3,270
20,900
8
*Austria
3.2,100
255,000,000
21,100
7
*Spain and Portugal .
* South America .
5,100
84,000,000
16,400
14,800
4
4,880
72,000,000
3
flndia. . . ' .
3.0,317
142,423,903
13,804
è
* From the last edition (1880) of the Progress of the World, by M.
Mulhall, F.S.S.
t To 31st March 1884.
I do not place much stress on this comparison.
But as Lord Bipon recently compared the Mel¬
bourne and Calcutta Exhibitions, I at least err
in good company if I compare the cost of Indian
railways with those of other countries. All things
considered, the advantage is on the side of India.
influence of A reference to the annual administration reports
railways on
commerce, &c. published by the different local governments, will
PREFACE.
lxxxvii
show the influence of railways on the internal
commerce of the country. The details are scat¬
tered through so many reports and belong to so
many provinces that they cannot be given here.
But the social effects of the railways may to a
certain extent be gauged by the Post Office
work. In the year 1869-70, mails were carried
over* 50,281 miles, of which 40,586 were tra¬
velled by boats, and letter-carriers or "runners,"
5,460 by mail-carts and on horseback, and 4,235
by railways. In 1881-82 the mails travelled over
59,667 miles, 46,629 being done by boats and
runners, 3,303 by carts and on horseback, and
9,745 miles by railways. These figures show that
whilst railroads have taken the place of roads, roads
that should feed the railways have not been so
sufficiently constructed that mail-carts may take
the place of "runners." In the year ending the
31st March 1872, there passed through the Post
Offices of British India 93,157,314 letters and
newspapers, and the total Post Office revenue was
£677,047. In the financial year 1881-82, the
number of letters, post-cards, and newspapers that
passed through the British Indian Post Office was
171,804,992, and the revenue had inci'eased to
£931,174, or by 37 per cent.
The Statesman's Year Book for 1884.
lxxxviii
PREFACE.
The following statistics give the increase of the
external commerce of India since the opening of
railways.
Length of line
Year, open at the end Imports. Exports. Total.
of each year. £ £ £
1830 0 5,679,000 4,087,000 9,766,000
1848 0 10,571,008 14,738,435 25,309,443
1858 428J 31,093,065 28,278,474 59,371,539
1860 839Í 34,170,793 34,090,154 68,260,947
1874 6,227f 37,421,031 56,839,857 94,260,888
1878 8,2121 56,681,462 67,340,849 124,022,311
1883 10,317J 63,456,197 84,381,723 147,837,920
The exports from India to Great Britain and
Ireland have increased since 1870 from £29,890,802
to £39,921,127, and the imports of British home
produce into India have increased during the same
time from £21,354,205 to £29,059,327. The
principal articles of export in 1882 from India to
the United Kingdom were: cotton, 3,613,766cwt.,
of the value of £9,063,082 ; wheat, 8,461,004
cwt., of the value of £4,352,270 : jute, 5,931,047
cwt., of the value of £4,311,102 ; seeds, chiefly
linseed, 1,511,543 quarters, of the value of
£3,614,695 ; rice, 784,509 cwt., of the value of
£3,024,538 ; tea, 53,576,690 lbs., valued at
£3,498,188 ; dye stuffs of the value of £2,712,374,
and the value of the leather, untanned hides, and
coffee imported from India amounted, in each
case to more than a million of pounds sterling.
Before the commencement of railways the export
trade in wheat did not exist. In 1881, 9,379,236
PREFACE.
lxxxix
cwt. of wheat were consigned to the United King¬
dom, which amounted to about one-thirteenth of
the entire imports of grain and flour. In 1882-83
the total exports of wheat from India amounted to
14,151,765 cwt. Next to the United Kingdom,
France takes the largest share of the Indian wheat
exports. So considerable is the anticipated and
actual traffic in grain between Nagpore and Bom¬
bay since the opening of the Chhattisgarh Railway,
even on the narrow gauge, that the Great Indian
Peninsula Railway proposes to lay a double line
from Bhosawal to Nagpore. In one year the export
of grain from the Central Provinces more than
doubled in quantity and in value. The area under
wheat increased from 3,391,441 acres in 1880-81
to 4,179,982 acres in 1881-2, or by a little more
than 23 per cent. As the railways increase in
length, uncultivated land is brought under the
plough, not only in the Central Provinces but in
Assam and Burmah. In the Central Provinces
the total cultivated area of 1881-82 exceeded that
of the previous year by 6 per cent. In two years,
1880-82, wheat cultivation increased by one
million acres. Indeed, in those provinces through
which portions of six new lines are reported to be
under survey and projected, no less than 42,278
square miles of waste but culturable land await the
plough. That is, an area larger that the whole of
xc
PBEFACE.
England is, though Jit for cultivation, still uncul¬
tivated. Or, if we consider only the surveyed and
assessed area in acres, then, after setting aside
I,879,489 acres for grazing land, there are
II,810,999 culturable acres still waste. The
mineral resources of the Central Provinces, too,
only want roads and capital for their develop¬
ment. In these fertile provinces limestone, fire¬
clay, slate, marble, coal, iron, the finest building
stones, abound. There are deposits of sulphate
of lead and copper, and gold is found in the
sands of some of the rivers. The forests con¬
tain timber suitable for railway sleepers: The
iron resources of the Chanda district were, in
1881-82, inquired into by Mr. Ritter von Schwarz,
experienced in iron mining in Austria. It is esti¬
mated that Chanda might turn out 260,000 tons of
iron or steel annually, and might now open an
export trade to England in " ferro manganese " and
Brescian steel. The iron and coal of Umaria and
Katni are mentioned by Colonel Hancock, Officia¬
ting Director-General of Railways, in his Report
for 1882-83. Mr. Molesworth, the Consulting
Engineer to the Government of India, writes that
"the Jubbulpore district contains an inexhaustible
supply of hematite, containing about 68 per cent,
of iron suitable for the manufacture of charcoal-
iron. The iron is on the surface, and may be
PREFACE.
xci
obtained cheaply without the cost of expensive
mining. . . . There is, moreover, in the neigh¬
bourhood of the north - west of Jubbulpore
manganese ore containing 54 per cent, of man¬
ganese."
We have mentioned that six of the twenty-three Government
i of India.
new lines under survey or projection by the
Government of India pass through the Central
Provinces. It is, however, too frequently the
peculiarity of that Government to survey and
project, but to do nothing more. What is re¬
quired is the energetic prosecution of all the
projected lines by Government and all other
agencies.
Railways in India have not only created the The extension
of railways
export traffic of many articles of consumption in has increased
, -i-i-! ITT the revenue.
England, but have added to the Indian revenue,
and have rendered possible the great fiscal reforms
recently introduced. The earliest year in which
the returns are available on the present system of
making up the accounts is 1865-66. In that year,
we quote the figures given by Mr. Juland Danvers,
the revenue was £53,107,359; in 1831-82 it was
£73,695,806.* As fresh land has been brought
under cultivation, so the land revenue, in spite of
enormous loss from drought, resulting in famine,
* The Statesman's Year Book for 1884.
xcii
PREFACE.
has increased. In 1873 the land revenue was
¿621,375,076, in 1882 it was £21,948,022 ; and
the greatest reform, the one most affecting the
happiness of the people, that has been introduced
since the time proba bly of Lord William Bentinck,
is now to take place. The cultivator will reap
to the full any advantages that may be derived
from his expenditure of capital and labour. As
Sir Auckland Colvin puts it, the reform to be
introduced will give " to the temporary settlement
of the land revenue a degree of permanency in the
more populous and advanced parts of the country
which they have hitherto lacked." The habits of
centuries will not at once be overcome, but it is at
least probable that the silver and gold hitherto
hoarded will be laid out on land improvement.
The land will produce more, and railways will
transport the increased produce.
Lines existing We append to this account a statement of the
and projected
lines. existing Indian railways, and ot the five gauges
already adopted. There are twenty-three projected
lines. An account of these lines is given in the
Preliminary Report by Colonel Stanton, R.E., of
eighty-one folio pages, and in the Report by Colonel
Hancock, R.E., of 414 pages, including the ap¬
pendices; but it is nevertheless with some difficulty
that we learn what it is actually proposed to do in
India.
PREFACE.
xciii
In Maj last, Colonel Stanton, the Director-
General of Railways, wrote that he "believed" Gwaiior, ana
. . Jhansi-
negotiations had been entered into with a Company Cawnpore
to extend the Bhopal line to Gwalior with a branch
from Jhansi to Cawnpore. This important line
will be 380 miles in length, and will provide com¬
munication on the broad gauge between Cawn¬
pore and Bombay by a line 115 miles shorter than
the existing one. Since Colonel Stanton wrote, the
Secretary of State for India has postponed the
consideration of the construction of this line
until "the subject of provision for the ex¬
tension of railways in India " has been referred
" to a Select Committee of the House of Com¬
mons."
From Jhansi to Manikpur is a line 180 miles in Jbansi-
. i,- Manikpur.
length, and passing through the important town
of Banda. It joins two stations on broad-gauge
lines—Jhansi on the proposed line just mentioned,
and Manikpur on the East Indian Railway. The
line, if constructed on the broad gauge, will only
cost Rs. 94,444 a mile, or say, with exchange
at Is. 8d., about 47,870 a mile without rolling
stock. Yet the question of gauge is still un¬
settled !
The Etawah-Katni-Bilaspur line, a most im- Etawah-
portant one, will be about 352 miles in length. Büaspnr line.
It will pass through the Rewah coal-fields and
xciv
PREFACE.
the important towns of Saugor ; Garhakotah, where
there is a famous cat,tie-fair and reserved forests ;
Dumoh, the head-quarters of a district ; and Hira-
pur, once celebrated for iron, as its name im¬
plies. It will supply coal to the railways of
Central India, to a portion of the Nagpur-Bengal
line, will carry food-grain from Chhattisgarh to
Northern India, and will have a large pilgrim
traffic. The reports are silent on the question of
gauge.
Nagpur The Bengal-Nagpur Railway, connecting Bombay
Railway. and Calcutta, and passing through a large wheat-
producing area, has a coal-field at one terminus
—that of Sitarampur—and near the other terminus
there are the Warrora Collieries. The coal of
Warrora is said to be inferior to Bengal coal.
Colonel Hancock reports that at its best three tons
of Warrora coal may do the work of two tons of
Karhurballee coal, which is nearly equal to English
coal. In 1882 the Indian railways consumed 47,892
tons of Warrora coal. The actual cost of cutting
and raising the coal is, it is said, Rs. 1-4 a ton, and
the price charged is from Rs. 3 to Rs. 5 a ton.
it may fairly be assumed that the coal will improve
as the collieries are developed. The Rajputana
Railway, Colonel Hancock reports, could consume
some 20,000 tons annually on the Khandwa-
Neemuch section of the line. Mr. Walter Ness,
PREFACE.
XCV
mining engineer, estimated the capacity of the
coal-field at 20,000,000 tons of easily workable
coal. Ballast, sleepers, excellent building stone,
can be obtained in the neighbourhood of this
line. It will be on the broad gauge, and the
narrow-gauge line constructed from Nagpur to
Rajnandgarh, a distance of 149 miles, will be
pulled up!
The Benares-Cuttack railway will pass through c™ta^"lin9
the Palamow coal-fields, and provide a direct route
for pilgrims from Benares to Pooree. The reports
do not say on what gauge the line is to be con¬
structed ; but as it is expected that this line will
supply coal to the Oudh and Rohilkhand line, and
to the sections of the East Indian line above
Moghal-Serai, we presume the broad gauge will
be adopted.
As to the gauge to be adopted on the important
lines of Cuttack-Pooree and Vizagapatam-Raipur
the reports are silent.
It has apparently been determined to construct
the railways noted below on the narrow or metre
gauge :
1. Northern Bengal State Railway extension.
2. Assam-Behar.
3. Assam projected railways.
4. Cuddapah Nellore.
xcvi
PREFACE.
Revenue
derived from
5. Bellary Kistnah.
6. Sonthal Railway (2 ft. 6 in. gauge).
7. West Deccan Railway.
In the financial statement published in the
Indian Calcutta Gazette of the 14th March last, Sir
railways.
Auckland Colvin shows that the net gain on
Indian railways during the past five years was
£3,270,843. He further remarks that the re¬
munerative character of railway enterprise in
India is unquestionable.
The following statement shows the per-centage
of net earnings per annum on capital expenditure
for each of the Indian railways :—
1 Broad gauge East Indian . 8-80
2 ,, Guaranteed Eastern Bengal .10-52
8 „ ,, Great Indian Pen- 7-29
insula
4 ,, ,, Bombay, Baroda 5-91
and Central India
5 ,, ,, Oudh and Rohil- 8-07
khand
6 ,, ,, Sind, Punjab and 2-94
Delhi
7 ,, ,, Madras . . 2-30
8 ,, Imperial State Punjab Northern 0-83
9 ,, ,, Indus Valley, Kan- 2-01
10 ,, Provincial State Patna-Gya . . 5-68
11 „ Native States Nizam's . . 3-08
12 Metre gauge Guaranteed South Indian . 3-26
13 ,, Imperial State Rajputana, Malwa 5-87
14 „ Provincial State Northern Bengal . 5-33
15 ,, ,, Tirhoot . . 3-94
16 „ „ Cawnpore,Parukh- 3-74
abad
PBEFACE.
xcvii
17 Metre gauge Provincial State Nagpore, Chhatis- 2-15
garh
18 „ „ Rangoon and Ira- 4-97
waddy
19 „ Native States Bhavnagar, Gon- 4-24
dal
In the construction of railways still so urgently india cannot
, . . . T furnish the
needed in India, it is quite useless to look to India capital re-
c . , , Tr i , quired for the
to turnish the capital lor the necessary outlay, construction
The amount of railway capital held by native now urgently
investors is very small. The total number of
shareholders in the guaranteed and assisted lines
on the 31st of December 1881 was 44,212, of
whom 43,945 were registered in England ; only
166 natives held shares registered in India. When
the Southern Mahratta Railway prospectus was
issued, £500,000 out of the £3,000,000 capital
were reserved for distribution in India, but only
395 shares, representing £7,900, were applied for.
Colonel Stanton, U.E., in the last Railway
Administration Report, indeed apologises for this
failure to attract Indian capital by saying that,
in the instance mentioned, complaints have been
made that reasonable opportunity was not given
to the Indian public to subscribe, " inasmuch as
the time allowed was too short, and the prospectus
was not made sufficiently public." He also
mentions that several short "branch lines have
been put in hand by purely local enterprise during
the past year." As regards these local lines, it
xcviii
PREFACE.
may be remarked that, regarding some of them at
least, provincial governments have been warmly
interested ; and where this is the case, it is to be
expected that resident native capitalists will take
shares. Sufficient capital will not be subscribed
in India for railway construction.
Mr. Westland, who is possessed of as much
financial ability as any Indian officer of the present
day, has shown i:i his recent paper that of
2,131 lakhs borrowed during the last ten years by
the Indian Government, only 801 lakhs have been
taken up in India. Money, on the average, is much
dearer in India than in England. That capital for
Indian railways must be raised in London, and
not in India, is the opinion even of native capi¬
talists. Recently, at a meeting of the Bombay
Chamber of Commerce, there was but one opinion as
to this, and as to the impolicy of the break of gauge.
These are the prevailing opinions among those
who have thought on the subject, and which we
trust will lead ultimately to one gauge and
uniformity of action.
Length of In proportion to its area India is less equipped
in Tarions with railways than any of the more important
contrasteds countries of the world. As compared with Russia,
area andr the most backward of all the European States,
population. Jndia, with four times the density of population,
has fewer miles of railway open.
PBEFACE.
xcix
Countries.
Miles of
railway
open on the
1st Jan.,
1883.
One mile
of rail¬
way to
square
miles.
Popula¬
tion per
square
mile.
Belgium ....
2,683
4-0
485
United Kingdom .
18,514
6-5
290
Germany ....
21,672
9-8
213
Netherlands ....
1,263
10-0
329
Prance .....
18,026
11-3
184
Denmark ....
1,105
12-5
143
United States and Territories
114,412
17-8
14-3*
Austria-Hungary .
12,334
19-7
157
Italy .....
5,800
19-7
247
Portugal ....
1,000
36-0
114
Spain .....
4,942
41-0
84
Sweden .....
3,940
44-0
27
Bussia in Europe .
14,308
135-8
40
India .....
10,144
136-3
184
* Including Indian territory.
This brief survey of Indian railways is now what the
completed. It would appear that the following oí the history
. , , , . i i • i -i and system
points have been established :— 0f
railways
1st. That India is in great need of additional proves,
roads and railways.
2nd. That if the commerce of the country is to
be adequately provided for, the rail¬
ways must be of the standard gauge—
5 ft. 6 in.
3rd. That if Indian railways are to be quickly
constructed and economically worked,
they should be constructed and worked
7 *
c
PREFACE.
by as many agencies as possible ; thus a
wholesome competition will be established.
4th. That if the grain trade is to be developed,
transit charges must be kept low, and
sufficient rolling stock must be provided,
and through-booking be introduced.
O Ö
5th. That some of the rules laid down for the
more economical construction of metre
gauge State railways are also applicable
to lines constructed by guaranteed com'
panies.
6th. That the capital for Indian railways cannot
be raised in India, but in England, where
also must be the chief control.
7th. That the efforts of the Government of
India, and of local administrations, should
be strenuously exerted to construct a
system of roads for the ordinary traffic of
the country, to act as feeders to railroads.
8th. That collieries should not be worked by
the State, but by companies as agents of
the State.
Improved means of communication along the
length and breadth of the vast peninsula of India,
bringing its many nations, tribes, and languages,
as it were face to face, making smooth the paths
of the merchant, scattering abundance where
famine had reigned ; the science, the civilization,
DEDICATION OF THE SECOND EDITION.
to
The Honourable the Court oe
Directors oe the East India Company,
As the guardians of the British Empire in the
East, this brochure on the political, military, and
commercial importance of railway communication,
as affecting the present position and future pros¬
pects of that Empire, is appropriately and with
much deference dedicated
By their most obedient and
Humble Servant,
October, 1846.
THE AUTHOR.
PEEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
When the first impression of " Indian Railways "
was on the eve of publication, the despatch of the
Bengal Government, regarding the introduction of
Railway Communication into British India, was re¬
ceived at the India House, and more recently, the
report of the Commissioners appointed by the
Supreme Government, to enquire generally into
the merits of the question, has been published by
order of the Honourable the House of Commons.
That some of the views enunciated in the latter
official document, are but little in accordance with
those adventured in this pamphlet, was to be ex¬
pected, and it is a matter of satisfaction to the
author, that any of his opinions should be sanctioned
and supported by those of the Railway Commission,
and he sees no reason why he should relinquish in
this Edition, anything advanced in the first.
There is much additional matter introduced in
cvi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
this impression, in connection with the statistics of
India and other subjects having reference to the re¬
quirements of that country, for improved internal
communication, or tc its capabilities of emancipating
itself from its primitive, rude, and most inefficient
roads and conveyances, achieving by one mighty
bound, what other nations have taken centuries to
accomplish ; and, profiting by the experience of
Europe, selecting what has worked well in the
several modes of railway administration, such a
controlling power might be easily placed in the
hands of the Government, without deadening the
impulse which private enterprise alone can impart,
and effectually prevent the springing up in India of
an " imperium in imperio," as has resulted in this
country from the laxity or want of foresight on the
part of the legislature, and the encroaching audacity
of successful enterprise, placing the roads of this
great country—the arteries of her vital energy and
strength—in the hands of private individuals, with
power to tax their fellow subjects, without appeal,
to an amount equal to the revenues of a mighty
Empire.*
* Should the Honourable East India Company grant a
guarantee, upon giving a concession, the relation of private
enterprise, and the executive of the Government, would of
necessity be approximated.
This is not the place to enter into particulars, but it may
be stated, that one shilling and elevenpence paid into the
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. evil
In compliance with the wishes of various cor¬
respondents, more detailed information regarding
particular projects is supplied. This has been given
the more willingly, as the spurious and ridiculous
emanations of the ignorant and designing, are
brought, by a system of gambling, to rank, ap¬
parently, as high in public estimation, as the most
feasible and legitimate undertakings sanctioned by
scientific and local knowledge.
Severity of comment has been pointed out in the
following pages, but those who made this allegation
were silent as to injustice. What language can be
too harsh, or animadversion too pungent, for those
who would palm upon the public the howling wil¬
derness, sullen in primeval solitude, for fields
teeming with herds and flocks and rich in hus¬
bandry ; wretched, isolated villages, as opulent
cities, rejoicing in extensive commercial relations.
In one Prospectus, in addition to a number of
imaginary towns, a small fort, on the top of a hill
3,000 feet high, is impudently put forth as a popu¬
lous, flourishing, and accessible city, while, in fact,
it is a mere habitable speck in the jungle, and its
population, a sergeant's guard !
India House Treasury, would frequently be an equivalent
for a 4 per cent, guarantee, and prevent the necessity of
throwing open the Calcutta treasury, by making an advance
upon goods.
cviii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
There are those who advocate as the grand de¬
sideratum for India, the connecting of the three
seats of Government, in utter ignorance of the vast
regions which intervene, the extent and nature of
the present intercourse, and the little political ad¬
vantage that would result from such an arrange¬
ment with the exception of uniting Calcutta and
Bombay.
There are also individuals who love to stand still
like ancient land-marks, while the world is ad¬
vancing around them; they laugh at everything
they do not understand, and their grasp of mind,
only enabling them to comprehend, or to believe,
what is patent to their senses, their risible faculties
are frequently excited. The idea of introducing
railways into India, was with them a palpable ab¬
surdity, on account of physical obstacles; the present
roads and embankments of the country, and finally
the report of the Railway Commission were appealed
to, and set the matter at rest; they now say,
although the railways! are made, the people won't
travel by them ; as they are all pilgrims, and the
longer time they take in going from one holy place
to another, so much the better, the merits of this
devotional act consisting in the delays and difficul¬
ties to be endured and surmounted. As if the few
poor wretches of low caste, who crawl for some
hundreds of miles on their stomachs to Juggernauth
PBEFAOE TO THE SECOND EDITION. cix
to gain a profitable reputation for sanctity were to
be taken as typifying, by their habits, the distinct
castes, classes, and sects of the whole native com¬
munity. As well might these stationary gentlemen
term us a nation of fanatics, because we happen to
have a few wild enthusiasts among us ; or say, that
in England we refuse to travel by railroad because
certain ancient dames still sigh for the " slow
coach " of their youth : nothing can be more
ignorant or unfounded than such assumption.
Pilgrimages in the East are generally combined
with business and other worldly avocations,* and
those who can afford it travel on horseback, or in
carriages, and the conveyance of pilgrims in India
has been reckoned as no inconsiderable part of the
traffic for railways, both by Europeans and natives.
Colonel Ouseley, Political Agent at Chota Nagpore,
remarks, that, " The natives can appreciate well,
and better in some cases, as we can, the advantages
of rapidity of transit " ; and an enlightened, native
gentleman, a merchant in Calcutta, expresses him¬
self as follows: " The growing class of intelligent
* An annual fair, is held at Hurdwar in the month of
April, at a certain spot on which Krishna stood, at the time
Bagirut brought the Ganges stream into existence. The fair
disperses immediately after the time appointed for the last
purification, and the pilgrims carry with them to their homes
the sacred water of the Ganges.
CX PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
natives would freely resort to it (the railway), and
lastly the religious connection between the Hindoos
and the holy cities of Benares, Gyah, Allahabad,
and others, would alone fill the trains with hundi'eds
of the better class of Pilgrims." These are the
sentiments of those acquainted with India and her
people.
Notwithstanding the present gloom which hangs
over railway property, its gradual development is
best proved by the returns, which show a yearly
increase of more than one million sterling to the
national income, front one thousand eight hundred
miles of railway. When this fact is kept in view
and the large sums that are lost in foreign loans,
and home and foreigr. mines,# all who are interested
* The Quarterly Review in one of its admirable articles on
railways, gives the following summary :—
"The British capital invested in railroads—expensive if
you will—but solid, enduring, vivifying works, is about
¿660,000,000. The capital risked, we fear, we might say lost,
in foreign loans, is computed at not less than ¿6121,000,000,
whereas the ¿660,000,000 invested in our railroads, are not
only represented by solid works, a substantial property, but
pay on the average 5 per cent., that is, 2 per cent, more than
the public securities of the State ; to which may be added
¿66,484,000 of British capital, paid up on foreign mining
speculations, described in Spackman's Statistical Tables
(p. 158), as being, with one or two exceptions, utterly worth¬
less, and an entire loss of the capital embarked in them, and
also a ¿64,500,000 paid, up in capital on British Mining
Companies, designated by the same authority, as not only
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. Cxi
in India, cannot but be anxious to see some portion
of our superfluous wealth, which is squandered with
a prodigal hand both at home and abroad, directed
to her shores, to commence a system of transit in
that magnificent country, famed through all time
for its inexhaustible riches, regarding which, the
Times of the 25th of September, in its leading
-article, says : " The wonderful progress of produc¬
tion and commerce in that country (India) en¬
courages us to hope for almost any result. . . .
With regard to our East India trade, rashness con¬
sists rather in leaving things as they are, than
attempting to develop its unequalled, and im¬
measurable resources," with a density of population
in the Lower Provinces of Bengal and Behar,
exceeding that of any country in Europe.
The introduction of that mighty engine of im¬
provement, to which England is herself so much
indebted, would cause the slumbering spirit of
India, to awake from the sleep of ages, the sleep of
apathy, superstition, and prejudice, to the know¬
ledge of the value of time, and to assume among
the nations an aspect of renovated power. " Her
complete failures, but memorable proofs of tbe folly and
cupidity of British capitalists, on one hand, and of the
knavery of their projectors on the other (lb. p. 153), making
a total of capital, nearly unproductive, where not entirely
lost, of upwards of ¿2130,000,000."
exil PBEFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.
(India) value will then shine forth, and those who
consult her interests must rejoice."
To the authorities in the India House, the author's
best acknowledgments are due, for the uniform
courtesy he has experienced ; the liberal access
afforded him to valuable official records, has enabled
him to place, in a condensed form, much that must
be interesting, regarding the resources of our-
Empire in the East.
He has also to express to many distinguished
individuals connected with India his sincere thanks
for valuable suggestions, and that encouragement,
which has induced him to bestow additional pains
on the edition now offered to the public, which he
trusts will be found more deserving of approbation
than the preceding one.
London, October, 1846.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
When we reflect on the pre-eminence we have at¬
tained as a nation, both for political sagacity and
an enlarged philanthropy, the neglect with which
we have treated, in some respects, our Indian do¬
minions and subjects, cannot but be matter of
surprise, if not of indignation ; and this surprise
is by no means lessened when England is regarded
as the great centre of the world's commerce; her
sons, wise, brave and humane, and ever in the van
of commercial enterprise, with an energy of purpose
which secures to them success, whether they pant
and toil in the luxuriant fields of a tropical clime,
or patiently, as fishermen pursue a precarious com¬
merce in the frozen regions of the north, where the
womb of nature is for ever sealed.
We are, emphatically, a money-making and com¬
mercial people, and in this character, as merchants
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
trading to the east, with our invoices and bills of
lading of our wares, did we first, with anxiety and
care, plant our foot on Indian soil, esteeming our¬
selves happy, if we received permission from the
native governments to pursue our thrifty avocations
in peace.
Without pausing to note the various phases in our
career, till the character of merchant was merged in
that of sovereign, we shall merely remark, that for
many years our Indian policy has been—if we may be
allowed a paradox—that of passive and involuntary
aggression, extending only our dominion when we
could not avoid doing so, and advancing our frontier
as a means of defence. We thus, from the force of
circumstances, have had a character thrust upon us
not our own ; gradually laying aside our peaceful and
profitable pursuits, and allowing our philanthropy to
slumber, we have acted in the eyes of those little ob¬
servant of our peculiar political relations in the east, as
if we lusted with an insatiable desire for territorial
aggrandisement and military renown; but although
now our empire is approaching with rapid strides (and,
from the portents in the political horizon, will soon
attain its natural and obvious boundary) towards the
north-west, to be defined, defended, and circum¬
scribed by the Indus and Himalaya, yet, the British
empire in the east appears far from having ascended
to its zenith ; and the time has now arrived to awake
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
3
to new and other glories, more consonant to our
genius as a people, the peaceful triumphs of commerce,
from improved intercourse, bringing in its train the
arts, the sciences, the literature, the civilization, and
religion of the west, causing the barren waste to be
fruitful, and the wilderness to blossom as the rose; the
sound of the hammer to ring in the solitude, and the
gospel of peace to be proclaimed in the darkest re¬
cesses of that benighted land.
That the mighty engine of improved intercourse has
not received that degree of attention from the liberal
and enlightened rulers of India which it demands,
is to be attributed, in a great degree, to the expen¬
sive wars which have been forced upon them—the
delicate political relations with numerous states—
the vastness of the territory to govern, and the com¬
parative unacquaintance with some of the provinces,
both as to their inhabitants and resources, and many
other affairs claiming their immediate regards. By
some it is injuriously urged, that the East India
Company, acting as trustees for the crown, and
from their charter expiring in 1854, have no wish to
invest capital in a country which it is possible, al¬
though not probable, they may be called upon to
relinquish—and as their dividend is limited to 10^
per cent, they can derive no advantage from de¬
veloping the resources of British India—that this as¬
persion is unjust, we feel assured—for, although there
4
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
is much that is anomalous in their authority and con¬
stitution, taking their administration as a whole, and
making due allowance for the distance of the country
governed, its vastness and difficulties, nothing could
be more wise and generally beneficent.
If India has had much to complain of—of positive
injustice, superadded to neglect, the odium of this in¬
justice rests with us as a people, or rather with our re¬
presentatives ; for have they not, by legislative enact¬
ments, treated India mere as a foreign country, but
little favoured, than as the most magnificent and
dazzling jewel of the imperial crown. In times of
peace, India and its affairs have been too often treated
with an apathy not to be accounted for, till some new
victory—some new nation, little heard of before, or if
heard of, not known, has bent its unwilling neck to
our yoke ; when the national vanity is flattered, its
curiosity excited, and the Prime Minister of England
declares at once the Sovereign's and the nation's voice
in applauding and rewarding the victors. But, in by¬
gone times, whenever oui' connexion with India was not
adorned with a remarkable achievement, our ministers
and legislators, unmindful of the tide of wealth which
flowed from India to our shores, crushed the energies
and redoubled the labours of her sons, by unwise and
unjustly exorbitant duties on the fruits of those la¬
bours, and this gloriously free country held back with
all the freezing rigour of despotism the advance of a
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
0
mighty nation, in whose hands an all-wise Providence
had placed its destinies in the career of social im¬
provement, and suspended the development of the
inexhaustible riches of its soil, by refusing to open its
ports, excepting on the most cruel terms, to its valu¬
able products. While so little reciprocating the nature
of our dealings with India—when thus refusing its
products—our own manufactures were poured into it,
under a small and nearly nominal duty, to the annihi¬
lation of the native cotton fabrics once so celebrated,
and the total disappearance at last of all local manu¬
facture.
Restraining, with one hand, the free labourer of the
East, they encouraged, with the other, the slave owner
of the West.
The old sugar duties must be in the recollection of
every one. Jamaica sugar, althou gh of superior quality,
and produced so much nearer England, paid a mode¬
rate duty ; while that from India, naturally less rich in
quality and coming from so great a distance, was
charged with a duty almost prohibitory. These errors
are now partially repaired; but time presses onward,
and much is still to be achieved by the most enlight¬
ened, the most moral and religious government in
Europe, to elevate, in the scale of nations, the people
of India.
Let the liberality and energy of the future, in peaoe
as in war, make amends for the past. A mighty ele-
6
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
ment of civilization is now coming to our aid—the
railway system of communication—the due develop¬
ment of which in India, is, at once, the most gigantic,
interesting, and important problem which the genius
of the age has propounded to the world.
Its pressing and paramount importance cannot be
over-estimated, whether in reference to a great and in¬
creasing commerce, or tc the consolidation and pro¬
tection of our dominions, and the many blessings
which would flow to the people from improved inter¬
course ; so that now when our sword is sheathed, and
the roar of our cannon has ceased to make our enemies
tremble on their thrones, the eyes of the soldier, the
statesman, the merchant, and the philanthropist, will
be alike turned towards the gloomy recesses of Leaden-
hall Street, where it is hoped that this subject will be
discussed with the consideration and promptitude it
demands.
For the sake of brevity and distinctness, we now
proceed to embody our remarks under separate heads;
supporting our own views and assertions by testimony
drawn from the best authorities, whether in India or
in this country.
7
POLITICAL AND MILITARY IMPORTANCE
OF
RAILWAYS IN BRITISH INDIA.
The imperious necessity of rapid intercommunication
in reference to our Indian possessions, in a political
and military point of view, is so obvious, that it would
be matter of surprise, were it not for the still more
pressing claims on their attention formerly alluded to,
that the authorities have not long ere this prosecuted
the subject with the assiduous and careful energy
which they have only recently begun to evince ; but
the insult offered to our arms by the invasion of the
Sikhs, and the delay which took place before that insult
could be avenged, must have effectually demonstrated to
all, the impolicy, the impossibility of further procrasti¬
nation, in summoning science to our aid, to take ad¬
vantage of the natural facilities of the country—to
bring what is distant near—the weak outpost, under
the immediate protection of the great station, with its
troops and military stores, in its rear. During the late
8 POLITICAL AND MILITARY IMPORTANCE OF
campaign against the Sikhs, nothing could be more
apparent, than that our vast resources were for weeks
unavailing from the wan ; of rapid transit ; powerless
to hurl back aggression, we were compelled to suffer,
for more than a month, the presence of an enemy
within our border, too formidable to be dislodged. It
is true that this indignity, offered to the majesty of the
British name, is now almost lost in the completeness
of the subsequent triumph ; but, while we rested on
our arms, waiting the arrival of heavy artillery, stores
and reinforcements, what might not the enemy have
achieved, had he but possessed conduct and enterprise
equal to his power. How wonderful the infatuation,
that he did not with the 'first blow he struck, over-
i '
whelm Sir John Littler, and then attack in detail our
wearied detachments as they came up under the
Governor-General and Lord Gough, instead of re¬
serving his strength, till it suited us to become the
assailants in those memorable struggles.
A recent Indian periodical* states that, " where it
takes three months now, it will take only as many
days, to bring distant consignments to market, and the
same capital, consequently, which at present can be
returned only three or four times a year, may be re¬
turned, probably, twenty. A railroad will operate in
the same manner, increasing the effective strength of
Calcutta lieview for March, 1846.
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
9
the army, by saving the time employed in marches.
In the annual relief, infantry regiments are often
moved from one end of India to the other, at an ave¬
rage of ten and a half miles per day, halting six days
in the month, so that it takes about six weeks to move
from this presidency (Calcutta) to Benares. Hence
arises the necessity of the concentration at all times of
a large force in the neighbourhood of an enemy. There
are not the means existing of concentrating troops on
a sudden emergency. This was strikingly exemplified
in various ways, on occasion of the recent war on the
north-west frontier. When it broke out, all officers,
whose regiments were in the field, were ordered te
join the army. About one hundred, we believe, in
the different services—engineers, artillery, infantry,
and medical—required to go from this presidency.
They were sent at the public expense, and with the
greatest despatch. How many do our readers suppose
the Postmaster-General was able to send daily?
Three !—and as the journey took sixteen days tra¬
velling, night and day, few arrived before the war was
over. Even this could not have been accomplished at
any other period of the year.
" Under the order now countermanded for the es¬
tablishment of depots, the regiments stationed in the
presidency division were ordered to supply about six
hundred men to the depot, intended to be formed at
Benares. The utmost despatch was desired by Go¬
vernment; bullock hackeries, the only kind of carriage
10 POLITICAL AND MILITARY IMPORTANCE OF
ever available here, were put in requisition in the usual
manner, but the garriwâns* had taken alarm at the
rumour, industriously and perhaps maliciously circu¬
lated, that they were to go to the seat of war. They
were consequently obtained with difficulty. Many ran
away, and from these causes several days were lost
before the march could commence, and a halt of some
days more became necessary at the end of the first
day's journey. Is this a predicament proper for the
Government to be placed in, within a few miles of a
great political and commercial capital ? Is it just to
the great interests involved in the stability of British
power, that the movement, of troops should depend on
native opinion, or on the; caprice of the drivers, or
owners of bullock hackeries ?
"The chief magazine for the supply of military
stores for the forces employed in the Lower and
Upper provinces, is and must be at Fort William for
a century to come. No where else can the vast mu¬
nitions of war, required on occasions of hostilities, be
safely deposited. Their safety is itself a cause of
strength, in the impression which the knowledge of it
makes on the natives of India. But their use depends
on their transport, which, though more easily accom¬
plished by water, than the transport of troops, could
be effected with incomparably superior advantages by
a railway. The magazines of Allahabad, Cawnpore,
* D rivers.
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
11
Agra and Delhi, from which a great part of the Bengal
army is supplied, receive all their stores from Calcutta:
those of Ajmir, Eerozepore, and Saugor, are also chiefly
supplied from this presidency.
" Not only is transport by railroads the quickest, but,
if the saving of time is taken into account, it is the
cheapest, mode ofconveying troops.
"Sir James Willoughby Gordon, Quarter-Master-
General, was examined on this point (before a Com¬
mittee of the House of Commons), and gave his
evidence as follows :—
" '1994. Then, in consequence of the saving of time
which is effected, the total cost of the transport of
troops is actually less to Government, than their "ex¬
penses on the road, when they go on foot?—Exactly,
perhaps the better way would be, to state one case,
which is as good as a thousand. We will take the
distance from London to Birmingham ; the expenses
for marching for one man, being nine marches and one
halt, is 10s. 10c/.; by railroad he would cost 10s. 7d.;
therefore, in that distance, there is a saving of 3d. on
each man.'
" '1995. Lord G. Somerset.—You are now speaking
of cavalry ?—No, infantry. Cavalry I have moved by
railroad under particular circumstances, which, if ne¬
cessary, I shall state ; but, so far as regards expense,
the horse marching costs nothing ; he eats the same
as he does in the barrack-stable ; but when a soldier
marches, he costs the public, in addition, Is. Id. per
12 POLITICAL AND MILITARY IMPORTANCE OF
day, of which 10c/. goes to the publican, and 3d. to
himself. Then, I should say, that this mode of rail¬
way conveyance has enabled the army (comparatively
to the demands made upon it, a very small one) to do
the work of a very large one ; you send a battalion of
one thousand men from London to Manchester in
nine hours ; that same battalion marching, would take
seventeen days, and they arrive at the end of nine
hours just as fresh, or nearly so, as when they started;
by moving the troops to and fro by that mode of con¬
veyance, you could not have done one-tenth part of
the work that it was required of the troops to do, and
necessarily to do, in the year 1842.'
" £ 1996.—In the case you have mentioned, for the
sake of example, of the conveyance of so many soldiers
from London to Birmingham, it is obvious—is it not
—that, besides the small difference between 10s. 10d.
and 10s. Id., the soldier was available for nine days'
service in this case which he spent in travelling in the
other ?' ' Yes.'
" ' 1997.—And over and above that, there is the
power of concentration at particular points, the im¬
portance of which is hardly to be estimated ?' ' Yes;
it facilitates military operations to an extent beyond
my power to describe to the committee.'
Regarding the superior safety of railroad travelling,
as compared with all other modes of conveyance, the
same witness made the following statement :—
" 1 For the last two years, ending December 31st, I
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
13
have moved by railroad 130,174 persons ; and of
those persons a very large number were women and
children, and they were moved without any reported
accident whatever, which is a degree of security I do
not think attached to any other mode of conveyance
that has come under my observation, neither by canal,
nor by sea, nor by waggon, nor by coach. Perhaps
the committee might like to have that in detail, it is a
very short paper, and I have therefore brought it.'
The witness delivered in the same, which is as follows :—
" 'Summary of the officers, men, women and children
conveyed by railway in Great Britain, in the years
ending the 31st of December, 1842, and 31st of De¬
cember 1843 respectively.
Period.
Officers.
Men.
Women.
Children
Horses.
June 30, 1842
Dec. 31, „ . .
785
906
28,329
33,683
1,884
1,327
2,073
1,300
113
Total for 1842
1,751
62,012
3,211
3,337
113
June 30, 1843
Dec. 31, „ . .
597
905
22,869
30,042
1,178
1,316
1,450
1,470
Total for 1843
1,502
52,911
2,494
2,920
General Total 7
1842 & 1843 j
3,253
114923
5,705
6,257
113
Total individuals, 130,188
Horse Guards, 27th Feb., J 844.*' "
* Reports of a Select Committee of the House of Commons on
Railways.
14 POLITICAL AND MILITARY IMPORTANCE OE
In the month of November last this officer gave
similar testimony, before the Gauge Commission, as
to the economy, safety and adaptation of railroads to
military purposes.
He stated that during; the three years and a half,
ending the 30th of June 1845, 212,000 people were
moved by railway, of which 9,600 were women, and
above 11,000 children, besides 378 horses, without
any reported accident.
The horses came out of the horse boxes, after a
movement of 100 miles, just as fresh as when they
went into them.
" 6325.—Do you imagine, in the event of this
country being at war wit h France, the railways of this
kingdom could be advantageously used in the national
defence?"
" Certainly. The effect of rapid communication by
Railway, speaking militarily, is, that it enables you to
do with a small army the work of a large one."
After adverting to the great inconvenience and
expense of having large bodies of troops quartered in
different parts of the coast, as was the case at the
breaking out of the last war, he adds—" Now it would
not be necessary to do that ; you would probably con¬
centrate them in some central place, and move them
from thence by railway."
" 6337.—You mean that they would not be concen¬
trated upon any point of the coast ?"
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
15
" No. At the breaking out of the last war, you
had a large division of the army in Essex ; you had
another in Norfolk ; you had an other in northamp-
tonshire, and so on northward. You had a very large
one in Kent; you had another in Sussex; you had
another in Hampshire ; and you had one in Devon¬
shire ; all of which were separate and distinct corps,
and could not be removed but at great expense of
time and labour. Now, in the event of similar cir¬
cumstances of hostility with Erance, it would be much
better to concentrate all those troops in some central
point, such a central point as might be thought best,
and from thence they might be conveyed by railway
to any part of the coast where their services were
most required, to and fro, with very great rapidity and
certainty."
" 6388.—Taking the great lines as radii from that
focus ?"
" Yes ; the focus might be wherever it might be
thought best. You might consider which was best,
with a view to ammunition, with a view to proximity
to an arsenal, with a view to provisions, and with a
view to the troops being quartered; they would go
backwards and forwards without difficulty."
The military evidence of Major-General Sir John
Fox Burgoyne, K.C.B., Inspector-general of fortifi¬
cations—lately chief commissioner of public works in
Ireland, and also one of the railway commissioners for
16 POLITICAL AND MILITABA IMPORTANCE OF
that country, given before the Gauge Commissioners,
contains the following passages :—
" 6346.—You are probably of opinion that the
fallacy of moving artillery , cavalry and infantry, by rail¬
way, might be, in case of war, essentially conducive
to the national defence ?"
" No doubt of it, of very great importance. I look
upon the whole safety of the kingdom to depend upon
railways. Looking at the facility there is now for
making incursions upon the coasts, with large bodies
of men such as the French have, nothing but the
power of concentration, which the railways would
give, could enable you to resist successfully; and I
think you will thus be able successfully to counteract,
with the aid of a few other means, the apprehensions
of invasion from the power of steam vessels. I quite
understand Sir Willoughby Gordon's reasoning about
the difference between the present and former time.
Formerly the apprehension was always upon the south
coast of England, and it was very necessary there to
have the troops stationed, so that they could be within
reach of every part, by the then mode of communica¬
tion, which was by ordinary marching, therefore you
could not afford to have them above three or four
days' distance ; but now you would have your troops
away 200 miles in the north, and you could bring
them down, within twenty-four or forty-eight hours,
to any part where there was a threatening; giving you
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
17
that power, the great advantage of which is well known
in military tactics, the power of concentrating upon
any given point in a short time. Por you could con¬
centrate nearly all the forces of England before the
enemy could go through the operation of actually
landing 20,000 men ; for we know that the operation
of landing a large body of men, under every advantage
which the British navy affords us, was very serious ;
it took days and weeks to effect it with all the equip¬
ments. I do not believe any other power is at all
aware, as we are, of the difficulties of landing troops,
because we have tried it over and over again, which
they never did ; and we have found by experience,
that it was attended with very great difficulty, and
took a very long time. The whole question of war
depends upon the General who can concentrate his
troops with the greatest rapidity, and in the greatest
numbers, upon a given point of importance ; and if
you can get down your men from the north faster than
the enemy can land them on the coast, of course you
have every advantage."
" There is another very great facility that railways
give, with regard to military operations, which is in
carrying camp equipage. In case of war, camp equi¬
page is of the greatest importance, and the carriage of
it by ordinary means is very difficult, but by railway
you would carry it with the troops very easily, and
you would form an encampment very easily in a very
short time." c
18 POLITICAL AND MILITARY IMPORTANCE OF
"Then there is another great advantage in the
railways in defensive warfare, which is, that the parties
who are defending themselves, who are resisting inva¬
sion, have the use of the railway to the last ; whereas,
if the enemy gets possession of it, it is of no use what¬
ever to him. Now, in the case of ordinary roads,
when an enemy got possession of a road, it was of
great service to him ; he immediately ran along it till
he got to the next point of opposition. But, when he
gets possession of a railway it is of no use to him at
all ; he has no carriages and no locomotives ; but you
have the use of them, on the contrary, till the last mo¬
ment. I look upon railways to be important mainly
for defence, and I think steam generally is chiefly of
advantage in favour of defensive power.
" I should expect all the reserves to be a long way
in the rear, always having the facility of that rapid
communication to various points. I would never trust
in the front more than what were necessary for imme¬
diate defence.
" The great reserves would all be in the interior.
" Along the outer circumference, troops attempting
to assemble, might be met by the enemy and opposed
in detail, whereas, from the interior, they have the ad¬
vantage of concentration on their side, and may direct
their masses on inferior forces."
" 6336.—Does anything further occur to you in
respect to this question ?" "I think that the point that
Sir Willoughby Gordon mentioned about the security
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
19
of railways in case of insurrection, is of very great im¬
portance. It is one that has always struck me with
reference to the danger of having the railways broken
up. If you had any apprehension of anything of the
kind, you would have a flying corps upon the railway,
which would run from one place to another ; and any¬
body that attempted it would get into a great scrape ;
for you would be upon them before they could be
aware of it. They might do partial mischief for a
short time, but they could not keep any permanent
hold of the thing, or do any such mischief that your
own people would not be able to repair in a short
time."
That the important advantages of railways for the
security and defence of this country, so forcibly pointed
out by these two distinguished officers, would result
from the introduction of this mode of transit in India,
must be evident to all, when the greatness of territory,
the extent and nature of its frontier, and the numerical
disproportion of the army to the population are consi¬
dered, but only those who are practically acquainted
with the country, its people and climate, its roads and
conveyances can duly estimate the expense, delay, and
annoyances which so frequently accompany the move¬
ment of even a single regiment in its line of march ;
and this, too, in times of peace; but when forced
marches become necessary, the carriage seized and
retained by authority, even if adequate for the con¬
veyance of camp equipage, is soon thrown so far in the
20 POLITICAL AND MILITARY IMPORTANCE OP
rear as not to be available. The men and officers are
consequently, when making two days' march in one,
constantly exposed, when in an exhausted state, from
the want of their tents, to great heat during the day,
and intense cold at night, and such exposure at the
very opening of the campaign, deprives the ranks of
many an efficient soldier. Railroads would entirely
obviate, or greatly diminish, these difficulties, there
would be no fatigue experienced, and but little expo¬
sure. The same train that would convey the soldier,
would also convey his arms, his tent and refreshment,
so that an encampment of well supplied and efficient
troops might be formed in an incredibly short time, at
any point where their services might seem to be re¬
quired.
The following paragraph we subjoin is from a
German paper. " The late affair at Cracow has af¬
forded an instance of the benefits of railways for the
speedy transport of troops and warlike stores to the
scene of operation ; an Austrian corps of 921 men
having been transported, on the 3rd instant, from
Prague to Almutz, about 100 miles, in fourteen hours
and a half ; and, on the 5th, a body of cavalry of 1,500
men, with horses and baggage, made the same journey
in twelve hours, thus saving from eight to nine days."
Colonel Warren, C.B.,Town Major, Fort William, re-
gardingrailways in India, expresses himself as follows:—
[There cannot be two opinions upon the subject.
For my own part, I regard their introduction as likely to
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
21
effect such a change throughout the whole country,
and to confer such incalculable benefits both upon the
government and the public, that no cost (within
reasonable limits) could be too great to accomplish the
object.
The importance of the undertaking, in a com¬
mercial point of view, I presume to be great; but I
am unable to give an opinion; but of its advantages, in
a military and political point of view, 1 have no
hesitation in stating, that the advantages are infinitely
beyond what, on a cursory examination of the subject,
might be supposed, and would be cheaply purchased
at almost any price.
The practicability of receiving intelligence from
distant parts of the country, in as many hours as at
present it requires days, and even weeks to accomplish,
and of sending instructions, with troops and stores in
the same brief period, are considerations which cannot
be too highly estimated. Troops could be kept at
more distant and healthier stations than at present,
and much loss of life from sickness would be by this
means spared. Stores would not to the same extent
be required at the various depots, and the loss by
decay, and the destruction incidental to the climate
which now attains, would also be avoided.]*
* The above extract is from the pamphlet of Mr. R. M.
Stephenson, and in all cases where we have availed ourselves of
the information contained in the same, the extracts are marked
by brackets as above (1846).
22 POLITICAL AND MILITARY IMPORTANCE OE
Many other officers in I ndia, both in the Engineers
and other arms of the serv ice, coincide with the opinion
of Col. Warren ; but we confine ourselves to a short
extract from the letter of Captain Goodwyn, Garrison
Engineer, and Civil Architect of Port William, and
Superintendent of suspension bridges and iron roofing.
[To the Government, in the conveyance of military
stores, troops, officers and mails, the benefits are really
so numerous and of such magnitude, that the merits
of each individual case requires more detail than is
here necessary. Suffice it to say, that the estimated
gains have been entered into, and are enormous, both
in a financial and military view ; whilst the statistical
returns of the number of passengers and of the traffic
on the line between Calcutta and Allahabad, of which,
I believe, you have the particulars, sufficiently confirm
•what I have advanced on that head.]
In addition to the facts and opinions which have
been stated, drawn from the evidence of the Quarter¬
master-General of the Army before a select committee
of the House of Commons, the more recent testimony
of that officer and General Burgoyne before the Gauge
Commission, the Calcutta Review, and officers in the
service of the Honourable East India Company, we
close these extracts on the political and military im¬
portance of railways in India, by transferring to our
pages the following corroborative testimony of Mr.
Williamson, late Revenue Commissioner, Bombay, con-
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
23
tained in a printed letter recently addressed to Lord
Wharncliffe, as Chairman of the Great Indian Pen¬
insula Railway Company.
" In Europe the importance of a railway as a mili¬
tary work is limited to the speed and comfort with
which large bodies of troops may be conveyed to their
destination ; but in India its value is enhanced by the
mode in which it would spare the health and save the
lives of European troops.
"The saving of human life and the increase of
efficiency in the men would of themselves be a suffi¬
cient argument in favour of such a mode of transit ;
but setting aside all considerations of humanity, the
mere pecuniary saving would be very great. It is
well known, that every recruit landed in India costs
the Company one hundred and ten pounds, which sum
is considerably increased before he is dismissed from
drill and fit for service, so that the saving of every
single life becomes a matter of considerable financial
importance." *
The cogency of Mr. Williamson's remarks regarding
the pecuniary advantage which would accrue to the
state by the safe conveyance of troops must be strik¬
ingly apparent to all acquainted with the tedious and
dangerous navigation of the Ganges.
* Pages 11 and 14 of the letter by T. Williamson, Esq., C.S.,
on the Advantages of Railway Communication in India. (1846).
24
IMPORTANCE OF INDIAN RAILWAYS.
Three years ago one hundred Europeans perished
in this river during a gale, entailing a loss upon the
government of upwards of ten thousand pounds.
Leaving these facts to the consideration of those
interested in the stability of the British dominion in
the East, and merely alluding to the great facilities
which the government would derive from safe and
rapid transit of their treasure and despatches, the
comparative ease with which the present necessarily
cumbrous machinery of government might be wielded
or reformed, both for the administration of justice, and
the collection of revenue in the more distant provinces,
the stimulus that would be felt immediately in every
department of the public service, by being brought
almost into contact with the seat of supreme authority;
the active and efficient supervision of which would
elicit more fully the highest and best qualities of their
servants, improve the revenue, and be a blessing to
the people.
Provided with this additional source of energy and
strength, should an enemy again be rash enough to
threaten our territory, he wrould find that territory
surrounded, as with a wall of iron, bristling with Bri¬
tish bayonets, our munitions of war at hand, and our
guns in position.
Works so formidable to our enemies, so useful to
ourselves, how calculated to impress surrounding na¬
tions with the intelligence, the resources, and the
power of the paramount authority in India !
SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES
OF
RAILWAYS IN BRITISH INDIA.
" There be three things," says Lord Bacon, " which
make a nation great and prosperous, a fertile soil, busy
workshops, and easy conveyance for men and commo¬
dities from one place to another."
" Railways are, assuredly, next to the invention of
printing, the most powerful instrument of civilization
that the ingenuity of man has ever devised. It is
difficult, if not impossible, to foresee and define the
results which they must, of necessity, at some period
produce on the fate of nations."*
The knowledge of the value of time, the commercial
benefits and social amelioration which flow from im¬
proved intercommunication, are now becoming gene-
* Address to the Chamber of Deputies by the French Minister
of public works. (1846).
26 SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES OF
rally known and justly appreciated, and it will not
have escaped the observation of the attentive reader of
history, that the march of nations in general improve¬
ment, enterprise, and the acquisition of riches, has
been accelerated, or retarded, in a nearly exact ratio
with the means afforded them of exchanging ideas and
commodities within their own territory, and extending
their relations with neighbouring and more remote
countries.
The means of transit besides constituting a chief
element in collecting data on which to base a true
estimate of the progress of society, operate alternately
as the cause and effect of civilization and prosperity.
The formation of roads invariably tends to improve
the most barbarous district, to evolve its resources and
ameliorate the condition cf its inhabitants, while the
converse is alike certain in result. A country rich in
agricultural, manufacturing or mineral wealth, with a
people whose energies are awakened to the incalculable
benefits which accrue to commerce from the easy and
rapid interchange of commodities, demands increased
facilities of transit, taxing; to the utmost science, ex¬
perience, and skill to keep pace with its requirements,
The state of internal communication of a country
then bears a direct relation to and is co-equal with the
progress of its people in general improvement, good
roads and other means of transit being the infallible
signs—because the certain consequences—of civilization
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
27
—as their absence or imperfection proves the reverse
in a greater or less degree. " Let us travel," says the
Abbé Raynal, " over all the countries of the earth, and
wherever we find no facility of travelling from a city
to a town, or from a village to a hamlet, we may pro¬
nounce the people to be barbarians." Sir Henry
Parnell in his admirable " Treatise on the Formation
&c. of Roads," makes the following forcible remark—
"The making of roads, in point of fact, is fundamentally
essential to bring about the first change that every
rude country must undergo, in emerging from a con¬
dition of poverty and barbarism."
" By this means the village and the city are brought
close together in effect, and yet retain all the advan¬
tages of their local separation; the port and the manu¬
factory are only separated by the distance, in time, of
a few hours, while such distance in space affords room
for all the various occupations which contribute to the
perfection of either."* A writer on this subject re¬
marks that—" Next to the genial influence of the
seasons, upon which the regular supply of our wants,
and a great portion of our comfort so much depends,
there is perhaps no circumstance, more interesting to
men in a civilized state, than the perfection of the
means of interior communication."
Although the present mode of transit, when com¬
pared with that in use in England some centuries ago
* M.S. Lectures on the Rise ancl Progress of Internal Com¬
munication, by-an Eminent Civil Engineer. (1846).
28 SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES OF
(and which still prevails in Spain, and portions of
other countries in Europe, and which is so general in
Asia, and may be denominated the pack-horse system),
might be regarded as having attained a perfection
more than commensurate with the anticipations of its
projectors, notwithstanding this, an eminent statist as¬
sures us, that we are but in our infancy as travellers.
"All railway systems ought to be eminently expansive,
and to take what has been accomplished in the past
as a criterion of what is to be accomplished in the
future, nay, of that which the public will shortly de¬
mand, and to found any conclusion on such a narrow
basis, would be most detrimental to the public interests.
These demand from our engineers (and they will, I
doubt not, satisfy the demand) increased power, in¬
creased speed, and increased economy. Let us bear
in mind that the railway system is but commenced ;
and, looking at the great improvements which have
been made in locomotives, enabling them to ac¬
complish the conveyance of loads double those they
could draw some years ago, let us be careful in adopt¬
ing the present average speed and loads of passengers
and other trains, as the speed and loads that will be
required some years hence by the public. Let us not
devise our future works and arrangements with the
idea of 'finality' to cram]) our exertions."*
* Principles of Railway Management, by J. Butler Williams,
Esq., F.S.S., F.G.S., read before the Statistical Society of London,
16th March, 1846—page 26. (1846).
INDIAN BAILWAYS.
29
Vast, and beyond the calculation of the most san¬
guine, as have been the benefits conferred on this
country by railway communication, the introduction
of this system of transit into India, must lead to re¬
sults of still greater magnitude and importance. In
England this was only a question of degree ; applied
to India, it will be one of kind, or a new and vivifying
element of social and commercial progression, acting
on a population exceeding one hundred millions.*
Capital and enterprise, directed by science,'have for
ages stimulated the industrial energies of our people,
and the latent resources of our soil ; whilst the exten¬
sive and fertile plains of India, teeming with the
richest agricultural and mineral products which—
when remote from river traffic, from the want of
roads—remain to rot on the ground which nourished
them, or lie dormant beneath its surface, benumbing
the energies and debasing the moral capacities of the
inhabitants.
" Great merit is due to the late Lord William
Bentinck, for having established a few steam boats
on the river, and to the Home authorities for having
maintained them. It is ascertained these boats afford
a very profitable return ; but their number, not ex¬
ceeding six or eight, so far from being adequate to the
* The entire population of India may be fairly estimated at
150,000,000. (1846).
30 SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES OF
conveyance of the traffic up and down the Ganges, are
scarcely sufficient for the transport of the public stores
and troops proceeding to the interior.*
" A reference to the map of India shows that the
cotton-growing districts, on the Nerbudda, and those
of Nagpoor and Amrowty, in Berar, are remote from
Mirzapore, the entrepôt, on the Ganges, lying between
Benares and Allahabad ; and the mode of conveyance
may be thus described :—
"The cotton is brought on oxen, carrying 160
pounds each, at the extreme rate, in fair weather, of
seven miles a day for a continuance, and at a price of
about five shillings for each 100 miles. If we take
the average distance to Mirzapore at 500 miles, each
pound of cotton costs in transit above twopence-half-
penny. It has thence to be borne by water carriage
nearly 800 miles further on to Calcutta, from which
port the exportation of such cotton to England at a
profit must be looked for in vain. Within the last
seven or eight years, a good road, between Jubalpore
and Mirzapore, has been formed ; and it is satisfactory
to know that although 400 carts only passed over in
the year after it was built, no fewer than 6,000 went
along it in 1838 ; and this number will daily increase.
* Since the above was written, several fleets of steamers for
inland navigation have been established for private enterprise
and with abundant success. (1840).
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
31
The misfortune of this road, however, as regards the
cotton trade, is that it only commences half way be¬
tween the cotton districts and the entrepot. The
article, therefore, has necessarily to travel 250 miles on
oxen's backs, and the contract for conveyance extends
to the whole distance ; so that, in fact, for all beneficial
purposes to the cotton trade in that quarter, this ex¬
cellent road is almost useless. In order to render it
available, it should be completed to Nagpoor and
Amrowty. Were this effected, and the transport by
carts substituted, as we may be sure it would be, it
would diminish the expense of conveyance alone from
twopence-halfpenny to less than a farthing a pound.
The calculation is simple. An ox carries 160 pounds
at the rate of seven miles a day, in fair weather only,
for a continuous journey of one or two months. In
the absence of a defined and good road, a drove of
several hundred head of cattle requires to be con¬
stantly watched, and prevented from straying on the
march : and this leads to the necessity of travelling by
day in the hot weather, when the thermometer is
seldom less than 100°, and frequently 130° Fahrenheit.
These droves are never so few as 100, and often ex¬
ceed 1000. Every morning, after daylight, each ox
lias to be laden ; and before the operation is over, the
sun is already high above the horizon. The cattle
have then to proceed at the slow rate of two miles an
hour, and seldom perform a journey of more than
32 SOCIAIj and commercial advantages of
eight or nine miles per day. The horde generally
halts one day in the seven. (Troops, in marching on
service, are required to halt once on every third day).*
If the caravan is overtaken by rain, the cotton, be¬
coming saturated with moisture, is so heavy as to pre¬
vent its transport on the cattle, and the roads, if lying
through the cotton ground, are so deep that men even
sink above their ankles at every step, and cattle to
their knees. It may easily be supposed that, under
such a calamity, the merchant and the carrier are both
ruined. How different is the case with a cart on a
good road. Here the goods, once laden, may be
secured from rain, and are never touched during the
whole journey. The attachment of the cattle to the
yoke does not literally occupy a minute.
" Thus harnessed, the cart can travel by night
during moonlight, and morning and evening, in dark
nights, at the rate of from fifteen to twenty miles
a day ; and the cart of the Deccan, awkward and ill-
constructed as it is, with two draught oxen, conveys
with facility the loads of ten carriage cattle—that is to
say, 1600 pounds, and proceeds at the rate of two and
a half, or even three miles an hour."f
* In Bengal, in the annual relief, infantry regiments march
on the average ten miles and a half per diem, halting six days in
the month. (1846).
f " The Cotton Trade of India," by Major General Briggs,
F.R.S., 1840.
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
33
Since General Brigg's pamphlet was written, the
means of internal communication have been extended
and improved, but still much remains to be done for
developing this essential element of prosperity, power,
and civilization.
" Believing it to be generally admitted, that opening
and perfecting lines of interior communication (more
especially those leading from capitals having, by sea,
unlimited commercial intercourse), has ever been found
eminently conducive to national improvements, it is
deemed unnecessary to offer proof of the assertion,
further, than by referring to the prosperous state of
Britain and America, where such works abound and
are multiplying, compared with that of any country,
however superior in natural fertility, in which they
have continued neglected, or are unknown."*
That the British merchants resident in India, as
well as the wealthy and intelligent members of the
native community, are alive to the commercial and
social benefits derivable from railroads in India, will
be evident from the subjoined extracts.
[The great risk of our rivers in our country boats
—the length of the voyage—the want of water a
great portion of the year—the strength of the current
in the rains, and the periodical monsoons, would all be
* Report on the Rajmahl Canal by General Macleod and
Colonel Forbes,
D
34 social and commercial advantages oe
thrown into the scale in favour of railroads, inde¬
pendent of the incalculable benefits the people of
India would derive by a rapid and free intercourse all
the year round, uninterrupted by causes which impede
inland navigation, even when propelled by steam."—
Allan Deffell & Co.
" There can be no doubt, that, as regards the com¬
mercial interests of Bengal, and those of the public,
any line of railway will be of advantage, and we believe
that these are lines the advantage of which would be
very great. For instance, from Rajmahl to Calcutta
certainly, and probably the longer line between Cal¬
cutta and Mirzapore."—Cockerell & Co.
" Were we to express our views as fully as we feel
upon this subject, we should probably exceed the
limits of sober calculation. That it will benefit the
country by developing her hidden and partially-opened
resources—that it will infuse a spirit of enterprise
hitherto unknown to her merchants—and that it will
increase the consumption of British and other goods
where they are known, and create a demand for them
where they are not—-are inferences which even the
cautious must admit."—Kelsall and Ghose.]
Regarding the probable return to the shareholders
on the capital invested, our Calcutta friends are equally
sanguine.
[Notwithstanding the difficulty and delay of land
carriage, from 19,000 to 22,000 tons of merchandize
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
35
pass along the military road (per annum?) It has
been ascertained that the expense of conveyance by
land is equal to between three-pence and four-pence
per ton per mile.*
" By water the official returns from the Jungypore
toll-house shows that 181,000 tons of merchandize
pass annually between Calcutta and Benares, and the
districts above that point.
" The expense of the river route, including insur¬
ance and interest during the time occupied in transit
amount to about two-pence per ton, per mile, on goods
of the value of £40 per ton, or somewhat more than
the minimum charge on a railway, f
" It appears, also, that 435,000 foot passengers pass
annually along the military road, and between 30,000
and 40,000 by conveyances of various kinds.
" By the river route the number of passengers in
1840-41 was 58,378, occupying 14,591 boats.
"These returns show a larger traffic, and a greater
number of passengers, than were to be found on any
of the great thoroughfares of Europe, previous to the
introduction of railways ; and, the inference therefore,
without going into details which are beyond my present
* The Bombay estimate is eight-pence to eleven-pence per ton
per mile, by pack bullocks. (1846).
t The minimum charge of a railway may be for coals and such
rough goods, a penny and even three farthings per ton. (18461.
36 social and commercial advantages of
limits, is, that such works would answer better there
than they have elsewhere, especially if they can be
constructed, as I believe, for £5,000 per mile, instead
of from three to four times that sum as in Europe.
" I am satisfied, indeed, after very careful enquiry
and minute attention to the subject, that no country
in the world has ever offered so tempting a field for
the investment of capital in railways, as the valley of
the Ganges, from one extremity to the other.
" The physical impediments are much less than
those upon the line of any large railways I have ever
examined."—G. Asiiburneu. (Firm of Macintyre
and Co.)
" If an industrious and thriving population, num¬
bering about 100,000,000—a large, active, and daily
expanding internal traffic—cheap land and labour, with
most of the necessary materials for construction on the
spot, at prices equally low—and perfect security for
person and property, are elements that will command
success, then it is certain that a more promising field
than Bengal for the investment of railway capital,
could not be found.
" I speak exclusively in a commercial sense. The
military question, so intimately connected with this
subject, I am unable to offer an opinion upon. The
revenue that would arise from the conveyance of troops
and stores, however, I should think would be very large,
" In fact, the more I look at this subject, the more
indian railways.
37
satisfied do I feel that the introduction of a well-
organised system of railway communication into Bengal,
would prove not only highly advantageous to the pre¬
sidency itself, but also to the shareholders, by yielding
them a liberal and steady return for capital.
" The above is my deliberate opinion, formed after
much careful consideration of the question."—Mutty
Loll Seal.]
The following sentiments and anticipations regarding
the moral influence of improved intercourse on the
people, emanating as they do, from an intelligent and
enterprising native merchant of Calcutta, Baboo Ram
Ghopaul Ghose, cannot but be interesting.
[We are aware that the people of this country are
generally poor—that the natives of Bengal are not a
travelling people, and that the religious prejudices
would interfere to some extent to prevent the Hindoos
resorting to these conveyances. While we admit that
the majority of the people cannot afford to travel in a
railway train, we maintain that the number of those
who can, are by no means small. The social relations
between the Upper and the Lower Provinces is almost
nil, but the mercantile relations are extensive and ex¬
tending ; and so far as mercantile . pursuits are con¬
cerned, the up-country people are noted travellers.
"The growing class of intelligent natives would
freely resort to it ; and, lastly, the religious connexion
between the Hindoos and the holy cities of Benares, Gy ah,
38 SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES OF
Allahabad, and others, would alone fill the trains with
hundreds of the better class pilgrims. This brings us to
consider the extent of religious prejudices. As a native
of the land, the writer feels some confidence in stating
his opinion, that he believes they may be overcome by a
few simple arrangements. Let there be three divisions
of the people—namely, Mahomedans and high and low
caste Hindoos. If any female passengers offer, let
them be accommodated in separate carriages. And do
not let the travellers be required to make a run of
more than twelve hours at a time (which, of course,
would never be necessary).
"We feel sure, with these easily effected arrange¬
ments, railway travelling would be generally and eagerly
availed of by all classes of men—except, perhaps,
by a few, a very few, old, antiquated Hindoos, who
look upon every innovation with feelings of horror.
The only serious objection would be on the part of the
females ; but even this stronghold of native prejudice
we hope to see successfully undermined by the civilising
influence of steam."—Kelsall and Ghose.]
The above opinions and hopes coincide with our own,
although they are not those generally entertained. It
must be allowed that there are many native gentlemen
of considerable fortune resident in Calcutta, Moor-
shedabad, Patna, Benares, Delhi, &c., and a numerous
and increasing class of mahajuns* in those cities, Mir-
* Merchants.
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
39
zapore, and elsewhere, who would soon find it to be
for their convenience and interest to travel by railroad,
whether in the pursuit of business or pleasure, and the
natives of the Upper Provinces, naturally given to
travel, would speedily adopt the new system were their
prejudices duly consulted.
Prior to the introduction of locomotives on railways
in this country, opinions were entertained precisely
similar to those generally expressed regarding the re¬
lative value of passengers and goods traffic on Indian
railways, the principal portion of the estimated profit
being grounded on the latter.
" When the first projects for railways to be worked
with locomotive power were discussed and brought
under public notice it was anticipated that the chief
source of profit would be found in the conveyance of
goods and merchandise.
" The unexpected and extraordinary increase in the
number of passengers, however, produced by the
economy of time and money, rendered the passenger
traffic more immediately and evidently profitable ;
hence it naturally engrossed the attention of the
managers, whose entire energies were engaged to
provide greater accommodation, combined with speed,
safety and regularity.
" Of late the old established lines have increased the
facilities for the carriage of goods, and provided ac¬
commodation apparently more commensurate with the
40 SOCIAL ANI) COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES OF
demand. So far as the experiment has been carried,
it has shown generally that the net revenue from the
goods traffic has been increasing in a quicker ratio
than the net revenue from passengers.
"On the London and Birmingham, Grand Junction,
and Great Western Railways, the income from the
goods traffic now ranges from 25 to 40 per cent, of that
derived from passengers ; the increase in the revenue
from the goods traffic having been within twelve months
about 30 per cent, on each of these great trunk lines.
" On the York and North Midland, the Paris and
Rouen, the Paris and Orleans, and similar lines, the
goods traffic now produces a revenue about equal to
half that produced from passengers, the increase
having been in the same period about 30 per cent.
"Late arrangements made by the South Eastern
Counties for the more economical and regular carriage
of goods have caused an increase of revenue from that
source of upwards of 100 per cent
" Important as these facts are to show the advan¬
tages of a movement in the right direction, I am con¬
vinced that they do not represent, even approximately,
the vast increase in the goods traffic which must follow
upon a liberal management and more extended ac¬
commodation.
"But the most important field of all, because the
most exhaustless, remains to this time almost un¬
occupied. I refer to the conveyance of agricultural
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
41
produce mid bulky materials, which are either conveyed
by canals or common roads, or too frequently remain
confined in districts where their value cannot be turned
to the best public or private advantages."*
The concluding paragraph of the above extract is
in an especial degree applicable to India; and we now
close this section with a few remarks on the general
traffic of the country.
[The enormous traffic already existing, and con¬
stantly on the increase, the almost incredible number
of passengers of all descriptions, who now travel
by the tedious and insecure means of hackeries and
bullock carriages, would most assuredly avail them¬
selves of the security, rapidity, and comparative econo¬
my, with which they would be conveyed by railway.f
The planter and merchant in Central and Upper India,
whose goods are now consigned to the dangerous, crazy
boats, which navigate the rivers, at enormous risk and
decided uncertainty of their arrival at their destination
* The Principle of Railway Management, by J. Butler Wil¬
liams, Esq., P.S.S., F.G.S.
f A Calcutta merchant, desirous of visiting Benares, distant
428 miles, incurs an expenditure of forty pounds, loses more than
a month on the journey, there and back, if he goes by steam
vessels, and if he goes by Dâk (post) the amount will be fifty
pounds, and he will have eight or ten days incessant travelling ;
by railway the time occupied to and fro would be under twenty-
six hours, the cost ten pounds, seven pounds, four pounds ten
shillings, or so, according to the class or train selected. (1846).
42 social and commercial advantages of
in a marketable condition, would hail with joy the
means of transporting their indigo and cotton with the
certainty of obtaining the price of the day, and the
security afforded to the merchandize by the rapidity
of the conveyance."
H. Goodwyn,
Garrison Engineer.]
The official records at the India House prove that
the annual exports and imports of Calcutta exceed
£16,500,000 sterling.—The chief portion of this great
and still augmenting traflic, is either received from, or
conveyed to, the interior, by a most vexatiously slow
and expensive mode of transit.* Without adverting
to other products of the soil (eighteen million acres
being under cultivation in the north-west provinces),
we may mention that to the north-west of Calcutta,
there are upwards of half a million acres devoted to
the cultivation of the sugar cane, and in the year 1844
there were received in Calcutta from the interior nearly
140,000 tons of sugar, which exceeds the estimated
* By river craft, moving at the rate of twelve miles per cliem,
the charge is two-pence per ton., per mile, including insurance and
interest. By land, moving at about the same rate, four-pence per
ton, per mile ; this is nearly double the average charge for heavy
and bulky goods on the principal lines in England, and great
reductions are still in progress. (1846).
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
43
import for the current year from the whole of our
West India possessions, by 15,000 tons.*
* " The estimate I (Lord John Russell) now hold in my hand,
1 consider extreme, and by no means likely to be realized. It
first states the amount of colonial and free labour sugar in thé
warehouse :
Colonial and free labour sugar in the warehouse, Tons-
April 5th, 1846 40,000.
Estimated import from April 5th, 1846, to April
5th, 1847 (Customs' letter) :
West Indies ..... 125,000
Mauritius ...... 50,000
East Indies 80,000
255,000
Calculated amount of free labour sugar admitted
from foreign countries ...... 20,000
Making in the whole . . . 315,000
Probable stock, April 5th, 1847, stock being noto¬
riously low ........ 45,000
Available for consumption ..... 270,000
(Lord G. Bentinck) " His noble friend (Lord J. Russell) had also
calculated the importations from the East Indies, during the year
1846-47, at no more than 80,000 tons. Now he (Lord G.
Bentinck) had reason to believe, from enquiries he had instituted,
that importations to the amount of 109,000 tons might be ex¬
pected, during the year from Bengal alone, independently of the
importations from Madras. The exportations from Madras for
the first three months of the last year, did not exceed 600 tons ;
but the exportations from that presidency during the first three
months of the present year had amounted to 3,500 tons. He
44 SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES OF
The general commerce of the Ganges is estimated
at from one million, to one million two hundred
thousand tons per annum ; and supposing that one
half of this should be taken up by a railway at Raj mahl
it would, at one penny per ton, per mile, with the
usual deduction of forty per cent, for working charges,
give a net return of twelve and a half per cent on an
estimated capital of one million and a half, which
might be required for the purpose of uniting Rajmahl
with Calcutta, exclusive of passengers, troops, govern¬
ment stores, and the conveying of the mails.
That the commercial traffic of India is susceptible
believed there was every reason to anticipate an importation of
15,000 tons of sugar from Madras this year ; and if this were the
case, the defalcation in the supply occasioned by the drought in
the West Indies would be amply compensated by the increased
supply from our East India colonies. The Eight Hon. gentle¬
man, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. C. Wood) seemed
somewhat incredulous ; but ht! would only direct that Right Hon.
gentleman's attention to the enormous increase in the production
of East India sugar which had taken place within the last few
years. In 1836 or 1837 the differential duty which had pre¬
viously been maintained between East and West India sugar was
removed, and the duty on sugar produced in those Colonies was
equalized. In 1836-37 the production of sugar in the East
Indies for importation to this country did not exceed 13,000 or
14,000 tons. Ten years of protection had, however, so far
encouraged the growth of sugar in the East Indies, that he
believed our importations of that article from Bengal alone,
during the present year, would amount to 100,000 tons."—The
Times, July 21st, 1846.
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
45
of great expansion is demonstrated by the following
statement contained in the Bengal and Agra Guide
and Gazetteer for 1842 :—
"It may be remarked that the inland trade
in general has received a new impetus from the
abolition of the transit duties in 1836. The tolls
collected on boats at Jungypore, previous to that
year, amounted to fifty thousand rupees; the year
following the amount was one hundred and thirty
thousand rupees. This branch of the service has pro¬
gressively increased."
During the last year the Accountant General of
Bengal has been publishing in the Calcutta Gazette a
comparative register of the receipts and charges of
the Bengal Government for several years preceding
1844-45:—
Receipts. Expenditure. Surplus.
1839-40 . Rs. 7,19,41,586 Rs. 2,19,56,352 Rs. 4,99,85,234
1842-43 . 8,75,84,540 2,62,75,151 6,13,00,395
1844-45 . 9,52,21,640 2,79,42,677 6,72,78,963
The above has reference to the finances of the lower
division only of the Bengal presidency, and by the
authority of state papers we have thus a net revenue,
after deducting the charges of the collection, the cost
of production, the maintenance of public establish¬
ments, of more than six millions sterling.
This account, however, does not include the expense
46 SOCIAL AND COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES OF
of the troops stationed in Bengal and Behar, and other
important items. If we estimate these charges at two
millions, there will remain a surplus of income over
expenditure, of more than four millions sterling.*
We feel that we could not close this very essential
* In the charges of this presidency, there is one small item of
18 lacs of rupees, or £183,000, put down as Nezamut charges,
and we are anxious to fix attention on this sum as the origin of
that extraordinary prosperity which the revenues of these pro¬
vinces now exhibit. " This is the sum paid annually to the
family of the Nizam of Moorshedabad, the former Viceroy of
Bengal and Behar. Those who are conversant with the history
of British India, will remember that Lord Clive, on his first visit
to Bengal, conquered those provinces from the Mahomedans, but
left the administration of the revenues and of justice with the
Nabob whom he had set up. On his second advent, he was in¬
duced, by a view of the mischief of the double government to
simplify and improve the administration, by taking it out of the
hands of the Moorshedabad D urbar. The Nabob was accordingly
pensioned and his occupations confined to the innocent pursuit of
his own pleasures.
" The management of the country was placed in the hands of
government, which was responsible to the parliament and people
of England for the wise and conscientious discharge of its duties.
"For several years after this great organic change, the wisdom
of it was rendered extremely doubtful by the inexperience and the
brutality of the European agents who were employed. But under
the influence of those high principles and endowments which were
successively imported from England, the system of administration
worked itself pure, and reached a degree of efficiency which
formed a gratifying contrast to the early and disreputable history
of our government. The result of this system we may sum up in
a single sentence : under the ablest of the Mahomedan Viceroys,
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
47
portion of our subject, in a manner more satisfactory
to our readers, than by giving a paragraph from the
able and lucid exposition of the state of the revenue in
some of the provinces of the Bengal Presidency, con¬
tained in the money article of the Times of the 12th of
May last. (1846).
"Some very copious information respecting the
finances of the lower division of the Bengal Presidency
has been furnished by the last arrival from India.
The great sources of revenue in the Lower Provinces,
which embrace the Soobahs, of Bengal and Behar,
and the districts of Cuttack, are six in number—
namely, the land revenue, the excise on spirits, the
stamps, the salt, the opium monopoly and the customs.
The receipts for the land revenue, in the financial year
1844-45, are stated at 3,71,00,000 rupees. The
amount in the year 1841-42 was about the same, but
more than an eighth of it consisted of the arrears of
former years. Por the last four years the income from
this source has varied very little, and the permanent
rent-roll is assumed to be about 3,70,00,000 rupees,
the revenues of these provinces never exceeded two millions and
a half. It is important to keep the eye steadily fixed on the fact,
that all this stupendous improvement is owing to the measure of
giving the Yiceroyal family money enough for the purposes of
amusement, for the Harem and the Menagerie, and assuming the
entire control of the administration ourselves."—Calcutta Paper.
(1846).
48 SOCIAL ANO COMMERCIAL ADVANTAGES OF
which is about £500,000 sterling more than it was
sixteen years ago. At tire same time the expenses in
collecting this revenue have been greatly diminished.
The excise on spirits, commonly called the ' abkaree,'
was more productive in the last three years, than
during any previous period, having risen to 23,69,000
rupees from 21,70,000 rupees, the amount in 1841-42;
the cost of collection having been also diminished.
Stamps have not fluctuated, but the salt revenue, from
some unaccountable cause, has steadily and progres¬
sively decreased. The profits of the opium monopoly,
on the other hand, have steadily and progressively
advanced from the year when Commissioner Lin ac¬
complished his celebrated work of confiscation and
destruction, which has resulted in giving the Chinese
a keener appetite for the drug. In 1837-38, two
years before that bold act, the profits had risen to the
sum of 143 lacs of rupees, or nearly £1,500,000 ster¬
ling. The Chinese Commissioner at once reduced the
receipts from this branch of revenue to £1,000,000
sterling, but since the settlement of the Chinese affair,
a re-action has commenced, and last year the amount
of revenue was above £1,750,000 sterling. The
customs' revenue gradually increases. In the year
1836-37, the first since the abolition of the transit
duties, the receipts were 36,04,000 rupees, and in
1844-45, they were 66,41,000 rupees, with less cost
of collection. The receipts generally, 1844-45, amount
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
49
to 9,77,86,119 rupees, and the expenditure to
3,59,80,958 rupees."*
* If we assume two millions sterling as the amount chargeable
on the revenue for troops, home department, &c., &c., there will
remain, as formerly stated, a surplus of income over expenditure
of four millions sterling. " These two provinces of Bengal and
Behar, which are by far the most opulent and productive in our
possession, thus furnish nearly one half the income of the whole
British Empire in India; and all the resources by which that
Empire has been extended, consolidated and improved. The
maintenance of our dominion in the East, and the encouragement
of those grand and useful undertakings which are necessary to the
improvement of the Empire, depend almost entirely on main¬
taining unimpaired the revenues which are derived from the pro¬
vinces under the Governor of Bengal."—Calcutta Paper. (1846).
E
Note to Second Edition. (1846).
The first edition of this little work had passed through
the press before the publication of the Eeport of the Rail¬
way Commission, composed of Mr. Simons, C.E., and
Captains Boileau and Western, Bengal Engineers, and
prior to its perusal by the writer ; and there does not
appear to he, after attentive consideration of that official
document, any reason for withdrawing, or modifying, any
opinion expressed or conclusion arrived at, in those
portions of the text, which described the merits or
demerits of particular projects, or which had reference
to the proper mode of introducing railroads into India,
with the view ultimately of establishing an efficient and
comprehensive system. The Report does not apply to
the other sections of this pamphlet.
51
EAST INDIAN RAILWAY,
CALCUTTA TO MIRZAPORE.*
This great trunk line, which is destined ultimately to
connect the seat of the supreme government with its
most distant provinces, will, it is understood, commence
at or near Calcutta [mostprobably at Howrah, on the
opposite bank of the Hooghly), and proceed by
Burdwan, through the hilly country, and crossing the
Soane river, terminate, for the present, at Mirzapore.
* Length of line . . . . . . 448 miles
Extension to Delhi . . . . 452 „
Line with extension . . . . . 900 ,,
Capital (original) .... . £4,000,000
For extension
In reserved shares
4.000,000
2,000,000
Total amount of
£10,000,000
52
EAST INDIAN RAILWAY, FROM
So far as Burdwan is concerned, the project is feasible
enough, this much of the line being easy of construc¬
tion, and the mineral and other traffic holding out a
remunerative prospect ; but as the proposed line from
Calcutta to Rajmahl can supply the requisite accom¬
modation to the collieries at Burdwan, we think that
the East Indian, or as it is called in India, the political
line, should, for various reasons, devote its energies
elsewhere, as the best mode of fulfilling its ambitious
hopes of being, as the Ganges is now, the great high¬
way of India, and break ground at Mirzapore, instead
of Calcutta, and crossing the Jumna, proceed by
Cawnpore* to Agra and Delhi. A direct line from
Calcutta to Mirzapore must have difficulties to en¬
counter amongst the hills,f to say nothing of the
Herculean labour of crossing the SoaneJ—there are
* The largest and most important military station in India.
(1846). *
f " The summit of the country at or near the Dhunwa Pass,
where a very rapid descent occurs from the westernmost range of
hills in Bengal to the plains of Behar." " And although steeper
gradients will have to be here introduced, to overcome this natural
barrier we do not expect, from the levels we have taken, they
need be greater than can be worked by assistant power when the
trains are heavy."—Report of Railway Commission. (1846).
I " The river Soane is a formidable obstacle to the cheap con¬
struction of a railway, being two miles and three furlongs in
breadth, and the foundation or natural substratum below (at pre¬
sent) an unknown depth of sand. The erection of a viaduct
across this great river, is, however, a matter of expense only,
CALCUTTA TO MIRZAPORE.
53
no considerable towns or stations to accommodate—
the population is scattered, it being estimated that, in
the route for a distance of two hundred miles, the
population does not exceed one inhabitant per mile,
and the country generally but little productive—and
although it should have, âs its upper terminus Mirza-
pore, the great central commercial mart of India, we
do not think the through traffic, on which it must be
dependent, would answer the expectations of the pro¬
moters, as it would be in direct competition, not only
with the usual river craft on the Ganges (which has
ever been the great commercial artery of the country),
but the several powerful and influential companies for
the inland steam navigation, intimately connected as
they are with the principal merchants and capitalists,
would be most formidable rivals, keeping up as they
do, by their numerous steamers, a constant communi¬
cation between Calcutta, Patna, Benares, Mirzapore,
Allahabad, and the other great cities and towns on the
river, proceeding at the average speed of fifty miles
per diem ; and this rate of progression, an eminent
merchant informed us the other day, would soon be
there appearing no difficulty in the case that perseverance and
ingenuity will not overcome."—Ibid.
To build a bridge as great in all its dimensions as the Black-
wall Railway, and the foundation below " an unknown depth of
sand," no difficulty ! A bridge without a foundation ! " A matter
of expense only!" (1846).
54
EAST INDIAN RAILWAY, FROM
doubled from their steamers being enabled to con¬
tinue their course by night as well as by day. Thus
we should have a line not free from difficulty, a
poor part of a rich country, and a formidable opposi¬
tion, without advancing the seat of government to any
great extent towards the frontier, as the steamers have
gone for many years to Allahabad, forty-three miles
higher up than Mirzapore. Another objection to the
selection of this, as an experimental or preliminary
portion of the trunk line is, that terminating at Mirza¬
pore, or Allahabad, it leaves the travellers or goods at
the very point where the real difficulty begins, the
Ganges, above Allahabad, from its ledges and shallows
being closed to steamers, and, excepting for a few
months in the year, the navigation even for country
craft is very precarious, and the Jumna, from the
sharp and angular rocks which rise from its bed, is
still more dangerous and difficult.*
The above are the reasons why the grand trunk line
should not be commenced at Calcutta to go to Mirza¬
pore, and we shall now proceed to give those reasons
which induce us to desire to see it commenced at the
latter point, or rather at Allahabad, and pushed on
with vigour to the imperial city of Delhi.
* The quantity of -water used for irrigating the increasing
extent of cultivated land on the banks of the Jumna is annually
diminishing the volume of its waters and its capacity for navi¬
gation. (l$46j.
CALCUTTA TO MIRZAPORE.
55'
We have visited most of the countries in Europe,
and in Holland witnessed with much interest the mode
of constructing railways in that kingdom, which from
the nature of its soil and surface resembles in some
respects, the alluvial plains of India. We have also
travelled much in the latter country, and have pro¬
ceeded by slow marches from Calcutta to the Hima-
layah, and have seen no large portion of territory
present the like facilities for the introduction of a
railway, as from Allahabad to Delhi. There is no
natural difficulty of any description, no river to cross of
any magnitude, as the line would traverse the Dooab,
having the two great rivers one on either side, the
country presenting as nearly as possible a level surface,
its average inclination cannot be more than one in five
thousand, and yet it is comparatively free from inunda¬
tion, and the soil is in consequence more solid than in
the lower provinces.* This line would have no rival, for
* The towns of Lahore and Umritsir are, according to Burnes
and Gerrard, 900 feet above the level of the sea, and 1,000 miles
distant from it. The average slope of the country along the banks
of the Indus, may be estimated at less than 11 inches per mile,
and on comparing this with the valley of the Ganges, we infer the
general inclination of the country towards its mouth to be even
still more gentle (after making due allowance for the smaller
volume of water in the Ganges compared with that of the Indus,
from the sluggish nature of the stream, and the tidal influence
extending above .Calcutta, while in the Indus it ceases below
Tatta, 25 miles nearer the sea than the former. (1846).
56
EAST INDIAN RAILWAY, FROM
the river steamers, instead of competing with it, would
form a powerful basis, and keep up a continuous
commercial and general communication between the
railway and Calcutta ; and our great military stations
and magazines at Allahabad, Cawnpore, Agra and
Delhi, would be all in close communication with each
other, and by means of the steamers have a free and
rapid access to Calcutta.
This line of all others for testing the railway system
of communication as applicable to India, on an ex¬
tended scale, is, in our humble opinion, incomparably
the best, and should it solve the mighty problem, in
the solution of which, the whole civilized world will
soon take an enlarged and deepening interest, in a
manner at once satisfactory to the government and the
proprietors, as we are confident it must do beyond
their most sanguine hopes, it would then be in a posi¬
tion to advance to the Sutlej, or to execute a retro¬
grade movement towards Calcutta.
Having performed a great part of its mission in
binding our great military stations and magazines in
Central and Upper India in intimate relations, and
having appropriated to itself the through and local
traffic of that portion of the country, it would thus
have a commerce and basis of its own which would at
once nourish and support the extension of the grand
trunk line, or enable it to throw out tributary feeders,
in fact, empower it to advance in any direction the
CALCUTTA TO MIRZAPORE.
57
exigencies of the state, or the claims of commerce
might seem to demand.
While the railway was thus ministering to the public
service, by concentrating the largest and most im¬
portant military and civil stations, and the most
populous and magnificent of the native cities, there
would be ample time allowed it, to develop and mature
its plans without any apprehension of a rival claimant
springing up in its rear, for no other company seeing
the best, the easiest portion of the trunk, already ap¬
propriated, would be disposed to fill up the chasm
between Mirzapore and Calcutta, and encounter the
rivalry of the already established steam companies sup¬
ported by the monied and commercial interests of
Calcutta, to whom the several fleets of steamers on the
Ganges belong.*
* It was far from our wish when discussing the merits of the
East Indian Railway to detract an iota from those of its projector,
Mr. R. M. Stephenson, whose exertions in connection with the
introduction of railways in India we duly appreciate. We have
always thought, and recent events have more strongly impressed
upon us the opinion, that the great desideratum was, to connect
Calcutta with the ,N. W. Frontier. We only differ as to the
mode of doing this. (1846).
58
Note to Second Edition. (1846).
* Our opinion remains unchanged, notwithstanding that the
Railway Commission have enunciated propositions, and proposed
projects in exact accordance with the views entertained by the
East Indian, or Mirzapore Railway Company ; hut which they
have^failed to demonstrate, nor, even supplying the requisite data
on which to found the demonstration of the plans and propositions
proposed and enunciated by themselves—we say that our opinion
remains unchanged as to the impolicy of commencing the railroad
system by an attempt to supersede the river navigation, where it
is comparatively free from obstruction, and is always available for
steam navigation, as is the case between Rajmahl and Allahabad.
The former is situated at the head of the Delta of the Ganges,
and the latter at the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna, the
distance between the two towns, by the river route, being 500
miles. But should a line be determined on for this portion of
the country, an extension of the Rajmahl line up the Gangetic
valley to Mirzapore and Allahabad, would have many advantages
over the direct route indicated by the East Indian, or Mirzapore
Railway Company These advantages we shall notice in detail
when we come to review the Report of the Railway Commission.
It may, however, be mentioned now, that although the actual, or
lineal distance between Calcutta and Mirzapore by the valley of
the Ganges, would be 100 miles longer than by the direct route,
yet taking the difference of gradients into account (assistant power
being required on the latter, and pro rata to the power required
so is the distance) the gain in time by the direct line would not
be more than three or four hours, which would be too trivial to be
an element in any calculation of the comparative merits of the
two lines, in a country where time occupied in travelling is esti¬
mated by months instead of hours.
59
GREAT NORTH OF INDIA RAILWAY,
PEOM
ALLAHABAD TO DELHI.*
The object of these pages is to describe projects, not
companies, so that while discussing the merits of
the East Indian Railway, we dealt with it as a whole,
and had regard not only to its immediate objects, but
to its future and ultimate extensions ; we merely re¬
commended a departure from the order of progression
laid down, and not an abandonment of any one of its
objects.
* Length of line, 400 miles. Capital of Company, £4,000,000.
" They would then have a great length of line for a reasonable
average outlay. The lower half from Calcutta to Mirzapore,
costing considerably above that average, and the upper half from:
Mirzapore to Delhi as much below it."—Vide paragraph 84,
Report of Railway Commission. (1846).
60 GREAT NORTH OF INDIA RAILWAY, FROM
The East Indian line we have seen, was to proceed
from Calcutta to Mirzapore, and eventually to Delhi
and the N. W. Frontier, selecting for a first effort the
poorest, the most thinly peopled, and the most diffi¬
cult portion of the line, reserving what was of easy
and rapid attainment for the future. The Great North
of India line, on the contrary, knowing that the com¬
munication between Calcutta and Allahabad (the great
entrepôt for passenger and commercial traffic), forty-
three miles above Mirzapore, was already provided for
by the Inland Steam Navigation Companies, com¬
mences at Allahabad, where, as we have already stated,
the chief difficulties in the river transit begin, and
will form a great trunk line between that city, Cawn¬
pore, Agra, and Delhi : " but as the completion of
comparatively short lines is the best mode, of intro¬
ducing railways into any country," it is proposed to
complete this undertaking section by section. Should
this plan be adhered to, we would recommend as a
first step, the connecting of any two points, between
Cawnpore and Delhi—for example, a line from Cawn-
pore viâ Etawah or Mynpooree to Agra,* or from
Agra by Muttra, and Allyghur to Delhi :f the traffic
* Length about 166 miles.
t Length about 104 miles.
The Company propose, and the Railway Commission recom¬
mend, as a preliminary section, that portion of the line between
Allahabad and Cawnpore, in length 138 miles. (1846).
ALLAHABAD TO DELHI.
61
on the road above Cawnpore being much greater than
below that station, and the ground being, if anything,
still better adapted for a railway. The Great North
of India proposes a continuation of the line from Alla¬
habad to Mirzapore, and from Delhi to N. W. Frontier.
In the preceding section we have dwelt so minutely on
the advantages and importance of a line from Allaha¬
bad towards the N. W. Frontier, that we do not think
it necessary to make more than these general remarks.
The East Indian and Great North of India lines must
inevitably amalgamate, and thus adjust their rival
claims ; the one has the prestige of priority, the other
that of the more judicious selection of a starting point.
62
GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY OF BENGAL,
PROM
CALCUTTA TO RAJMAHL.*
The next design which merits attentive consideration
at our hands, from the immediate facilities which it
would give to government and commerce, is the line
from Calcutta to Raj mahl. This railway claims priority
of registration, although from untoward circumstances
connected with its birth, it was only second in the
field. It was ushered into life under the auspices of
a Company denominated the Great Western Railway
of Bengal, and from the capitalists and merchants of
Calcutta extending to it their patronage and support,
* Length of line, 180 miles. Capital, £4,000,000.
The amount of Capital appears disproportionately large to the
length of the Line, but it is the intention of the Company to
extend the main Line, eventually, to the N. W. Provinces, by the
•Gangetic valley, as far as Allahabad. (1846).
Note.—This Line was supported by the late Dwarkanauth
Tagore. He was sole Trustee to the company for the above
project from the time it was constituted. (1846).
RAILWAY PROM CALCUTTA TO RAJMAHL. 63
it is known in India as the "commercial line," in
contradistinction to the Bast Indian, or the " political
line." The Great Western Railway of Bengal for the
present confines its attention to connecting Calcutta
with the Ganges,* via Burdwan, Berhampore, Moor-
shedabad, at Rajmahl,f where it would receive the
* This line, like the Mirzapore project, will either commence
at Howrah, to save bridging the Hooghly, or proceed on the
Calcutta side of the river by the great military station of Barrack-
pore to Pulta Ghät, or opposite to Ghireety Ghät, and then pro¬
ceed by Chinsurah Hooghly, &c., to Burdwan. At or near Burd¬
wan, seventy-five miles from Calcutta, will be the point of
divergence of the Mirzapore and Rajmahl lines. (1846).
f Rajmahl, once the capital of Bengal, is situated at the head
of the Delta, on the rock-bound and unchangeable bank of the
Ganges, and has a population of upwards of 30,000. In the
vicinity, there are large and rich deposits of coal and iron : the
amphitheatre of hills in the rear of the town is covered with a
variety of excellent timber : stones fit for building purposes are
also abundant in this locality.
The facilities thus afforded, as far as materials are concerned,
for the formation and working of a railway, from having the four
important elements essential to its construction and efficiency, at
one' of the termini, need not be dwelt upon. It may, however, be
pointed out that from its position and resources, especially when
connected with Calcutta by a railway, Rajmahl will naturally be¬
come the great station for the numerous fleets of steamers engaged
in the inland trade.
Below Rajmahl the Bhaugerruttee and Jellinghi rivers (the
present uncertain and tedious channels of communication between
the Ganges and Calcutta) run from the great Ganges and uniting
their streams at Nuddeya, constitute the Hooghly, which flows
past Calcutta to the bay of Bengal. (1846).
64 GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY OF BENGAL, FROM
concentrated commerce of India, traversing the most
fertile and densely-peopled portion of our dominions ;
it will form the only link wanting in the chain of com¬
munication between the two great channels of com¬
merce, the main Ganges and Hooghly. It is already
ascertained to be of easy construction, having been
carefully surveyed by the orders of the local govern¬
ment, for the purpose of making a canal to unite the
two rivers already mentioned, and is agreeable to the
recommendation of the authorities in Leadenhall-street,
with reference to the introduction of railways in India.
We shall now quote from the Indian periodical
(the Calcutta Review,) formerly alluded to, which
appears, notwithstanding a disavowal of such in¬
tention, anxious to make out a case against the
Rajmahl line. The writer in so respectable a
journal cannot be a Mahratta ditcher (a Calcutta
cockney) unacquainted with what takes place in the
interior of the country which he inhabits ! He cer¬
tainly does imply that the Rajmahl line would pursue
the old and beaten track of commerce, but avoids
mentioning the possibility of its co-operating with the
river steamers on the main Ganges ; indeed, while
discussing the merits of this project, he shuns allusion
to such vessels being in existence, insists that the rail¬
road would be opposed tc> the river traffic, and yet the
steamers belong to the same parties with whom this
line, by his own showing, is so popular, viz., the Cal¬
cutta merchants and capitalists.—But to the extracts.
CALCUTTA TO RAJMAHL.
65
" In justice to this company it must be admitted,
that it would accomplish all the objects of the canal.
On the eastern side of the Ganges, from Patna down¬
wards and along theBhaugerruttee, the country is a rich
alluvial soil, the proprietors of which carry on the cul¬
tivation of indigo and sugar, chiefly with capital ad¬
vanced by the banks, merchants and agents of Cal¬
cutta. The produce is abundant, and of great value,
and much, or most of it, is brought down by native
craft on the Ganges, Jellinghi and Bhaugerruttee, the
navigation of which rivers is at all times, from causes
varying with the seasons, tedious and difficult, and
often dangerous. The passage of cargo boats takes
between twenty and thirty days from Rajmahl to
Calcutta. The losses are great, and the insurance as
high as from England. To supersede the river navi¬
gation, or take its place, is the object of the Great
Western Railway—and as it would be eminently
useful to the capitalists of Calcutta, it is popular with
them. This point of view, however, is not a compre¬
hensive one. It includes the consideration of com¬
mercial traffic alone, and has no reference to the wants
of Government, nor to the principles on which grand
trunk lines are now constructed in England. The
road would have the river parallel with part of its
course, and in direct competition with it.."
And yet the navigation "is at times, from causes
varying with the seasons, tedious and difficult, and
F
66 GREAT WESTERN RA3LWAY OF BENGAL, FROM
often dangerous—the passage of large boats takes be¬
tween twenty and thirty days from Rajmahl to Calcutta.
The losses are great, and the insurance as high as from
England !" This needs no comment. " To super¬
sede the river navigation, or take its place is the object
of the Great Western." Quite the reverse—it is to
facilitate it, by eo-operating with the river steamers on
the main Ganges, and saving them the expense, delay,
and danger of the Nuddea rivers and the Sunder-
bunds. "As it would be eminently useful to the
capitalists of Calcutta, it is popular with them." Yet
these gentlemen are the proprietors of the several
fleets of river steamers to which river the railway is to
be opposed. " This point of view, however, is not a
comprehensive one." If you turn the small end of a
telescope towards the dome of St. Paul's instead of a
great and majestic structure, you would see a thing
like a tea-cup turned topsy-turvy, or the top of a muf¬
fineer (pepperpot) presented to you, and you might
well exclaim, " This point of view, however, is not a
comprehensive one !" " It includes the consideration
of commercial traffic alone, and has no reference to the
wants of Government." In connexion with the steamers
on the main Ganges, it would establish a safe, rapid,
and certain communication between Calcutta, Allahabad
and the upper provinces. That a communication be¬
tween Calcutta and Rajmahl was in accordance with
the wishes of Government, we prove from the statement
CALCUTTA TO RAJMAHL.
07
in the preceding page of this writer. " Many years
ago, a canal from Rajmahl to Calcutta was proposed by
Colonel Forbes, an eminent engineer officer, who as¬
certained the levels and projected the details. The
construction of it was authorised by the Court of Di¬
rectors, and prevented by the Affghan war, which
exclusively occupied the attention of Government, and
exhausted the funds set apart for the purpose." (This,
we are assured, is not the case—the amount still being
on the books of the Calcutta Treasury). " On the
restoration, however, of peace, after the Gwalior cam¬
paign, Lord Ellenborough, as he himself declared, sent
to the Board of Control a strong recommendation of
the canal, and probably it would have been commenced,
but the plan of the East Indian Railway Company ap¬
peared at this period. The idea of a railway to
Rajmahl was merely an accidental transition from
the previous design of a canal, and led to the for¬
mation of the Great Western Railway Company. In
justice to this company, it must be admitted, that it
will accomplish all the objects of the canal" ! and yet
we are told, "that it has no reference to the wants of the
Government," ! although one of their own eminent en¬
gineer officers ascertained the levels and projected the
details of a canal which " led to the formation of the
Great Western Railway Company. In justice to this
Company, it must be admitted that it will accomplish
all the objects of the canal," ! the construction of which
68 GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY OF BENGAL, FROM
was authorised by the Court of Directors, funds were
set apart by the local Government for the work, and
the Governor-General sent home a strong recommen¬
dation on the subject to the Board of Control and
yet we are told " that it has no reference to the wants
of the Government" !
Is this a fair and manly mode of treating a subject
in which not individuals or companies, but nations,
are interested, in which the onward progress of the
natives of the soil, in all that humanizes or elevates
man above his fellows is so deeply involved? Is it
worthy of a philanthropist and patriot to come to the
discussion of a subject which takes within its scope
the performance of sacred duties to those subjected to
our rule, and the defence and consolidation of the
greatest empire ever established in India, with a mind
so biassed or imperfectly informed, that one sentence
in the same paragraph contradicts the other?*
* The Bombay Times, in speaking of the article in question,
says- -" It is an ill-concealed attempt to puff Mr. MacDonald
Stephenson's Calcutta and Mirzapore line, and to run down its
rivals. The opinion of the writer seems to be, that it will be in¬
convenient to abstract large amounts of capital from England at
a time, and that, consequently, one line should be finished before
another is commenced—Government settling the question of
priority. Now if this principle be adopted, it is clear that a ' heavy
blow and great discouragement' will be inflicted on many existing
projects, and that much of the benefit which was expected to be
CALCUTTA TO RAJMAHL.
69
This is the more remarkable, when contrasted
with his liberal views and benevolent aspirations,
when he treats on the subject of improved intercourse
generally ; and when he brings under review designs,
with slender claims to public confidence, although
they may have been expanded by eloquence, and
honoured with banquets, to such he is but too for-
bearant. As we proceed, we shall comment on several
of these schemes seriatim, and in the mean time we
return to our immediate subject.
derived from the early and general introduction of railway com¬
munication will be altogether lost. But we hardly think it pos¬
sible that Government can contemplate a course of procedure so
suicidal, so fatal to the best interests of India. If railways are
desirable at all, the sooner we have them, and the more generally
they are established, the better. Government may, perhaps,
more readily grant its assent to a line which promises to be useful
in a political point of view, than to one which is calculated merely
to promote public convenience and commercial profit ; but we do
not see why, approving and permitting the construction of the
former, it should dream of offering any objection to the latter,
provided, of course, the projectors be willing to accept the terms
and conditions it desires to impose. It is the duty of the state to
guard the national interests, and make proper provisions for the
public safety, but where neither are in jeopardy, but the reverse,
it would surely be an act of inexplicable folly for it to withhold
its sanction from projects of improvement in which capitalists are
anxious to engage, on the shallow plea that the capital they wish
to expend cannot be conveniently abstracted from the home cir¬
culation.—Bombay Times, May 9th, 1846.
70 GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY OF BENGAL, FROM
By means of the Rajmahl line acting in concert with
the several prosperous and influential steam navigation
companies established on the Ganges, Calcutta will have
quick and easy access to the north western provinces,
through the heart of the indigo, opium, sugar, rice,
cotton and silk districts, with a saving (for nine months
in the year, when the smaller rivers between the
Hooghly and Ganges are closed) of upwards of 300
miles of distance, by avoiding the tedious and perilous
labyrinth of the Sunderbunds.
The report on the celebrated Rajmahl canal by
General Macleod, late chief engineer, and Colonel
W. N. Forbes, has the following paragraphs.
" Bearing in mind that the Ganges receives in its
course through 1200 miles of the central and infinitely
improvable plains it fertilizes, eleven rivers, several of
them equal to the Rhine, few less than the Thames,
and that when it has reached the head of the Delta at
Rajmahl, its distance from Calcutta does not exceed
200 miles, and further having in remembrance, that
during a great portion of the year, the only passable
channel for boats drawing five feet water, between the
latter city (the capital of India) and the station named,
makes a circuit of 528 miles, this chiefly through the
perilous labyrinth of creeks, and wood-encumbered
straits, forming the wilderness called the Sunderbunds,
it will readily be acknowledged, that amongst the good
effects of opening a direct line of permanent navigation
CALCUTTA TO RAJMAHL.
71
between deep water in the Hooghly above Calcutta,
and the great river at Rajmahl, there would be the
highly important one of its affording the means of con¬
veying safely, cheaply, and speedily to the Ocean outlet,
increased quantities, and ultimately improved qualities
of the agricultural and mineral produce of the entire
regions traversed; nor this alone, as by inevitable
commercial reciprocation, the same line would im¬
mediately serve for supplying those regions with
augmented amounts of the sea-borne products or
manufactures of other countries."
"The Committee appointed in 1831 to report
whether there be any and what prospect of keeping
the Bhaugerruttee river open,—or, of essentially im¬
proving the navigation of it by any means at the dis¬
posal of government, after arriving at the conclusion
that there was not, and that the certain result of
forming a cross channel between one of its upper
reaches and the Ganges, would be the early filling up
of this channel by shoals of alluvium, similar to those
annually deposited in the Bhaugerruttee itself,—recom¬
mended the construction of the Rajmahl canal, or of
the one immediately under consideration, expressly,
on the ground that ' no cut running nearly east and
west, therefore generally at right angles to the main
discharging branches of the Ganges, will ever be found
permanently favourable for navigation.' Yet such
rectification of the Bhaugerruttee has not infrequently
72 GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY OF BENGAL, EROM
been proposed as the means of improving its naviga¬
tion ; and were the Canal levelling sections of no other
value, they would be useful in demonstrating that an
outlay of money on attempts by such cuttings, to im¬
prove the communication through the bed of the Bhau-
gerruttee could only terminate in making it (if possible)
worse."
The report goes on to state that by means of a
canal, during that portion of the year when the rivers
are full, " most of the time lost in contending with the
then rapid and ever tortuous Bhaugerruttee would be
avoided, as also the risk, in the latter, annually leading
to numerous wrecks and total losses of large amounts
of property." Regarding the traffic, after having ad¬
verted to circumstances in their former reports, the
Canal Committee make the following observations in
paragraph 47 :—" And amongst them the fact that at
one time, when two of the Nuddeah Hivers were only
passable for dinghees, (or the smallest description of
country boats) and that whilst at the same period*
the third was only navigable for the minor class of
cargo boats, the annual collections in the form of toll
at the rate of one rupee per one hundred maunds, on
the total tonnage passing through these channels,
amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand rupees,
assuredly prove that if the comparatively safe and
* The dry season.
CALCUTTA TO RAJMAHL.
73
direct line by the canal were once opened and fairly
established, the total amount of tonnage daily passing
through it would not fall short of three thousand tons;
which (at twenty-seven maunds to a ton) would make
the total number of boats passed in a day (each avera¬
ging six hundred maunds burthen) one hundred and
thirty-five ; and if (as proposed in our former reports)
the toll levied was at the rate of two rupees per one
hundred maunds, it will be seen that the annual income
derivable from the work would be upwards of five
hundred and eighty thousand rupees."*
" The localities in which, within accessible distances,
stone or minerals adapted for building, are to be met
with, have been pointed out in our previous reports, as
have also those of beds of iron ore, and of coal (the
latter since experimentally brought into use), which
the canal would either intersect or closely approach."f
" In justice to this Company, it must be admitted,
* Or 14§ per centum on the expended capital. With refer¬
ence to a railway from Calcutta to Rajmahl, the traffic has been
taken by an eminent Calcutta merchant and the managing
director of an inland steam navigation company, and estimated to
give, after all deductions, a net return of 12£ per cent, per
annum. (1S46).
f Report on the Rajmahl Canal, by General Macleod and
Colonel Forbes. Plans occupying fifty large sheets of drawing
paper, exclusive of one hundred and fifty square feet, containing
the topographical survey, accompanied this report, and are now
deposited in the India House. (1846).
74 GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY OF BENGAL, FROM
that it will accomplish all the objects of the canal."—
Calcutta Review.
We have dwelt thus minutely on the merits of the
Rajmahl line, conceiving it to achieve everything that
the merchant could desire, and taken in connexion
with the fleets of river steamers on the Ganges, the
wishes of the Government to approximate the metro¬
polis of British India, with the upper provinces, may
with ease and celerity be carried out ; while the
Grand Trunk Line, viâ Mirzapore and Delhi, is slowly
and steadily advancing towards the north-west ; and
besides, an eminent authority, General Macleod, late
chief engineer in Bengal, has stated in a letter pub¬
lished in " The Friend of India," of March last, that
the Great Western Railway of Bengal is, in his opinion,
the best for India, and has recently joined the London
Board of Direction.* The report of the railway
committee on this line is as follows :
Para. 19.—" A permanent point, however, on the
banks of the Ganges, exists at or near Rajmahl, which
might be suitable to receive the great traffic of the
River, and be connected with the Trunk line a little
northward of Burdwan.t and be found advantageous
* Since the above was written, General Macleod has become
Chairman of the company for the ahove project. (1846).
f Where we predict it the trunlc line will pause for a season in
its course to Mirzapore. (1846).
CALCUTTA TO RAJMAHL.
75
to the general trade of the country, in like manner as
the proposed canal of Lieut.-Colonel Forbes would
certainly have been if that important work had been
carried into execution. Such a branch railway would
in no point be removed very far to the westward of the
projected line of the canal in question."
36.—" The first branch should be from a point near
Burdwan to Rajmahl, along the district of country
selected many years ago by Lieut.-Colonel Forbes, for
the Rajmahl canal ; such a railway will, in future,
supersede the necessity for the canal, which, however,
would have conferred great benefit on the trade of the
country, if carried into execution when he first proposed
it ; the fact that such a canal had been for many years
a desideratum, proves the same thing in favour of the
more modern mode of intercommunication.
37.—" Besides the accommodation of the trade of
the Ganges, it will give accommodation to Purneah,
Malda, Dinagepore, Rungpore, and the country in that
direction through which it may possibly hereafter be
found desirable to extend this refined mode of transit.
38.—"After all that has been stated from time to
time in favour of Lieut.-Colonel Forbes's important
work, nothing more need be added in favour of a
branch railway in that direction."
As it is more than probable that the East Indian or
Mirzapore line will, from physical obstacles, and the
absence of traffic, decline advancing for the present
76 GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY OF BENGAL, ETC.
beyond Burdwan, the Great Western or Rajmahl line
has every prospect of being the Grand Trunk Line for
connecting Calcutta with Central and Upper India.
It is worthy of remark, that although the Rajmahl
line is treated in the report as a mere branch, yet its
intrinsic merits are so great that the possibility is
hinted at of this line becoming the great stem from
which branches will proceed to supply some of the
richest districts in India.
77
DIAMOND HARBOUR RAILWAY
AND
DOCK COMPANY.*
The above Company some years ago made a feeble
attempt at existence, but not having attained even to
the transition or chrysalis stage, died without a flutter,
and was speedily forgotten by all but its disappointed
projectors. Last year, when the mania was at the
hottest, it was re-hatched and came out under the
wing of some of the most influential gentlemen con¬
nected with the shipping from London to Calcutta,
whose interests would be materially promoted by the
success of this two-fold undertaking. How it is re-
* Also known as the Calcutta and St. George's Point Railway
and Dock Company. (1846).
78 DIAMOND HARBOUR RAILWAY AND
garded in India may he gathered from what follows,
taken from a recent Calcutta periodical.
" Diamond Harbour is a part of the river about half
way between the sandheads or sea and Calcutta. Above
it is the very dangerous shoal of the James and Mary,
where many valuable ships have been injured and
stranded. To enable the shipping to avoid this peril,
and to stop short in a very dangerous river navigation,
is the object of this company. It is only the larger
ships and more valuable and less bulky cargoes, and
those which take steam and go insured, which probably
will use the railroad. They will effect a saving of
about a half per cent, in the insurance, and perhaps
one day's steaming ; but this is doubtful ; probably
the cost of conveyance by railroad and the incidental
charges of the merchant will exceed this saving. A
railroad to Gravesend, without the advantage of any
considerable number of passengers, and with the
interest of the Catherine Dock and other docks op¬
posed to it, would present to our English readers a
fair comparison to the Diamond Harbour Railroad."
" We should much distrust the scheme."*
Whatever the public utility, we might expect the
most determined resistance from the merchants')" and
* Calcutta Review, for March last, p. 228. (1840).
f They have numerous steam tugs on the Hooghly, from which
they derive a handsome profit. (1846).
DOCK COMPANY.
79
owners of house property in Calcutta, and other in¬
fluential parties, to a project which would necessarily
create a perfect revolution, subverting all existing
arrangements ; creating a new town with all its ap¬
pendages, in a most unhealthy locality, putting the
Government to an enormous expense for erecting new
Custom-houses and other offices, without any corres¬
ponding advantage to the public service. This com¬
pany therefore cannot expect much favour or support
at the hands of the home and local authorities. Sup¬
plying one want, certainly in an improved manner, it
would leave to others the labour of meeting a hundred
inconveniences, resulting from so great an innovation
and disturbance of the present distribution and in¬
vestment of capital.
In the opinion of a practical Engineer, intimately
acquainted with the locality, the making of docks at
Diamond Harbour and keeping them in a state of
efficiency is beyond the reach of art, and the railroad
without the docks would be of little benefit to any one.
80
NORTHERN AND EASTERN EAILWAY.
A very brief notice will suffice for this impracticable
project ; we say impracticable advisedly, for we have
what we esteem the highest authority for saying so,
without reference to our own personal knowledge of
the country. It is a good office line, that is, it looks
well on the map to a person not acquainted with the
country, and the nature of the rivers in its route. The
Northern and Eastern proposes to start from a mag¬
nificent terminus in the city of palaces, and in the
true spirit of direct communication, in spite of natural
obstacles, which in these scientific days it very properly
disregards, plunging into a net work of Nullahs (small
rivers), skirting the banks of large streams, which
overflow every year, it dashes boldly onwards to some¬
where on the Ganges, it says Bogwangolah, but as
this is a shifting village, changing its local habitation,
if not its name, every year to the extent of some miles,
CALCUTTA TO BOGWANGOLAH.
81
according to the caprice of the river, the upper ter¬
minus with its warehouses, &c., will no doubt have
wheels, and be as migratory as Wombwell's Menagerie.
They intend afterwards, we believe, making an ex¬
tension to China, (tunnelling the Ilimalayah) and
other neighbouring and accessible countries, making
Bogwangolah the great central terminus for railway
communication in the East ; and the Indian Direction
is worthy of these majestic designs, for it rejoices in
Princes and Rajahs.
The Calcutta Review after having given very cogent
reasons for the controlling power of Indian Railway
Companies being vested in a London Board of Direc¬
tors, and the Calcutta or local management being merely
their agents, and amenable to the authority of Home
direction, from whom their power ought to emanate,
regarding the direction of this line expresses itself as
follows. " In one of the Companies* whose scheme is
before us, there seems to be a departure from these
principles. If we were asked our opinion beforehand,
we should say that a pompous array of Presidents, Vice-
Presidents, Chairmen, Princes, and Rajahs, would in¬
spire our distrust, as utterly alien to the principle of
responsible and economical management. In the Com¬
pany to which we refer, the Calcutta Board is more
numerous than the London ; is evidently meant to have
The Northern and Eastern.
G
82
NORTHERN AND EASTERN.
original powers ; and not to be accountable. It would
be impossible to prescribe to such a list the duty of
agents or servants. It consists of a singular 'mixture
of natives, lawyers and merchants. Perhaps the variety
is supposed to realize the principle of representation.
We think it does not, but the principle itself is inap¬
plicable. Nor is it such a selection as would be made
by any prudent person, or body of persons, having
proprietary interests, and caring only for the profit to
be derived from the intended operations. With the
most perfect respect wc say it—that Princes and
Rajahs are mere ciphers in a Direction. It is no dis¬
paragement of them to say that one good Bunniah,*
who is also an honest and respectable man, would be
worth dozens of them. As for the lawyers—to be
directors of banks and trading companies is not within
their proper province ; nor in England are they ever
seen in such a situation, "f
* Shopkeeper.
t Calcutta Review for March 1846, p. 231.
83
MADRAS AND BOMBAY DIRECT
RAILWAY.
Having disposed of those projects intended for the
improvement of the principal Presidency of Bengal,
to which we deem allusion necessary, we now turn to
the dependent Governments of Madras and Bombay,
and are at once attracted by a great undertaking which
has its proposed termini in the Capitals of those Presi¬
dencies ; annihilating the intervening space it would
bring into close approximation those widely separated
and important localities. This the last, and most
transparent of those railway visions which we shall
draw attention to, has but recently seen the light, and
is denominated
" The Madras and Bombay Direct Railway," its
advent having been announced with a magnificent
flourish of trumpets, the echo of which still vibrates
in our ears, Princes, Ministers, Dignitaries of State
84
MADRAS AND BOMBAY
hailing its birth as if it had been a beautiful and
illustrious babe, instead of a crude and singularly ill-
timed abortion,—the last effort of a dying and maniac
spirit of gambling which had already spread desolation
and misery enough, without giving us to endure any
additional infliction. The promoters of this fiction
are no doubt honorables men, but on looking at the
list of directors, they are only remarkable for the
smallness of their number, and the entire want, with
the exception of one or two gentlemen, if we remem¬
ber aright, of any apparent connection with the; vast
and distant region they have selected for the scene of
their labours.
They probably propose the railway from benevolent
feelings towards the government letter carriers, to save
them their tedious and toilsome journeys. Traffic on
this route, no one ever heard of, and for hundreds of
miles there is no made road, however indifferent, but
we suppose that they, if they make the one, think that
providence will send the other, and no doubt it would
come in time.
In the Prospectus, allusion was made to the Sikh
invasion, with much propriety, as showing the necessity
for railways to meet or repel danger from the north¬
west frontier, and the sequitur flows naturally, that
for this purpose, Madras and Bombay should have
railway communication, not towards the frontier, but
with each other ! Bombay being distant from the re-
DIRECT RAILWAY.
85
cent point of attack at Ferozepore one thousand miles,
and Madras about sixteen hundred miles, Bombay
being seven hundred and sixty-three miles to the
north-west of Madras.
This railway, should it be able to emerge from the
Ghauts, would lose itself in almost interminable jungle,
redolent of malaria, and replete with noisome reptiles—
a land without inhabitant, and where it would only
startle the tiger as he crouches in his lair—we have no
hesitation in saying, that the Madras and Bombay
Direct, is a direct absurdity.
Note to Second Edition, 1840
In this Edition, when describing approved projects,
minute information regarding capital, distance, &c., has
been supplied in foot notes, in compliance with the wishes
of those desirous of becoming acquainted with such details ;
but deeming the Madras and Bombay Direct, and the two
schemes which immediately precede it, to be wholly im¬
practicable, such supplemental matter could neither be
interesting nor useful so far as they are concerned.
87
THE MADRAS RAILWAY,
FROM
MADRAS TO WALLAJAHNUGGUR AND
ARGOT.*
More modest in its ambition than the one which we
have just now so freely animadverted upon, the
Madras Railway Company only contemplates, for the
present at least, a line of seventy miles in length, and
which, after careful and accurate surveys, was approved
several years ago, as of easy and cheap construction.
The Company for the prosecution of this most legi¬
timate enterprise, is supported both in this country
and in India, by the Civil and Military servants of the
East India Company, as well as, by some of the leading
members of the commercial portion of the community.
This line has all the requisites for an experi-
* Length of line 70 miles.
Capital (shares ¡620 each), £500,000.
The other companies have £50 shares. This latter division of
capital appears to require revision. (1846).
88
THE MADRAS RAILWAY, FROM
mental railroad ; the distance is moderate, not ex¬
ceeding seventy miles, and the country between the
termini, may be taken for all practical purposes as a
dead level, the rise in seventy miles not exceeding-
six hundred feet; there is at present a substantial
raised road for carts upon the line, which has success¬
fully proved the capability of such a work to withstand
the peculiar sources of destructive action enumerated
in the Court's minute, as operating against the rail¬
way system in India. The termini, are both places of
great commercial importance ; a large traffic in goods,
passengers, troops, and military stores already exists
upon the road, and it passes through a fertile and very
populous country.
" The construction of a railroad on the Great Western
line of communication, between Madras and Bangalore,
attracted attention so long ago as the year 1832 ; in
the year 1836 a line in this direction, as far as Walla-
jahnuggur, was surveyed by an eminent officer in the
Madras engineers. The subject was subsequently
taken up by a member of the Board of Revenue at
Madras, and the construction of a line for the sole
purpose of the conveyance of salt from the sea coast,
where it is manufactured, to Wallajahnuggur, where
the greatest part of the produce of the country west¬
ward from Madras is brought upon cattle, which take
salt as a return load into the interior of the country,
was pressed upon the atten tion of the local government
MADRAS TO WALLAJAHNUGGUR AND ARCOT. 89
for its adoption. At a later period, more detailed
surveys of this line have been made, and two of them
very recently, by officers of engineers who were fully
acquainted with all the varieties of construction of
railroads in this country, and in America.
" The surveys and estimates of these officers contain
the minutest details of the cost of construction of a
single line of rails, upon a principle which has been
found to be perfectly efficient in America.
" But it is considered, that, however desirable such
a construction may be for the feeding lines that con¬
nect the thinly peopled and less cultivated tracts of
the country ; with the main trunk lines, upon which
the largest portion of the traffic must always pass, a
more substantial method of construction, and one more
approaching that found to answer best in Europe, will
be required upon the trunk lines, of which that from
Madras to Bangalore, is the most important within the
Madras territories. The country from Madras to
Arcot, however, is so singularly favourable for the
construction of a railroad, that the cost of a single line
with rails of the dimensions generally used in this
country, will not exceed £5,000 a mile ; and by fixing
the available capital at £500,000, it is considered, that
a sufficient fund will be provided to meet all the
possible contingencies that can attend the construction
of the proposed line.
" The present population of the territories included
90
THE MADRAS RAILWAY, FROM
in the Presidency of Madras, exceeds 14,000,000.
The population of Madras itself, the terminus of the
railway, now exceeds 600,000. The line which is
now proposed, will pass close to the populous town of
Conjeveram, at a distance of forty-five miles from
Madras, and through a densely peopled and fertile
country the whole way. The principal article of traffic
towards the interior, will be salt, for their supplies of
which the population inland is entirely dependent on
the coast. Prom Wallajahnuggur the line will com¬
municate with the great cotton and indigo district of
Cucldapah-Bellary, and the country towards Hydera¬
bad on the North and West, it will afford facilities for
the transport to the coast of the produce of Mysore
and North Arcot, consisting of sugar, coffee, betel-nut,
lac, potatoes, wheat, oil-seeds, grain of various kinds,
charcoal and firewood. Towards the West and South
it will facilitate communication with the cotton dis¬
tricts of Salem and Coiinbatore ; and towards the
South with the fertile countries of Trichinopoly and
Tanjore. The best cotton that is raised in India
is produced in the Madras territories ; all that is re¬
quired to enable it to compete successfully with
American cotton is, increased facilities for bringing it
to the shipping port of Madras,* in good condition,
* The projected pier at Madras will be a great boon to com¬
merce, and can only be duly estimated by those acquainted with
the present expense, delay, dißiculty, and danger of landing and
shipping goods, from the violence of the surf. (1846).
MADRAS TO WALLAJAHNUGGUR AND ARCOT. 91
and at a moderate rate of transport, which can only be
effected by a railroad*. The natural capabilities of
the Mysore country for the production of the finest
sugar and coffee are unlimited ; and a cheap and com¬
modious system of transport, is all that is required to
develop its resources.
"At present there exists a traffic on this line, of
goods alone, amounting to about thirty thousand tons
a year, and a hundred and fifty thousand passengers
in each direction, which would make a fair return upon
the capital. It is impossible to calculate the returns
to be expected for the transport of troops, military
stores, treasure, and the conveyance of the mails on
account of government, but the amount must be con¬
siderable. The same consequences must follow the
introduction of railroads in India, that have followed
elsewhere ; and already the results, in every instance,
have far exceeded the expectations which the most san¬
guine speculator would have ventured to form before
the opening of the Manchester and Liverpool railway.
The system is now but in its infancy in Europe, and its
progression hereafter, no one can calculate. The same
results must follow, in every instance of the introduction
of railways into countries possessing a fertile soil, a
* The Madras rate for conveying government stores by carts, is
fivepence-halfpenny per ton per mile. The Madras Railway esti¬
mate is twopence per ton per mile. (1846).
92
THE MADRAS RAILWAY, ETC.
good climate, and a numerous and industrious popu¬
lation ; and at this moment, there is, probably, no
portion of the globe where the introduction of railways
will ultimately produce more important results, than
the British possessions in India.
" Should the success of the first line which it is
contemplated to undertake, warrant the extension of
the railroad system throughout the Madras territories,
it is the intention of this Company to raise the addi¬
tional capital that may be required, to proceed in the
direction of Cuddapah-Bellary and Hyderabad, North:
Mysore, Salem and Trichinopoly, West and South:
and to connect the remote provinces with the trunk
lines, by branches of less expensive construction,
throughout the Madras territories."®
We have no doubt of the ultimate result being
favourable, and dismiss the project, wishing it every
success.
There is no other scheme connected with Madras,
that we are aware of, worthy of notice.
* Papers relating to the Madras Railway Company, printed
20th August, 1846.
Some conception of the resources of this portion of the " Golden
Peninsula," may be formed from the military means which the
single state of Mysore was able to accumulate, under the pressure
of a long war. At the peace, the treasure of Tippoo was calcu¬
lated at eighty millions sterling ; he had six hundred thousand
stand of arms, two thousand cannons, with a regular force of
artillery, cavalry and infantry, of one hundred thousand men,
besides hordes of irregular horse. (1846).
93
GREAT INDIAN PENINSULA RAILWAY,
FROM
BOMBAY TO MHOW, HOSUNGABAD,
SHOLAPORE, &c.*
We now proceed to present to our readers' considera¬
tion the only railway which Wèstern India boasts of.
The presidency of Bombay occupies a most influential
position, whether we view its political and military
bearings, or estimate its commercial relations ; and it
has only been for the sake of having some regard to
the methodical arrangement of our subject, that we
have postponed till this period the mention of a rail¬
way, which has for its primary object, the accommo¬
dating of Bombay and its subject provinces.
In the magnitude of its ulterior designs it is second
* Length of lines, 1,300 miles.
Capital of Company, ¡£6,000,000.
Railroad to be constructed on American plan at an estimated
cost of ¡£3,000 to ¡£4,000 per mile. (1846).
94 GREAT INDIAN PENINSULA RAILWAY, FROM
to none, and is supported both here, and at the presi¬
dency, by gentlemen of wealth and consideration.
However favourably we may be disposed to a great
and interesting undertaking, we see it almost at the
outset beset with obstacles of no common magnitude.
We borrow from Mr. Chapman's* statement the
following extracts : " from Bombay to Tannah, at the
north-east corner of the island of Salsette, the ground
has been carefully examined by Mr. Clark, who is now
at Bombay, and whose experience as a railway engineer
in England justifies reliance on his opinion. The
length of this portion of the line is twenty-eight miles :
the ground favourable, and the earth-works light. At
Tannah a river of about four hundred yards wide is
crossed to gain the main land. So far, there is little
choice of the route to be taken, and little of any kind
to remark ; but from this point the direction to be
taken by the main line, must be matter of anxious
consideration, and can be finally determined only after
careful and extended enquiry."!
" Everybody knows, that at a small distance inland
from the western coast of the Peninsula of Tndia, a
* The Manager of the Company. (1840).
f " I am able," says Mr. Clarke, " upon actually measured
data, to state, that the lines from the foot of the inclined plane to
Sion, and I believe I may add to Bombay, a distance of seventy-
eight miles, is on the whole favourable."—Letter by the Local
Committee to the Governor of Bombay, Jiinc, 1846.
BOMBAY TO M HOW, ETC.
95
range of ragged and precipitous mountains, improperly,
but generally called the Ghauts, buttresses and defines
the table land of the Deccan ; between this range and
the sea, is a strip of land, called the Concan, low and
flat in the valleys, but much intersected, and encum¬
bered with transverse offsets from the great range.
The highest points of the Ghauts rise to the elevatino
of above four thousand feet, and the face of the range
towards the sea, presents little but precipitous walls,
or impracticable slopes. In a few places, however, the
crest is cleft down to the level of the inland plain, that
is, about two thousand feet above the sea, and a trans¬
verse spur at the same place, jutting westward into the
Concan, affords the means of ascending to it, though
commonly not without considerable difficulty and
labour.''
" The ascent of the Ghauts is always spoken of as
the great difficulty on this line, and the chief objection
to it. The description of the Malsejee Ghaut* just
given from official papers, may properly serve to di¬
minish the force of any fears on the subject : never¬
theless, the climbing of these celebrated heights by
mechanical means, will still remain a most interesting
practical problem. If it can be accomplished by means
already in use, and suitable to the circumstances of the
case, it will be better to do so, than to incur the cost,
* Sec Mr. Chapman's printed statement. (J 846).
96 GREAT INDIAN PENINSULA RAILWAY, FROM
risk, and delay of new contrivances ; if, however, such
be not at our disposal, I do not speak by guess in
saying, that the requisite devices will not be wanting."
From the top of the Ghaut to a considerable distance
the country is open and level, although as we proceed,
the cultivated fields are displaced by jungle, and the
villages are far apart, and in some instances deserted.
But the soil is naturally rich and admirably adapted
to the cultivation of cotton, the great staple of this
portion of India. The people are most industrious,
and only want efficient roads to enable them to send
their goods to market, to make the elevated region of
the Deccan vie with the rich plains of Bengal in pro¬
ductive power. At present, this portion of India is
alike discreditable to the British and the native rulers.
From the feeble, and almost bankrupt government of
the Nizam, only formidable to its defenceless peasantry,
nothing can be expected but that its provinces should
gradually, from the grinding exactions of its officials,
return to the deadly and primeval wilderness, and that
its deserted villages should be tenanted by noxious
reptiles and beasts of prey. But the wretched govern¬
ment of the Nizam is fast drawing to a close, when
the fields will be regenerated, and the voice of man
heard again in the villages, under a rule at once strong
and beneficent. This has ever been the case on a
transfer from Native to British authority, with the
exception of that portion of the Deccan already in our
BOMBAY TO MHOW, ETC.
97
possession, and why we have held back our hand from
extending the usual blessings of our rule and opening
the resources of the country, by some attempt, however
imperfect, at improving the means of communication,
is to be sought for, in the great difficulty of making
roads in the Deccan from the nature of the soil, men
and horses sinking knee deep in its black and slimy
loam.
The Bombay government have frequently projected
roads, but as the revenue of this government sometimes
falls short of the expenditure, the balance being de¬
frayed from the surplus revenue of Bengal, the reason
is obvious, why beyond protection to life and property,
we have little at present to offer the refugees who cross
our border. With moderately good roads or a railway,
we should reclaim fertile fields from the jungle, clothe
and feed a disheartened and most industrious people,
reaping in return a more prosperous revenue, and
additional security to our possessions. Duty, true
policy, beneficence and self-interest the strongest plea of
all, we fear, centre for once in one point, and urge upon
us the necessity of improved intercourse in the west
of India. The hardship which the poor people of the
Deccan suffer in bringing their cotton to market, is
scarcely to be credited, and is graphically described by
Mr. Williamson, late Revenue Commissioner, Bombay,
in his second letter to Lord Wharncliffe. This letter,
and another by the same gentleman, we strongly rc-
n
98 GREAT INDIAN PENINSUI/A RAILWAY, FROM
commend to the attentive perusal of all interested in
the welfare of India, confining ourselves to an extract
or two.
« " But there is one mode of promoting internal im¬
provement which has been tried more or less in most
provinces in India, and which I will venture to say has
in no single instance been found to fail—I allude to
the improvement of internal communication. As far as
my experience in India goes, no road has ever been
constructed without an immediate, and almost magical
effect on the prosperity of the town with which it
communicates, and yet the extent of the new road an¬
nually opened in the whole of the Western Presidency
of India, is not beyond what would be deemed requi¬
site in a single county in England.
" The consequence is, that the cotton which might
travel the whole distance to the sea-coast, on carts
along the made road, at the rate of six bullock loads
on a cart drawn by two bullocks, twelve miles per
diem, now creeps the greater part of the distance six
loads on six separate pack bullocks, only eight miles
per diem. As a proof on this new line of the effect of
improving roads I may mention the instance of the
Bhore Ghaut.
" When this pass was first made practicable to
wheeled carriages about the year 1828, the tolls realised
between £400 and £500 a year. Twelve years ago a
speculator was ruined by farming them from govern-
BOMBAT TO MHOW, ETC.
99
ment for £1,000. They now annually let at £3,000
or £4,000 per annum, so that in four years, besides
providing for the expense of annual repairs, the tolls
now more than cover the original cost of constructing
the road."
This line is proposed to be made cautiously accord¬
ing to the encouragement held out, and should it ad¬
vance so far as Nagpore, 508 miles E.N.E. of Bombay
(close to Kamptee, the most central military position
in India,) it will proceed either to Calcutta, or what
is more probable, join the great East India trunk line
at Mirzapore, which is 890 miles E.N.E. of Bombay.
This latter arrangement would give us our intelli¬
gence from Upper India and Bengal a week earlier than
at present, and in conjunction with the trunk line from
Calcutta to Delhi, would enable the combined armies
of the two presidencies, to concentrate their powers on
almost any point of our dominions that could by pos¬
sibility be threatened. This enterprise will for the
present curb its ambition, till it has solved the difficult
problem of climbing the Ghauts.* This would of
itself be a great achievement, and of incalculable ad¬
vantage to the presidency.!
* The Americans have ascended the Alleghany mountains, a
height of 1398 feet, and at a very moderate cost, by means of
fixed engines. (1846).
f A letter, under date June, 1846, addressed by the Committee
in Bombay to the Governor of that Presidency, has the following
100 GREAT INDIAN PENINSULA RAILWAY, FROM
The Directors of this project will, we have no doubt,
watch over the interests of their shareholders, and
secure to them, if a concession be obtained, such a
guarantee, as shall preclude the possibility of loss.
We do not think, however, that it will be one of the
first lines authorised to be made, for its success in a
extract from the Engineers' Report of the actual ascent of the
Malsej Ghât.
" The whole plane will he in length 31,000 feet, and its total
descent .1,718 feet; giving an average gradient under one in
nineteen, which average is obtained very nearly throughout, and
never exceeded to a greater extent than one in fifteen. The
plane has two curves, one 7,400, the other 16,900 feet from the
summit ; each is in length 800 feet, and of 5,000 feet radius.
The plane, therefore, may be considered practically as straight.
The earthworks required, will be chiefly tunnelling and open
gallery. It is difficult to draw the line exactly between the two,
but in round numbers it may be stated, that there will be 10,400
feet of tunnelling in eight lengths, and 5,100 feet of gallery,
passing rather close to, or within from ten to thirty feet of the
face of the slopes. The excavations are in excess of the embank¬
ments and are conveniently placed for their formation. The lead
throughout will be trifling. The material to be excavated is either
rock or moorum ; the former is much fissured ; the latter soft
and easily worked. Both, however, there is reason to believe, to
be sufficiently firm to stand in the tunnels without artificial sup¬
port. The masonry will be light, and composed almost wholly of
culverts. The quantity of water that will flow under the line
during each rainy season, is considerable ; but owing to the
scarred and broken character of the ground, the water-courses are
very numerous, and the force and volume of any one stream not
considerable." (1840).
BOMBAY TO MHOW, ETC. 101
commercial point of view is certainly problematical in
comparison with the Great Western of Bengal, or any
portion of the great trunk line between Allahabad and
the Sutlej. We, however, heartily recommend the
Great Indian Peninsula to the protection of a wise and
paternal government.*
Having passed in review before us, the various
schemes for railway communication in India, and having
given our opinion, founded, as we conscientiously be¬
lieve, on sound data, or upon what we have seen, or
known ourselves—we feel, that we have discharged the
grave and onerous duty which we proposed, and we
now resume for a few moments our general remarks.
* " Should an arrangement at any future time be concluded
for the passage of troops through Egypt, the importance of the
Great Indian Peninsula Railway would be vastly increased, for,
as a glance at the map will show, it would then form a portion of
the steam communication by which our troops would be most
speedily conveyed from England to almost any part of India.
And even with our present limited means of transport through
Egypt, officers joining their regiments, might often save many
weeks in reaching their destination. This becomes a point of
immense importance in any emergency, such as has twice occurred
within the last four years, when all officers belonging to the army
in India, and absent on leave in Europe, were by one order
required to join their regiments without delay."—Letters addressed
to The Right Honourable Lord Wharncliffe by T. Williamson,
Esq., C. S., late Revenue Commissioner, Bombay. (1846p
102
SUGGESTIONS
AS TO THE
MODE OF INTRODUCING THE RAILWAY
SYSTEM INTO INDIA.
It has been stated, we think without due consideration,
that "it cannot signify to the government (who must
derive considerable benefit from the measure under
any circumstances) which line may be first completed."
From this opinion we entirely dissent, as it is obviously
the interest of the Government, as well as that of the
people, and the Shareholders, that the first line opened
should be the one of all others, possessing the highest
political and commercial advantages combined with
the greatest facilities for construction, the most mode¬
rate expenditure, and the best adapted for being an
integral portion of a great whole. Railway experience
INTRODUCING RAILWAY SYSTEM INTO INDIA. 103
and expenditure at home, will point out the propriety
of having, before a single sod is turned, a general out¬
line of the system which is hereafter to pervade India,
laid out and defined, and thus guard against the dis¬
appointment and confusion which would necessarily
ensue, from the injudicious selection of an isolated
scheme, having reference only to a particular locality.
But even when the general outline of this system
has been, after mature deliberation, decided upon, we
repeat, that it is the interest of all parties, that the first
line or section opened, should be the one of all others
possessing the most important advantages, combined
with the greatest facilities for construction and the
most moderate expenditure, for it is obvious, that ac¬
cording to the success or otherwise of the first line, so
will the general introduction of railway intercommuni¬
cation into a new country, be accelerated or retarded.
" But besides as a railway is so superior to all other
means of communication, that it must necessarily
supersede them, and confers the greatest advantages
on the localities through which it passes, it becomes of
greater consequence that the lines for railways should
be wisely selected, and that railway companies should
not be suffered, by any injudicious choice, to inflict
injury, either on the public in general, or on the
owners of property. That these subjects were not at
first sufficiently attended to in this country, can hardly
be a matter of surprise, when we reflect on the igno-
104
MODE OF INTRODUCING THE
ranee with respect to the nature of the change about
to be effected by the new power thus brought into ac¬
tion, which then generally prevailed."*
Confident, from the successful result of the first ex¬
periment, the Government would have no difficulty in
extending its patronage and support to new under¬
takings, and capitalists would eagerly contend for the
prize of gain in the vast and magnificent fields of the
East. Instead of losing their money in foreign loans,
or enriching with railroads, Holland, Belgium, or
France, by their superfluous wealth transmitted to
India, under the guarantee of their native government,
they would at once enrich themselves, ameliorate the
condition of their distant fellow subjects, and indirectly,
but surely, add to the dignity and wealth of their own
country; giving to the mechanic and labourer of India,
such employment as would speedily open up new
markets and outlets for the products of the industrial
energies of our home artisan, and add incalculably to
the security and strength of our Eastern dominions.
Thus the two countries would act and re-act upon each
other to their mutual benefit.
Much depends upon the character of the line first
completed.
Suppose, for example, a long line to be selected, no
matter how direct, or how great the mart it led to, for
* Railway Acts.—Second Iieport.
RAILWAY SYSTEM INTO INDIA. 105
the result will be effected by what it goes through, and
not by what it goes to* Suppose such a line for one-
half of its course to traverse à barren country, in many
places covered with almost interminable jungle and
totally uninhabited, beset with physical difficulties of
the most gigantic description—there could be but one
result, and that result fraught -with disappointment to
the government, the entire loss of the capital embarked,
and the postponement for an indefinite number of
years to India, of the inestimable boon of improved
intercommunication.
Unacquainted with India himself, the English capi¬
talist looks to those placed in authority and acquainted
with the country, to act with a just and discriminating
vigilance in making the first move in the right direc¬
tion ; and those in authority will not disappoint this
reasonable expectation. It might have been hoped
that the railway commissioners would have cleared the
way to a satisfactory decision on this subject, with an
authority derivable from the soundness of the views
* Mr. Peto states in evidence before Mr. Morrison's committee,
that the experience of Belgium furnishes a striking corroboration
of the soundness of these views, as it has been proved by the
repoYt of M. Desart, in whose hands the Belgium government
placed the whole of its railway statistics, that in a given popula¬
tion, the traffic of the small towns and villages along a line is
proportionally greater than the traffic between two large cities at
the termini."—Railway Acts. Second Report. (1846).
106
MODE OF INTRODUCING THE
enunciated, the variety of new and interesting data—*
the prestige of office and acknowledged ability. But
their report, beyond giving an official sanction to rail¬
roads in general, sheds no new light on the question
at issue; long, without being comprehensive, elaborate,
without supplying any data to arrive at practical results,
giving no estimates of cost, or specifications, or traffic
tables, even leaving to private enterprise the decision,
(with one exception) of whether this or that line should
be ultimately adopted. The commissioners instructed
"to suggest some feasible line of moderate length," the
principal portion of their report is devoted to recom¬
mending the adoption of a railroad of four hundred and
fifty miles in length, through the most difficult, most
unproductive, and most desolate portion of a country,
elsewhere easy, fertile, and densely peopled.
The grand object, both for the government and the
merchant to attain is, to connect Calcutta with the
N. W. Frontier, and there can be 110 great difference
of opinion as to the direction of the line from Mirza-
pore through the Doab to the banks of the Sutlej ; this
at once disposes of nearly two-thirds of the entire
length of the grand trunk line ; but as to the best
mode of connecting Calcutta with Mirzapore, there are
two, if not three, opinions enunciated, and it is to be
borne in mind that this portion of the line, besides
commencing at the metropolis of British India, tra¬
verses the provinces of Bengal and Behar, the revenues
RAILWAY SYSTEM INTO INDIA.
107
of which we have already shown equal those of the
whole of the remaining British territories in India,
yielding a surplus of £4,000,000 annually, a portion of
which flows from India to our shores, and the rest
enables us to improve, consolidate and defend othér
and more remote regions in the East, naturally less
productive. It also ought to be borne in mind with
regard to the vast descending trade of the Ganges,
that but a small proportion of the produce brought
from the interior of the country comes from above
Mirzapore. Notwithstanding these facts, the railway
commission recommend a direct line, merely because
it is a direct line. They state that the summit level
of the country gives a rise of eight hundred feet, and
that assistant power will be requisite to work the
trains, the Soane river will have to be crossed by a
bridge, the foundation to be sought for, below " an
unknown depth of sand." This bridge, or viaduct
would equal in all its dimensions those of the Green¬
wich Railway. The natural barriers to be surmounted
are composed of primitive, transition, and secondary
rocks, generally of the most obdurate and impene¬
trable class : such as granite, greenstone and basalt.
But even if the direct line was not beset with almost
every variety of physical obstacle, it would be inex¬
pedient from the poverty of the country, diversified
at long intervals by a little cultivation, and scarcely
animated by human beings.
108
MODE OE INTRODUCING THE
The report in para. 43, states that a great part of
the country in its route—till very lately—" was aban¬
doned to the beasts of the forest."
It is obvious that reliance is placed on the exploded
theory of through traffic being the chief support of a
railroad, and it is equally obvious to those acquainted
with railway statistics that nothing can be more falla¬
cious than such reliance. M. Desart, Inspector of
Belgian state railways, has reduced the rates of traffic
to a system, and proves that the large return expected
from connecting by a railway two great commercial
cities, is not realized if they are beyond a certain dis¬
tance ; but is absolutely certain to be drawn from a
line binding together a succession of minor towns and
villages, and we have no doubt but that this mode of
calculation will be found of universal application.*
* " The statement worked out from the government, traffic
returns, established beyond all doubt the following principle, viz.:
That the number of passengers between two towns connected by
a railway does not depend only on the population or commercial
importance of these towns, but most materially on the distance
between them. Thus, the number of passengers will be greater
on a line connecting a succession of small towns and villages,
situated as they generally are in England and Belgium, than on
a line of equal length connecting two large towns."—Extract from
the Half-yearly Report of the Directors of the West Flanders Rail¬
way, July Srd, 184-6.
For further information, see the work of M Desart, the govern¬
ment engineer and divisional inspector, recently printed. (1846).
RAILWAY SYSTEM INTO INDIA.
109
The branches of such a direct line would be crushed
and paralyzed in a vain rivalry with the steamers and
river craft in their efforts to divert to a new, and to
nearly all the important seats of commerce, circuitous
route, the great descending trade of the Ganges, and as
the chief portion of this trade proceeds from points
below Mirzapore, it would certainly not ascend the
stream to arrive at that terminus ; so that the trunk
line would remain for many years unproductive to the
shareholders, and useless to the state, with occasional
exceptions, for nearly all the emergent movements of
troops and stores take place in the Upper Provinces.
The second mode of commencing the railroad system
in India indicated to us, is from some point on the
west bank of the Hooghly to Monghyr on the Ganges.
This line is declared by competent authority to be per¬
fectly practicable, and as it would leave behind it a
much smaller portion of the valley of the Ganges, and
therefore take up much more of the trade brought
down to the Ganges by the great rivers flowing from
the lower ranges of the Ilimalayahs, it would from this
cause and the comparative cheapness of its construc¬
tion be much more likely to be commercially remune¬
rative : but this line, although superior to the former
in cheapness of construction, in shortness and in traffic,
would still be an expensive line, the summit level not
being less than 800 or 900 feet, having to avoid in
its route hills higher than any of those in England or
110
MODE OF INTRODUCING THE
Wales, and to bridge from 30 to 40 streams of various
dimensions. This line is not calculated to be an inte¬
gral portion of a great and harmonious system ; as a
trunk line it is neither the most direct nor the easiest
route to the N. W. Frontier, nor that possessing the
greatest through traffic ; and taken per se, it gives
nearly 300 miles of railroad, without supplying a
single town or station of the least magnitude, if we
except Burdwan, between its termini ; and for many
miles having to encounter the difficult, pestilential,
jungle covered hills of Rajmahl and Bhaugulpore ; so
that the Monghyr line is at once deficient in all the
requirements of an experimental line, either for intro¬
ducing internal communication on an extended scale,
or meeting the wants óf a particular district ; like the
Mirzapore direct line, it shuns the city and withdraws
from the rich and populous plain, to cultivate the wil¬
derness, and stimulate its scattered, squalid, and
poverty-stricken inhabitants to agricultural, commer¬
cial and locomotive activity.
The line from Calcutta on the Ilooghly to Rajmahl
on the Ganges appears to us to possess every requi¬
site claim to immediate selection by government—the
ground has been surveyed with great minuteness
by their own officers, it follows the old and beaten
track of commerce,* through a rich and densely-
* It bas been observed in every age, that when any branch of
commerce has got into a certain channel, although it may be
RAILWAY SYSTEM INTO INDIA. Ill
peopled country, and completely outflanks the Rajmahl
and Bhaugulpore hills, its upper terminus at the lowest
practicable point on the river, and close to where the
navigation is at all seasons either difficult or dangerous,
and for nine months in the year most vexatiously cir¬
cuitous, the advantages of this line are fully admitted
in the report of the Railway Commission, and were
minutely detailed by us on a former occasion. But in
treating the subject generally as in this section, it is
important to recollect that when comparing the merits
of different projects, that a railroad having Calcutta
for one terminus and some point on the Ganges for
the other, the traffic will be in an inverse ratio to the
length of the line, that is, the further a line is carried
up, before it debouches upon that great commercial
artery, the less would be the traffic.
neither the most proper nor the most commodious one, it requires
long time, and considerable efforts, to give it a different direction."
Historical Disquisition regarding Ancient India, by G. W. Robert¬
son, D.D., E.R.S.
" It will be found that all the successful railways in England
are on those lines where communication existed before."—Report
on the Application of Railway Communication in India, by Captain
Western, Bengal Engineers, published in the Calcutta papers in
March, 1843.*
* This able officer is now a member of the railway commission in
India. (1846).
112
MODE OF INTRODUCING THE
The line from Calcutta to Rajmahl, besides being
unexceptionable, per se* is a line that must be made,
if railroads are to be made in India, either as the prin¬
cipal trunk, or as the most important branch that any
trunk can possess ; its merits in the latter and subor¬
dinate capacity, are, as just stated, fully admitted in
the report of the railway commissioners. But the
published report of one of those commissioners in
1843 is decidedly in favour of a trunk line to Mirza-
pore, by Rajmahl and the Gangetic valley, and the
opinions of eminent mercantile and scientific men trans¬
mitted from India by the very last mails, are in favour
of the Rajmahl line being gradually extended up this
great, fertile, and populous valley.
We have already stated our decided preference for
* " That this line of country affords every facility for forming
a railway, will, I think, be allowed by every one acquainted with
it. It is only necessary to state, that from Calcutta to Rajmahl,
a distance of two hundred miles, it passes through the Delta of
the Ganges, and that in the survey undertaken under the super¬
intendence of General Macleod and Major Forbes, with a view to
construct a canal from Rajmahl to the Hooghly river, it was ascer¬
tained that the fall in the distance of one hundred and twenty-
eight miles proposed for the canal was only fifty feet, as will be
seen in the report by those officers of the 15th February, 1841 ;
and as there are no difficulties in the way of high lands for the
canal to contend with, none need be anticipated for a line of rail¬
road."—Ileport on the A]rplication of Railway Communication in
India, by Captain Western (1846).
RAILWAY SYSTEM INTO INDIA.
113
that plan of commencing improved transit, which would
only supersede the river navigation where it was most
defective, and co-operate with it where it was always
available, i.e. a railroad from Calcutta to deep water
in the Ganges at Rajmahl—from this point, river
steamers to Allahabad, at the confluence of the Jumna
and Ganges, where deep water ceases—and a railroad
from Allahabad to Delhi and the Sutlej.
This would itself be nearly one thousand miles of rail¬
road, exclusive of branches, traversing the easiest, the
richest and most densely-peopled portions of our domi¬
nions where the river transit is either dangerous or
tedious, as by the Nuddeah rivers and Sunderbunds, or
only applicable to the smaller country craft, and closed
entirely to steamers, as the great rivers are beyond
Allahabad. Above this point it is impossible, by land
or by water, to move military stores or merchandize, in
any quantity, beyond the average rate of twelve miles
per diem. No Eutopian ideas of a railroad system
starting at once into complete perfectibility, should
divert enterprise and capital from so fair and inviting
a field, with such feeble rivals, (as the native carts and
smaller river crafts) to compete with steamers ac¬
complishing fifty miles per diem, and they will soon
nearly double that rate, when a railroad relieves them
from the Nuddeah rivers and Sunderbunds.
"If such a rail be established, the steamers instead of
starting from Calcutta, will start from its Northern
i
114
MODE OF INTRODUCING THE
terminus, which will thus become in fact the steam port
of Calcutta. The narrow and often angular streams
in the Sunderbunds, and lower Bengal will thus be
avoided, the necessity of a double vessel will cease,
single vessels of larger dimensions and engines of
greater power may then be employed, by which a large
saving of time and money will be effected.
" The advantages of such a line in every point of
view are sufficient to recommend it to public
favour."*
* Friend of India, 19th February, 1846. — "The Friend"
alludes to the Bogwangolah line, which, on account of its terminus,
being a shifting village (as stated in the First Edition of this
Pamphlet) has been reported against, the preference being given
by the commissioners to Raj mahl, some miles higher up the river,
because it was stationary, and this being settled by authority, no
doubt the Friend will give his voice also in favour of a fixed port,
instead of a migratory one. Some of the companies have for
their passengers and goods, a flat in tow of the steamer, this ex¬
plains what the Friend means by two vessels. In his paper of
the 14th of May last, the Friend informs us, that a splendid new
steamer, the " Patna," will make the voyage by the Sunderbunds
from Calcutta to Allahabad in ten days, provided she does not
stick in the Sunderbundes, which would be at the rate of a little
more than a hundred and eighteen miles daily ; the whole distance
being 1,186. The distance from Rajmahl to Allahabad being only
five hundred miles, the same steamer travelling at the same rate,
would reach the latter station in four days and a quarter. The
two land journeys being six hundred miles, would, at a very mo¬
derate rate of railway speed, be performed in twenty-four hours—
thus allowing nine hours at each terminus, viz. ; Rajmahl and
Allahabad for the removal of passengers' baggage and goods,
RAILWAY SYSTEM INTO INDIA.
115
After having supplied the regions indicated, the two
lines might gradually approach each other as circum¬
stances rendered it desirable or necessary.
It now remains to state the comparative merits of the
two modes of completing the trunk line by filling up the
interval. The more direct from Burdwan to Mirzapore
has been already described and objected to, the other
from Rajmahl by all the various populous cities in the
fertile valley of the Ganges we describe in the words
of the railway commissioner, Captain Western "from
Rajmahl along the banks of the Ganges, with the
exception of one point where a shoot from the Rajmahl
hills extends into the Ganges at Siclygully, no difficulty
occurs ; indeed the only engineering difficulties at all
would be the passage of the rivers, and these I trust
would soon be shown not to be insurmountable, for
it has already been proposed to build bridges over the
rivers Jumna and Ganges at Delhi, Agra, Allahabad and
Benares; and plans and estimates for a masonry
bridge across the Jumna at Delhi were in preparation
when I was at that station; besides, the bridges could
be built of sufficient width to allow of the construction
of another road alongside the portion marked off for
■which is surely more than sufficient for every purpose, the entire
distance from Calcutta to Delhi may be accomplished, according
to " the Friend," in six or seven days. (1846).
116 MODE OF INTRODUCING THE
the rails, for the passage of the ordinary traffic of the
country."
The table at the foot of the page,* carefully prepared
from the dak (post) routes, shows the relative distances
by the two lines. The actual length of the line to
Mirzapore by the valley of the Ganges would be about
one hundred miles more than by the direct route, but
to make the latter of any commercial utility it would
require several branches of great length, which would
act as feeders to the trunk line, but fail to accom¬
modate the great intermediate traffic, and it will be
seen that going to any intermediate point, Patna, for
instance, the difference is very trifling, while the
* DIRECT LINE TO MIRZAPORE.
Miles.
Calcutta to Burdwan . .75
Burdwan to Shirgotty . . SI6
Shirgotty to Chuñar . .137
Chuñar to Mirzapore . . 22
450
Add for Branches—
Burdwan to Rajmahl . 120
Shirgotty to Patna . 80
„ to Raj. Ghat.
(on the Ganges opposite
to Benares) . .17
217
GANGETIO VALLEY LINE.
Miles.
Calcutta to Rajmahl . 178
Rajmahl to Monghyr . 105
Monghyr to Patna . 102
Patna to Benares . 138
Benares to Mirzapore 26
Total
RAILWAY SYSTEM INTO INDIA. 117
facilities for constructing the line by the valley would
be great, as it could be commenced at all the stations
simultaneously, the river being available for carrying
the material of the road to so many points ; the in¬
ternal traffic also between the various towns on the
route would form no immaterial portion of the receipts
of this line.
Another very material point would be the difference
in expense of the two lines—On the direct line we are
assured the summit level gives a rise of eight hundred
feet at several points, while the other, for all engineering
purposes, is a level almost throughout. Those well
entitled to give an opinion, state that the cost of the
one would be, per mile, twice as much as that of the
other.
The railway commissioners have reported in favour
of the direct Mirzapore line, the principal commissioner
not having seen, or at all events not having surveyed
any other, but it would be much to be lamented, were
there to be a postponement of the court's decision^till
there was a fresh survey, as there can be but one
opinion regarding the Rajmahl line, and the one from
Allahabad to Delhi, and the comparative merits of the
two routes to Mirzapore can be tested while these are
in progress of construction.
Although the direct Calcutta and Mirzapore line
shows a gain of about one hundred miles in its lineal
distance over that of the Rajmahl and Gangetic valley,
118
MODE OF INTRODUCING THE
considering the relative distance in a mechanical point
of view, we shall find that but a very slight difference
really exists.
We are informed by the commissioners in the 27th
section of their report, that the gradients on the former
line will be so steep as to require assistant power to
work the trains, and we know from the undulatory
nature of the country between Burdwan and Mirzapore
that a heavy working line will necessarily occur, re¬
quiring a considerable expenditure of power to main¬
tain a given velocity : whereas the line by the valley of
the Ganges, outflanking thehills, will have no difficulties
to encounter, if we except a portion of the route be¬
tween Rajmahl and Bhaugulpore—the inclination of
the country being about twelve inches per mile ; of
necessity, therefore, the line will approach nearly to a
level. If we suppose the gross weight of load pro¬
pelled on both lines to be the same, and we take the
amount of power expended in travelling over both lines
to maintain a given velocity ; and if, then, the relative
amounts be spread over a level plane in both instances,
we shall find that the increased expenditure due to the
more steep and undulatory line from Calcutta to Mir¬
zapore would produce an equivalent line of level nearly
equal to that of the more level line by the Gangetic
Valley, hence the mechanical distance and the com¬
parative time occupied in making the journey on either
line will be nearly the same.
RAILWAY SYSTEM INTO INDIA.
119
The gain in time by the shorter line, if any, would
be too inconsiderable to be taken into account in a
country where time occupied in travelling is estimated
by months instead of hours, or to be a just compensa¬
tion for so great an amount of expenditure.
Before concluding this important section, we return
for a few moments to the projects intended to carry
out the grand desideratum of connecting Calcutta with
the N.W. Frontier, when it will be seen which are the
best adapted to achieve this object with the smallest
expenditure of time and money.
The East India line (from Calcutta to Mirzapore)
declining all co-operation with the river, would do this
in a slow and most expensive manner,* if allowed to
carry its plans into effect, and be entirely dependent
on the through traffic between the termini.
The Great Western (from Calcutta to Raj m ah 1) and
the line from Allahabad to Delhi passing many towns
and villages, and taking advantage of the river navi¬
gation where it is available, (instead of superseding,
would stimulate corresponding improvements in the
river) would, at half the cost, and in one quarter
of the time, supply this now indispensable desideratum.
* " The lower half, from Calcutta to Mirzapore, costing consi¬
derably above that average (the average cost of the railway from
Calcutta to Delhi), and the other half, from Mirzapore to Delhi, as
much below it." Re-port of Railway Commission, para. 64. (1846).
120
MODE OE INTRODUCING THE
By adopting the river from Raj mahl to Allahabad
the average cost of construction would be reduced one-
half, as that portion between Burdwan and Allahabad
which comprises all the difficulties, would not be in¬
cluded in the general estimate for a complete com¬
munication between Calcutta and the Sutlej, and the
outlay would be saved for making four hundred miles
of railway through a barren, desolate and difficult
country.
On the whole, then, it is our conviction that the
Great Western of Bengal (from Calcutta to Rajmahl)
and the line from Allahabad to Delhi, co-operating
with fleets of river steamers, from Rajmahl to Allahabad,
would at once be not only the most judicious, the
easiest, the least costly, the soonest constructed, and
in every other point of view the most advantageous
mode of introducing the railway system into India—
but most probably the only practicable mode that is
at present before government.
The subjoined extract from a letter of General
Macleod, late Chief Engineer, Bengal, published in
the "Friend of India" of March 19th, 1846, stamps
our views with real and solid value.
" I think the line proposed from Calcutta to Raj¬
mahl a vast improvement and a very rational scheme.
The soil is excellent the whole way, and the surveys of
that part of the country already so minutely taken as
regards levels, and eveyrthing else required, that they
may commence making their plans at once.
RAILWAY SYSTEM INTO INDIA. 121
"I should certainly take a great interest in the line,
as I do think it the most eligible that could be thought
of, and one that would form a most important benefit
to the country. The next best line in my opinion will
be that from Allahabad to Delhi.
" I do not know that I can afford the Directors any
great extent of information, but I shall be glad to give
them all I possess."
It has been already stated that this eminent and
experienced engineer officer, is now Chairman of the
Great Western of Bengal Railway Company, whose
project is to connect Calcutta with Raj mahl.*
* "We know of no measure more calculated to strengthen the
power of the British government in India, or more likely to exer¬
cise a beneficial effect over the people of Hindostán than the
introduction of railway communication. In Europe the invention
of steam power has been attended with the happiest results to
large masses of people, and it is generally observed that indica¬
tions of progressive improvement are no where so visible as in
those places which are accessible to the immediate influence of
steam communication. Thus, as in times of yore by the applica¬
tion of the philosopher's stone, it was supposed that all things
would be turned into gold, so in the present day, by the happy
introduction of steam, it is found that barbarism becomes con¬
verted into civilization, barrenness into fertility, poverty into
wealth. What then may the philanthropist not hope for the
people of India, when he learns that the Court of Directors are
about to investigate the applicability of railway communication to
this country ? For this purpose, they propose associating two or
three eminent engineers, who are to report upon the subject, and
who are to suggest some feasible line of moderate length as an
122 INTRODUCING RAILWAY SYSTEM INTO INDIA.
experiment. If this trial should prove successful, we may expect
in a few years to see lines of railroads traversing the whole
country ; but if, on the other hand, it should prove a failure, India
will sink hack into lethargy still greater than that in which it
now sleeps ; and the march of civilization will be retarded instead
of advanced. It is, therefore, most important, that the first trial
should be made under such circumstances as would most probably
insure success ; and too much care cannot be taken in selecting
that line which holds out the greatest political advantages to
government, and which promises the best return to the capitalist."
—Delhi Overland Gazette.
In addition to promoting internal communication, the introduc¬
tion of railroads may he easily made to subserve agricultural
purposes, by the formation of tanks where ground is required for
embankments, and by the conveyance of water along the different
lines ; thus irrigation, the sine qua non of farming in the East,
might be greatly extended, and those frequently recurring famines,
in particular districts, arising from the want of water, would be
either averted, or much alleviated.
Besides, annihilating the hopes of the farmer the deprivation
or diminution in the supply of this necessary of life in the
scorching climate of India, is the frequent and immediate cause
of dreadful misery and mortality.
The author has to thank Mr. Williamson for a copy of his letter
on this subject, and the courteous note which accompanied it.
For further information see Letter on Irrigation, by T. William¬
son, Esq., late Revenue Commissioner, Bombay, addressed to Lord
Wharncliffe. (1846).
123
GENERAL MANAGEMENT
AND
TERMS OE CONCESSION.
Three propositions suggest themselves as to the policy
to be adopted, and agencies to be employed in the
formation of railways in a new country.
1st.—That they be, with certain restrictions and
provisions, left to unfettered and unaided private en¬
terprise, as has been hitherto the case in this country.
2nd.—That the government itself should project
and define a great and comprehensive system, as well
as execute and work the lines most apparently con¬
ducive to the common weal as in Belgium.
3rd.—That the government should grant concessions
or leases of various sections, or particular projects, to
private companies on such terms as might be mutually
advantageous : the latter to have the execution of the
124
GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND
works, and the management of the traffic of the lines,
under the direct supervision and control of officers
appointed by the government, as has been practised
in France, and more recently in Belgium.
Judging from the confusion which has arisen in this
country, by giving the reins to speculative enterprise,
the crude and angular manner in which railways were
commenced in France, and the harmonious and bene¬
ficent manner in which the Belgium system has resulted,
there appears to be little doubt but that it is the most
effective and rapid mode of introducing railways into
a country. We would, however, from financial con¬
siderations, deviate so far from this example as to give,
after defining the line, the concession to a private
company, for Belgium had to borrow money at five
per cent, to make railroads, which did not till very
lately yield more than two and a half per cent., and
Pennsylvania, which in 1824 was bitten with the im¬
provement mania, "believed, and truly, that a system
of inland communication by means of canals and
railroads would tend to increase her prosperity. She
believed that the annual income of these public works
would not only pay the interest on the first cost, but
would leave a liberal overplus for public purposes."
What was the result P The state, after having spent
millions, wisely gave away the works in an unfinished
condition to companies of private individuals, on con¬
dition that they would finish them. " In addition to
TERMS OF CONCESSION.
125
this, the favouritism and peculation inseparable from
government patronage and expenditure, served to swell
the costs of these works to a most disastrous extent.
The consequence was, that in 1841 or 1842 the state
was forty millions in debt. State lines can neither be
worked with the same economy, nor can they have im¬
parted to them, that impulse which the spirit of private
enterprise alone can give."
Regarding the management of the different com¬
panies it has been suggested that an amalgamation of
the lines would be recommended or enjoined by au¬
thority. An amalgamation of interests we think
essential, so as to remove all fear of competition,
which would, at present, be both premature and in¬
jurious, and by allotting to each of the companies
(their priority and claims to public confidence being
duly considered) a certain portion of the several ap¬
proved projects, all tending to produce an uniform and
harmonious system, they would mutually co-operate
and stimulate each other to bring their respective tasks
to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion ;* and when
concluded, the different managements would be a check
upon each other and a mutual aid by their several ex-
* The Great Western of Bengal might be required to complete
the line to Rajmahl, and the East India and Great North of India
to proceed conjointly with the line from Allahabad to Delhi and
the Sutlej. (1846).
126
GENEEAL MANAGEMENT AND
periences ; by a friendly rivalry they would endeavour
to meet the requirements of the government, the ac¬
commodation of the public, and the interests of their
shareholders ; while the different boards could, by
acting in concert, either by exchanging directors, or
amicable adjustment, establish a uniform tariff for
passengers and goods, so essential to the working of a
continuous line of railway ; the proceedings of all the
boards being under the supervision and controlling
power of officers appointed by the India government.
It is now generally admitted that although, theo¬
retically, unity is strength, yet that the practical effect
of amalgamation carried beyond a certain point, is
rather detrimental than otherwise to the management
of working railroads, and that all the benefits derivable
from unity of action are secured to the public, by the
clearing house system of the bankers of Lombardy,
transplanted to this country and elsewhere, and now
applied with as perfect success to the interchange and
re-adjustment of railroad carriages and trucks, as to
bank notes and cheques. Should it, however, be con¬
sidered that the traffic in India, so simple in its nature,
and likely to continue so for many years, would be in
any degree retarded or encumbered by having several
boards of Directors, it must certainly be conceded that
there ought to be both in London and in India a
separate management for each presidency, but all
acting under a common code of laws and regulations to
TERMS OF CONCESSION.
127
be settled by authority, and when the three distinct
systems of Bengal, Madras and Bombay begin to ap¬
proximate and interlace, then the exchange of directors
or the formation of a sub-committee, composed of the
chairmen of the three companies, would answer the
purpose of imparting a uniformity of action to all.
The latter mode would facilitate and simplify the
necessary correspondence with the authorities, or
officers appointed by them to supervise the proceedings
of the several railway companies.
That the Boards in London should consist of those
acquainted, and in some degree, identified with the
particular Presidency they propose to traverse with
railroads is evidently most desirable, and that they
should receive the active co-operation of capitalists and
merchants of acknowledged status and business habits,
is equally apparent.* On this point Mr. Arbuthnot
* " In surveying the vast extent of territory embraced by the
British dominions in India, with a view to the introduction of rail¬
roads into that country, it would appear obvious, that the local
demarcations which have been found convenient in the adminis¬
tration of the Indian government, should be kept in view. In
raising the capital required to carry these undertakings into
execution, it will be necessary that the directions of the companies
which may be formed in the country, should contain a large pro¬
portion of gentlemen possessed of local knowledge and experience
jn that part of India which is to form the scene of their operations ;
and in this view of the case, it seems natural that, for the more
efficient working of such projects, a separate board should
128 GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND
makes the following judicious observations. " It
appeared farther to those parties who took an interest
in the subject here, that the conduct of associations for
introducing railways into the different localities re¬
quired in India, would be much more efficiently dis¬
charged, were they to be undertaken by parties
personally conversant with the different localities,
aided by the co-operation of gentlemen in this country
more conversant with English modes of transacting
business, than gentlemen who have passed a great part
of their lives in India can be expected to be."*
The local knowledge of the one would guard against
an injudicious selection of a line, and the known wealth
and business habits of the other would impart to the
association strength and efficiency ; with such a com¬
bination the English shareholder would feel assured
that his capital was judiciously and safely embarked,
formed in this country, for the organisation of railway operations
within each of the presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay,
to act in conjunction with local committees at the Indian Presi¬
dencies ; each of such boards in England to contain such a pro¬
portion as may be thought desirable of parties qualified by-
residence and local knowledge of the different Presidencies to
afford useful advice and correct information upon the subjeets
brought before them."—Prospectus Madras Rail-way.
* Letter of J. A. Arbuthnot, Esq., Chairman of Madras Railway
Company, to the Chairman and Committee of the Chamber of
Commerce, Madras.
TEEMS OF CONCESSION. 129
and turned to the best account that the circumstances
of the undertaking admitted of.
That the energies of capitalists require the guidance
of local knowledge is very apparent, from one powerful
company having identified itself with a project generally
believed now to be impracticable on account of the
vast outlay necessary to carry its designs into execution,
and the appearance of another association, still more
powerful, formed for the purpose of making a railroad
to a shifting village, which, every now and then trans¬
plants itself to the extent of some miles, according to
the caprice of the river. This latter scheme (the
Northern and Eastern) has been formally condemned
by the Railway Commission in Para. 19 of the report;
nevertheless the prospectus has been published in
Calcutta, and we are informed that the promoters are
only biding their time to take the English capitalists
by storm.*
* " All the objects, as appears to us, of the Northern and
Eastern are, or may be, comprised in the larger views of the
Great Western Company. And probably it (The Northern and
Eastern) will have to alter its plan as respects its Upper terminus
(Bhogvvangola) as the course of the river hereabouts is so uncertain
that one year the company might find itself, rails and godowns
(warehouses), in the bed of the river ; another year, some miles
distant from the channel where the craft would have to unship
their cargoes,"—Calcutta Review for March, 1846.
" The great mart at Bhogwangola is of so unfixed a character,
K
130
GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND
The representatives in India of the different com¬
panies, having a deputed authority should always
remain subordinate to, and removable by the London
Boards, The propriety of this is universally admitted
in India ; the organisation of its society, its state of
transition, and the experience of the past, appear to
render such an arrangement indispensably necessary.
On this point the Calcutta Review of March last re¬
marks, "We regard it as a principle universally
applicable to all proprietary institutions, that those who
supply the capital should have either the management
or an effectual voice in the management, and this
principle has generally been acted upon ; even Indian
companies scarcely possess an exception. The affairs
of the East India Company itself, when it was merely
a commercial body, were exclusively managed by the
directors in England. The Oriental and Peninsula
steam company, one of the most successful concerns
connected with India, manages the Indian branch of
its great business by means of an agent selected on the
ground of personal confidence in him, and he is strictly
from the extensive and continued changing of the bed of the
Ganges, that unless its continuation Northward and Eastward be
considered desirable, it would appear that a branch to Bliogwan-
gola, simply to accommodate the trade that now passes along the
Ganges to Calcutta by the Sunderbunds route, will not be found
to answer as a commercial speculation,''—Report of Railway
Commission. (1846).
TERMS OF CONCESSION.
131
governed by the orders or instructions of directors in
England."
It remains to say a few words on the conditions and
stipulations, which, in justice to the government and
the shareholders of the successful companies, ought to
be observed in the concession.
The successful company will be incorporated by a
charter, granted by the supreme government, and the
court of directors will concur in applying for a similar
charter from the crown, conferring on the railway
company the requisite powers.
It is to be expected that the government will include
in the concession, or grant, all the land necessary for
the railway, and afford the necessary protection to the
works till their completion.
The proceedings of the company ought at all times
to be open for the inspection of government.
That the government should have the use of the line
on payment of an equitable remuneration, and induce
companies to have a large stock of trucks, platforms,
wheels and axles, which in case of emergency any
common carpenter could raise a superstructure upon,
and thus place many additional carriages adapted for
the conveyance of troops at the disposal of government.
The general rates of conveyance to be fixed by
mutual agreement between the government and the
company. Of course there will be other clauses beyond
these just hinted at, touching penalties for non-fulfil-
132
GENERAL MANAGEMENT AN1)
ment of contracts, and as to whether or not the line
should, 011 settled terms, become eventually theproperty
of the State. These and such like stipulations demand
serious consideration both from the government and
railway companies.
We take it for granted, that no company would be
rash enough to undertake a work of such magnitude,
and at so great a distance, as a railroad in India, with¬
out such a guarantee from the government as would
enable the directors to call up their capital without
difficulty or hesitation on the part of the shareholders,
the majority of whom, being in England, are necessarily
but imperfectly acquainted with India and its resources;
indeed, were the Directors of a company disposed to
act otherwise, they would soon discover that the entire
change which has taken place in the public mind re¬
garding speculative enterprise, would render such
attempt abortive, irrespective of the merits of the un¬
dertaking, and thus nullify the wishes and the hopes
of the government and the people of India.
In considering the amount of the minimum rate of
interest to be guaranteed on the expended, or paid-up
capital of a company, some regard ought to be had to
the prevailing rates in India, both as to government
securities and private investments, as well as those
ruling in this country. By recent accounts from
Calcutta, the banks paid 6 per cent, on deposits for
three months, and charged 10 per cent, on loans at
TERMS OF CONCESSION.
133
short date, although secured by deposit of government
paper; and the bazaar rates ranged considerably
higher. In England the capitalist can command at
present 5 per cent, from railway companies in actual
operation, and to this amount the opinions of bankers
and merchants in the City, whom we have consulted,
converge as the proper amount for a minimum guaran¬
teed rate of interest for Indian railways.* This would
be merely a nominal guarantee, so far as government is
concerned, if the lines be properly selected, as the sta¬
tistical data show a goods traffic, to more than twice
the amount ;f and if the principle of low charges, as
laid down by Mr. J. Butler Williams, deduced from the
practical working of English lines, be applied to India,
the return would, we feel assured, be enormous.
* Should there be no limitation as to the exact amount ol
capital to be guaranteed, or no clause in the concession involving
forfeiture to the state of part or whole of the capital actually
expended, in the event of non-completion of the contract on the
part of the railroad company, of course a smaller per centage
would suffice even for the first project to be completed, the
guarantee of the East India Company being equivalent to that of
the Royal Government, and given with the sanction of the latter.
Should the charter not be renewed in 1854 the territories of the
Company lapse to the crown, subject to their debts and liabilities.
(1816).
j The Raj mahl Canal Committee prove, from the existing traffic
of the country, that, " the total amount of tonnage daily passing
through it (the canal) would not fall short of 3,000 tons."—
Report on the Rajmahl Canal, para. 47. (1840).
134 GENERAL MANAGEMENT AND TERMS OE CONCESSION.
But we would rather appeal to the wise and bene¬
ficent government of India, on other and more generous
grounds, and take leave of this topic in the words of
the Irish Commission, men alike distinguished for
learning, ability and enlarged patriotism. " Thus,
although a railway itself, as a mercantile speculation,
might not, at once, fulfil the sanguine expectations of
the projectors, it would be an invaluable source of
general wealth and prosperity."
135
COST OF CONSTRUCTION, &c.
According to the Report of the Railway Commission
in India, the country generally presents from the even¬
ness of its surface, remarkable facilities for the ample
development of the new system of inter-communication;
from this circumstance, and the abundance, and cheap¬
ness of labour and materials, the cost of construction
will be much less than in our most favoured lines in
England ; and besides, the government having the
power of taking at a small valuation the land necessary
for public roads, there will be no refractory land¬
owners to deal with, nor any protracted and expensive
parliamentary contest, to fritter away the funds of the
companies.* This arrangement, besides its economical
* The expenses of English railwaj s may be divided into: —
Parliamentary—Land and compensation—Works—Permanent
way—Engineering—Law charges—Land valuers—Stamps for
debentures—Office expenses, &c. Applied to India, one-half of
these items may be struck out. (1846).
136
COST OF CONSTRUCTION, ETC,
effect, will have others of a highly beneficial nature ;
the natives would be generally impressed in favour of
an undertaking thus sanctioned and supported by the
government whose mandates they revere.
The two physical difficulties which have weighed
most, with those acquainted with India, and which are
peculiar to the country, are, we believe, now entirely
set at rest : viz., the periodical inundations and ra¬
vages of the white ant.
As to the former their effects have been experienced
and provided against ; there can be no ground for
apprehension on that head.
Regarding the destructive ravages of the white ant,
the injury to be apprehended has been much exagge¬
rated, we do not anticipate any bad effect from this
insect, further than attacking temporary wooden sheds,
or buildings; we have no recollection of the white ant
making an impression on anything which was liable to
motion, concussion or vibration. The insect protecting
itself under a covered way of earthy matter, which it
throws out as it advances, we imagine that the dis¬
turbing, tremulous motion given to the sleepers by the
advance of a heavy train, would effectually deter its
attack, or, if not, speedily dislodge the enemy by des¬
troying his covered way ; besides stone or Reynolds'
cast iron sleepers might be used for sleepers instead of
wood, or the latter might be fortified by means of one
of those recent patent inventions, which have been
COST OF CONSTRUCTION, ETC.
137
found successful in imparting to timber preternatural
hardness and durability.*
Timber of excellent quality is plentifully distributed
over the country, and may be had at a cheap rate ; in
some places, almost for the expense of cutting. Teak,
Saul, Sissoo, Soondree, and Babool, (a species of Mimosa)
from their resisting the white ant, their durability and
their abundance, will probably be selected for sleepers.f
The soil being admirably adapted for making bricks,
they may be commanded to almost any extent in
almost any locality.
With the coal and iron already noticed, as occurring
iu many parts of India, we also find stone well adapted
for building purposes.
A reference to the Appendix will show the cheapness
of labour and materials in India.
* Sir William Burnett's invention preserves wood against rot
and the ravages of insects. (1840).
f Teak is well known for its solidity, hardness and durability
as the most valuable timber of almost any country—but it is ex¬
pensive. Sissoo also commands a high price in Calcutta, and
has, although not so frequently as teak, been used for ship building.
It is dark, coarse grained, and possessed of great tenacity.
Saul is less expensive in Calcutta than the former, is coarse
grained, a degree less hard and tenacious than Sissoo, but bears
exposure rather better. It is very abundant in the broad belt of
forest at the base of the Himalayah, and in the hilly regions in
other parts of the country where it may be obtained for almost a
nominal price. (1846).
138
COST OF CONSTRUCTION, ETC.
The average cost of railways has been
In England, per mile . . . about £31,000
In Scotland, ,, . . . ,, 82,000
In Ireland, ,, . . « „ 22,000
(Vide " Porter's Traffic Returns "
Statistical Journal, vol. vii., p. 176.)
In Belgium ,, ,, 18,000*
(Vide " Report of Statistical Bu¬
reau," Delaveleye, Brussels, 1844.
In France „ „ 14,000
(Vide Claudel's " Aide-Mémoire
des Ingénieurs,' p. 455. Average of
five metropolitan lines).f
Soondree is peculiar to the Sunderbundes and the Upland
district to the west of Calcutta, and excels all the forest trees of
India in the density of its fibre, in toughness, in durability when
exposed, in strength or resisting power, and its acidity gives it a
perfect immunity from the ravages of insects. It never attains
a great size and is occasionally contorted, but sticks adapted for
railway sleepers, i. e. of 8 or 9 in. scantling are to be had in any
quantity at a cheap rate ; it makes good buggy shafts, but English
workmen object to it, as it turns the edge of their tools. A large
quantity of this wood may be seen at the London Docks, or at
Messrs. Roberts and Mitchell's, Old Jewry Chambers. (1846).
* The cost of the West Flanders lines will not amount to one
half of the average cost of the state lines per mile. Second half-
yearly Report of the Directors of the West Flanders Railways,
July 3rd, 1846.
t Principles of railway management by J. Butler Williams, Esq
F S.S, F.G.S. (1846).
COST OF CONSTRUCTION, ETC.
139
In Germany, according to Legoyt . £10,940
In America . . . from £1,600 to 9,400
Average for the rougher sort,
including stations for a single
line ..... 2,812*
Estimates for India, according
to Yignoles .... 7,500 to 10,250f
„ Captain Goodwyn, exclusive of plant . 3,000
,, Captain Western (incomplete „ . 4,400
Estimates for Great Indian Peninsula (ex¬
clusive of plant) on American plan . . 3,000
It is stated in the report of the Irish commission
that railways might be constructed in that country at
the rate of £10,000 per mile. "The Board of Trade
in their report on the South Western District, in 1845,
states that the lines proposed to be made in that part
of the country might be constructed for about £12,000
per mile ; and the estimated cost of the mass of new
railways projected during the last two years, ranges
* For the mode of constructing railways in America—see
" Weale's Ensamples of Railways." (1846).
t The line from Calcutta to Mirzapore, if executed in the
manner proposed by the Railway Commissioners, may be estimated
at .... £20,000 per mile
From Allahabad to Delhi . . 8,000. „
From Calcutta to the Sutlej it would be an average of
From .... £12,000 to 15,000
And would require a capital of, about . £18,000,000.
(1846).
140 COST OF CONSTRUCTION, ETC.
with few exceptions, between £25,000 and £10,000
per mile."*
Mr. Butler Williams declares that the opinions of
engineers and statists agree in establishing the con¬
clusion that the lines to be henceforth constructed, will
on the average approach more nearly to the lower
than the higher standard.
It must be borne in mind that no just idea can be
arrived at, of the cost of a railway, from the gross
amount per mile, irrespective of other circumstances.
The difference in the value of land and house property
and the magnificent ideas of our engineers, forcing us
to raise monuments to their genius and taste in our
termini and stations, are important elements of cost.
On the Liverpool and Manchester line, thirty miles in
length, the buildings cost £280,000. The Euston ex¬
tension of the London and Birmingham railway, little
exceeding one mile in length, cost £255,722, the gate¬
way alone costing an enormous amount.
The court of directors have wisely ordered their
railway commission in India, to refer for information
and guidance as to the construction of railways to the
experience of America as well as Europe.
We think it highly probable that by eschewing what
is only ornamental, and improving upon the American
* "Defects of the English system of Railway Legislation,''' by
James Morrison, Esq., M.P. (Longman, 1840. Page 13.)
COST OF CONSTRUCTION, ETC.
141
system, we might effect an extensive railway develop¬
ment in India, at much less cost,* and better adapted
* Take for example the Rajmahl line which has been minutely
surveyed, " the earthwork in the line proposed would he very
little, and I think, I may safely say, that the earthwork and
ballasting for the rails, will he much the same as the construction
of the Great Trunk road in India, which consists of an earthen
road thirty feet wide, on an average three feet high, with a portion
sixteen feet wide metalled, the metalling being one foot deep; the
cost of the trunk road including the small bridges, but exclusive
of the bridges over the large rivers, and Engineer officers' salaries
is under 2,500 rupees a mile. The fencing, which must be strong
enough to keep out cattle, will cost 1000 rupees a mile. The
large bridges will be a heavy item which cannot be estimated
without a proper survey of the line, but if laid down at 2,500
rupees a mile, will, I think, include every large bridge required
over the Ganges, Soane, and all smaller rivers—making alto¬
gether 6,000 rupees a mile for works.
" The permanent way, meaning the sleepers and rails, cannot be
estimated to be done cheaper in India than in England. The
sleepers will require to be kyanised, (but if kyanising is not
found to resist the white ants, it will be necessary to use stone
blocks, or perhaps to use Reynold's cast iron sleepers) and the
cost will be two rupees each, and as 3,520 are required in a mile
of double line, the cost of these will be 7,040 rupees a mile ; the
rails should be of the full weight of sixty-five pounds to the yard,
and the cost will be '£ 12 or 120 rupees a ton, making 24,600
rupees a mile ; then the chairs, pins, and wedges for fastening
down the rails, and labour in doing so, about 6,000 rupees a mile,
making a total of 37,640 rupees a mile.
" The remaining item of Engineering and surveying would be
very small, and might be put down as 360 rupees a mile, thus
making for the total cost of the railway :—
142
COST Or CONSTRUCTION, ETC.
to the rougher work it would be subjected to—than
by attempting to transport a Birmingham or Great
Western, with all their grandeur and complicated
arrangements, into Hindostán.
Works ....
Permanent way
Engineering and surveying
6,000 rupees per mile
37,640
800
Total
Report, by Captain Western.
Add to above
Termini, stations, and buildings
Land and compensation
Working stock
Superintendence, &c. for three years
Miscellaneous
44,000 rupees per mile"
Rupees 44,000~,£4,400
300
100
1,000
200
500
Allowing an ample margin for contingencies,
say, per mile ......
(1846).
Total £6,500
£8,000
143
CLASSIFICATION OF PASSENGERS, &c.
It may be interesting to compare in some particulars
the working of our railways with those of Belgium,
the only country in Europe, besides our own, in which
such works have hitherto been carried on as a system,
and where the results have been published.
At the end of 1842, there were in operation in
that kingdom, 282 miles of railways, the average cost
of construction of which was £17,120 per mile, while
the average cost in this kingdom has been £34,360,*
or just double the cost in Belgium. This difference
results from a variety of causes. In the first place,
the works being undertaken by the government, there
* Those lines principally used for transporting coals and
minerals are not included in this average. (1816).
144 CLASSIFICATION OF PASSENGERS, ETC.
were no expensive parliamentary contests, no opposing
interests to be bought off, no unreasonable compen¬
sations to be paid for land ; and from the nature of
the country, there were comparatively few engineering
difficulties to be overcome. Besides these circumstances
there has been much present saving effected in the
manner of executing the works, which have been per¬
formed in a less perfect manner than would satisfy the
magnificent ideas of our engineers.
The number of passengers conveyed along the
various lines in Belgium, in 1842, was 2,724,104 or
662 for each 1,000 of the population, the proportion
in the United Kingdom having been in the year ending
30th of June, 1843, 879 for each 1000 inhabitants,
or 33 per cent., greater than in Belgium.
The proportions using various class carriages
were :—
In Belgium. In the United Kingdom.
1st class, 9 per cent. 19 per cent.
The receipts from passengers during the year, were,
in Belgium £187,372 or one shilling and fourpence
halfpenny per passenger, against two shillings and
twopence three farthings in the United Kingdom.
2nd 25
3rd 66
51
30
100
100
CLASSIFICATION OF PASSENGERS AND FARES. 145
The proportions in which the receipts were contributed
by the three classes of passengers were :—
In Belgium. In the United Kingdom.
1st class 23 45
2nd 25 42
3rd 52 13
100 100*
It will be seen by the preceding tables that the
majority of travellers in the United Kingdom take the
second class, and in Belgium the third class ; the
actual receipts for the third class in Belgium, being
more than equal to that drawn from the first and
second classes combined ; and we are convinced, that,
although any payment is beyond the means of the
artizan or labourer of India, yet (as we have elsewhere
stated,) there is a large and thriving population of
merchants and smaller traders in the great cities of
India, that would avail themselves of these classes of
carriage, were even the average English rates of con¬
veyance adhered to. Mr. Laing computes the average
* An examination of the returns made by the various railway
companies of the United Kingdom, with respect to their traffic,
during the year ending 30th of June, 1843. By U-. R. Porter, Esq.,
F.R.S. Treasurer of the Statistical Society of London.—( Journal
of the Statistical Society of London, for June 1844).
I,
146 CLASSIFICATION OF PASSENGERS AND FARES.
distance travelled by each passenger in this country at
thirteen and one-eighth miles, for a fare of two shillings
and two-pence three farthings," while in Belgium the
average distance travelled, is stated to be, seven and
three quarters leagues, or about nineteen miles, for
one shilling and four-pence halfpenny.
Regarding the arrangement of the different classes,
and the relative fares to be charged, we must be guided
in our calculations by the peculiar state of society in
India—we should have five distinct sets of carriages, di¬
vided as follows :—one, appropriated to the conveyance
of Europeans, the Civil and Military Officers of the State
—two, that is, a first and a second class, for the
Mahomedans, and the same for the Hindoo portion of
the people, with due provision for the conveyance of
their females, the carriages suitable for the natives
could also be made available for the conveyance of
troops, both European and native.*
With the exception of troops, there would be scarcely
any European travellers but those going by the first
class carriages, and as these would be public servants,
* Although it would be necessary and proper on the first introduc¬
tion of a new mode of transit to consult the prejudices of the native
community, we are persuaded that the minute subdivision of the
people recommended above, would soon be quite unnecessary, as
at present, all castes, classes, and sects make no scruple to cross
the rivers in the same ferry boats, without reference) to the caste
status or religion of their fellow passengers. (1846).
CLASSIFICATION OF PASSENGERS AND FARES. 147
proceeding or returning on duty, or on leave of absence,
there would be little probability of reduction in the
fares greatly augmenting their numbers.
The charge should have reference to the expense ol
travelling by dale (post), by steamers, by budgerow,
and marching, and it is to be borne in mind that to
this class time is in reality money. For instance the
staff, and command allowances of the staff and regi¬
mental officer, determine on the day on which he is
relieved of the duties of his office, and re-commence on
the day on which he reports his arrival at the Head
Quarters of his division or regiment. Take an every
day case of a Lieut.-Colonel or a Medical Officer,
arriving from England, when his regiment is some 800
miles up the country; for every month which he
occupies in marching or proceeding by water, to join
his regiment, he loses :—
Lieut.-Colonel, per mensem . Rs. 430=£43
Regimental Surgeon . . Rs. 300=£30
A daily loss of one pound eight and eightpence and
one pound respectively.
So that they could afford to pay a very high fare,
and yet be gainers, and escape exposure to the climate
and fatigue.
The very opposite principles apply to the other
classes. After having made every arrangement for the
safety and comfort of all, we should hold out by the
moderation of the fares, every inducement to the
148 CLASSIFICATION OF PASSENGERS AND FARES.
natives to abandon their unsafe and tedious convey¬
ances, for one offering them every facility, combined
with economy ; making a sufficiently wide difference,
to define the distinction between the native nobleman
or rich merchant, and the petty trader, and the fares
for these classes, particularly the last named, should
be made as low as it is practicable ; bearing in mind
that profits accrue in an exact ratio to the masses con¬
veyed, whether the masses be passengers, live stock,
minerals or merchandise, e.g .—a line with a traffic of
750,000 tons per annum, (that of Liverpool and
Manchester) could carry goods with as much profit at
a penny per ton per mile, as a line (the Paris and
Orleans), with a traffic of 150,000 tons, at three pence
per ton per mile.
149
CONCLUSION.
With our Calcutta Review friend we have broken a
lance on one or two occasions, and we shall be, with all
courtesy, happy to do our devoir again, if he persists
in looking through the wrong end of his telescope. His
essay was a preliminary one, we shall expect to see his
views more decidedly in favour of legitimate undertakings
and opposed to crude absurdities. His local knowledge
ought to qualify him to apply the scalpel, and lay bare,
for the benefit of the English public, the real merits
of the candidates for their favour; and transferring the
closing remarks of our friend to these pages, we wish
him for the present adieu. " In parts where the per¬
manent settlement has been established, the revenue
will be more easily collected ; in other parts, the land
will be at an improved rent, as it will necessarily be
improved in value. A railroad in this point of view
150
CONCLUSION.
will be a more valuable acquisition than Sindh, or the
ceded Sikh Provinces. We believe it is impossible to
form too high an estimate of the manner in which it
would develop the agricultural capabilities of the
country. In the Report on the Ganges Canal, which
was intended to run from Hurdwar to Allahabad, we
find a contrast drawn between the evils which the
canal would mitigate or prevent—such as famine—and
the malaria which it produced, occasioning sickness,
and disease in the contiguous population. No malaria
attends a railroad : it pretends not indeed to prevent
a failure of crops, but it does better, it facilitates com¬
merce, multiplies the power of capital, and pours a
supply wherever there is a demand, and enables charity
to perform its object and mission."
"The natives of India are concerned in it." (railway
communication). " The undoubted effect would be in
a constantly augmenting ratio, to unfold the unknown
mineral resources of their world-famed land—vastly to
enhance in value the products of its prolific soil—
widely and cheaply to diffuse the objects of personal
comforts, and refined social enjoyment—and annually
to save the lives of thousands that must otherwise
perish from the hazards, the fatigues, and the exposures
of the present rude and semi-barbarous modes of
travelling. The merchants of England, and of every
realm within the empire of civilization are concerned
in it.
CONCLUSION.
151
" Philanthropists of every name are concerned in it."
(railway communication). " Its tendency would be to
save the time and strength of devoted labourers, in
visiting different and widely distant spheres of useful¬
ness—more speedily and economically to concentrate
the material means and instrumentalities of improve¬
ment in favourable localities—and more rapidly and
successfully to multiply those radiating points, whence
the light of science, and art, and true religion may
emanate all around.
" The mighty impulse which it would impart to the
development of the exhaustless treasures of so highly
favoured a region, and to the awakening energies of
so multitudinous a people, could not fail to make itself
felt on the shores of the Baltic and Mediterranean, in
the mines of Cornwall, and the back woods of America,
in the dockyards and harbours alike of the Atlantic
and Pacific, and in every seat of manufacturing industry
throughout the commercial world. The honour, the
dignity, and the glory of imperial Britain are concerned
in it. The complete permeation of these c climes of
the sun' by a magnificent system of Railway com¬
munication, would present a series of public monu¬
ments vastly surpassing in real grandeur the aque¬
ducts of Rome, the pyramids of Egypt, the great wall
of China, the temples, palaces, and mausoleums of the
Great Moguls—monuments not merely of intelligence
and power, but of utility and beneficence, which would
152
CONCLUSION.
for ever wipe away the fiercely indignant reproach, that,
' were we to be driven out of India this day, nothing
would remain to tell that it had been possessed, during
the inglorious period of our dominion, by anything
better than the ourang-outang or the tiger.' " A re¬
proach more undeserved we believe was never heard,
and could only have been uttered (one would imagine)
by some canting orator, the paid champion of liberty
and equality, and the slave of party.*
Were we driven out of India to-morrow, we should
leave behind us glorious monuments of our rule in the
temples reared to the God of the honest, brave and
* The Eastern Sage Desh-u-lubun Ocharik in writing to one
of these hollow declaimers, says :—
" Nothing of good can originate with them ; (The East India
Company) they have erred you would make out, from their very
first illegitimate birth in good Queen Elizabeth's virgin time, up
to the present portentous era of free trade and political economy.
Thus they have blundered and bungled on, from steß"ib step, into
the lamentable, undisturbed possession of one of the largest and
finest Empires irx the universe ; their very pre-eminence in the
East—the quiet peacefulness of their subjects—the unobtrusive
and simple machinery of their local governments—the silently
progressive amelioration of the population committed to their
charge, and the extensive diffusion of education and useful know¬
ledge—the numerous institutions for the sick, the indigent, and
the uninformed, embracing every class, Hindoo or Mussulman—
their delicacy towards ourselves (more, I may venture to say, than
they exhibit towards their own European servants, civil or military)
and scrupulous regard for the protection of the lands, religion,
ordinances, and feelings, of the millions they govern. Nay, the
CONCLUSION.
153
merciful Feringee—in fields reclaimed from the wilder¬
ness—desolate hearths restored—ruined cities and
towns rebuilt—instead of anarchy, rapine, and spoil—
protection, contentment and peace !
" Inglorious period of our dominion !" We almost
blush to imprint upon our page so fou) a stigma, while
the sands of the Sutlej are still red with the blood of
our enemies, while the voice of Europe declares that
our bravery in the field, is only to be equalled by our
generosity to the vanquished ; at home our victorious
chiefs have been equally awarded the laurel crown and
civic bay—we admit, however, that we have left much
undone for the people of India, and in nothing have
very state itself of the government, which obtains loans from us
at half the interest for which the traders of Calcutta can procure
money;* these and every other just and honourable characteristic
of our present rulers, are misrepresented, vilified, decried.
" No one acquainted with our ancient history and government
can deny, that however many of us may complain of the loss of
dignities and immunities formerly, but precariously possessed, the
mass of our people have derived many substantial advantages from
British connection, which has not only rescued us from the
numerous evils which we suffered, under our native rule, but has
gradually led to our incorporation as a part of the British Empire,
to the diffusion of literature among us, the introduction and pro¬
motion of a knowledge of the sciences, and the benefit of equal
laws, and a distribution of justice similar to that enjoyed by the
parent state." (1846).
* "During the Burmese war, the East India Company borrowed money
at five per cent ; while the most respectable merchants and agents of Cal¬
cutta were paying ten."—Letter of Desh-u-Luban Ocharik, of Calcutta.
154
CONCLUSION.
we been more culpable and impolitic, than having
neglected for so long a period the means of com¬
munication.
The Romans of old, and the Czar of the present day,
attended to roads, as an important element of policy
and power : and the ignorant serf of the north enjoys
under the iron despotism of the Black Eagle of Russia,
facilities for trade and intercommunication, which are
withheld from the intelligent subjects of the wise and
generous England.
We will not speculate on the momentous results
with which this subject is fraught to millions yet un¬
born, how it speaks of a quickening and pervading
civilization, remunerative labour, amelioration to the
many, and the removal of superstition and prejudice;
and what accession will it not bring to us of riches,
power and glory by developing the resources of a
mighty empire, hitherto almost without roads, by
stimulating the industry of its inhabitants, whose
natural intelligence has been either lost in apathy, or
chilled by the petrifying influence of caste, while, by
the easy and rapid concentration of our troops, our
power must become irresistible,* and the glory would
be ours of having done our duty to the hundred millions
of our brethren committed to our charge, attaining at
* A friend, of the writer's heard the Governor-general of India
state, that with railways our army would at once be doubled in
effective force. (1846).
CONCLUSION.
155
once a more assured and consolidated empire, a vastly
augmented revenue, with a more industrious, and
therefore, a richer and a happier people.
While the foregoing sheets were passing through the
press* the despatch of the Bengal Government, re¬
garding the introduction of railways into British India,
has been received at the India House.
The sentiments of the local Government, will, we
feel assured, be in accordance with the recommendation
of the railway commission, and will give those projectsf
for connecting the seat of supreme government with
the N.W. Frontier that prominence and consideration
which their pre-eminent, political, and commercial
importance demands.
* In the month of July last. (1846).
t Great Western of Bengal, (Calcutta to Rajmahl) and the line
from Allahabad to Delhi. (1846).
APPENDIX TO SECOND EDITION.
1846.
159
MODES OF TRAVELLING IN INDIA AND
FARES.
The natives of the lower provinces generally go by
water as there is less fatigue attending this mode of
transit, but the Up-country people generally prefer travel¬
ling on horseback or in carriages.
An European or a wealthy native going by dâk (post)
from Calcutta to Benares, a distance of 428 miles, will
incur an expense of one shilling per mile besides buck-
shees (presents) to the bearers about one shilling per
stage, making in all about £25 for one journey, which he
will be five days in accomplishing (exclusive of halts).
If by Palkee with eight bearers, going fifteen miles per
diem, he will have to pay £12 10s., besides £2 10s. for a
banghy,* and will consume nearly a month on the road.
This mode of travelling, besides the loss of time, is at¬
tended with danger from robbers. The journey is ac¬
complished in sixteen days on horseback. By water, by
budgerow from £15 to £25—and forty days occupied on
the journey if going up the river.
By steamer for the above journey the fare will be
much the same as by budgerow, and the time occupied
may be about ten days for three months in the year,
and nearly twenty for the remaining nine months.
* A banghy wallah, or bearer of two light boxes.
160
APPENDIX.
By Gharry, (native carriage drawn by oxen) the cost
will be £10, and travelling at the rate of twelve miles
per diem.
Infantry regiments move at the rate of ten and a half
miles per diem, halting six days in the month, so that it
takes about six weeks to move from Calcutta to Benares
a single corps.
" The cost then of a detachment of 300 men, pro¬
ceeding by water to Allahabad, would be as follows :—
Boat allowance to one Field Officer (say a
Major) for two and a half months, at Rs. 360 . Rs. 900
Boat allowance to three Captains,
for two and a half months, at . .180 1,350
Boat allowance, 10 Subalterns, at . 100 2,500
Ditto ditto 1 Surgeon, at . . 180 450
Twenty-five, 600 maund boats for men . . 3,375
Rs. 8,575
And if to this is added the boats for the accommodation
of the sick, row boats and store boats, the amount will be
considerably increased, without taking into consideration
the extra establishments proceeding with such a detach¬
ment, whereas the cost of conveying such a detachment
by the railway, at a penny a head per mile for 600 miles,
would only be £750 or 7,500 rupees.
" The cost of extra establishments, with European
troops marching, 1 cannot so accurately state, but it will
be found, I think, to exceed the cost at which they could
be transported by railway."*
Small parties or individuals marching or proceeding by
water move at a quicker rate.
* Report in 1843, by Captain Western.
101
CLEARING HOUSE SYSTEM AS APPLIED
TO RAILWAYS.
The ultimate effect of the extension of a uniform
railway system is still more clearly shown in the opera¬
tions of the clearing house.
We are fortunately enabled to furnish an account of
this interesting and valuable institution, from a pamphlet *
lately printed for private circulation by its ingenious
author, Mr. B. Morison.
It appears that soon after the opening of the con¬
tinuous lines of railways between Liverpool and London,
it was found that travellers would not be content with the
mere acceleration of speed, but required to be carried
through at one charge, and if possible by one convey¬
ance. The same demand was made for goods. This
arrangement was carried into effect ; but although the
public were better served, the accounts of the companies
interchanging fell into sad confusion. Each company
had charges against those which ran over its lines, and in
like manner owed money to those lines, giving rise to an
interminable affair of cross accounts. Then, as railways
increased, some were prosperous, and some were poor.
* The Origin, and Results of the Clearing System which is in
opération on the narrow gauge Railways.
M
16:2
APPENDIX.
The prosperous were well supplied with carriages, wag¬
gons, trucks, and all that comes within the meaning of
" railway stock," the poor companies had as little as they
could help, and made up for the deficiency by unacknow¬
ledged borrowings ,• so that, altogether, the interests
which should, for mutual and public good, work most
harmoniously, clashed in a manner that could be pleasing
only to the lawyers of the disputing companies. The
solution of the litigious maze was found in a plan derived
from that of the city clearing house, which was carried
into effect under the auspices of Mr. Glyn and Mr.
Hudson.
On the 2nd of January, 1842, the system of the
Railway Clearing House came into operation on the
railways extending from London to Darlington in one
direction, and from Manchester to Hull in another. It
was adopted, at subsequent periods, by the companies
whose railways extended from Darlington to Carlisle,
Sunderland, Hartlepool, and Scarborough ; and from
Birmingham to Gloucester, Birkenhead, Liverpool, Fleet •
wood, Lancaster and Manchester. And in a few months
it will be in force in all the railways included in the area
defined by a line passing from London through Glou¬
cester, Liverpool, Fleetwood and Glasgow to Edinburgh ;
and returning by Berwick, Newcastle, Scarborough,
Hull, Yarmouth and Cambridge, to the metropolis; or,
in other words, in all the narrow gauge railways in Great
Britain lying north of the Thames, with the exception of
the few short lines which are beyond the limits of the
area just described.
The main principles of the system thus widely dif¬
fused, are first, that passengers shall be booked through
CLEARING HOUSE SYSTEM, ETC.
163
at all principal stations, and conveyed to their destination
without change of carriage ; that the horses and cattle
shall likewise be sent through without change of convey¬
ance, and that goods shall, in the same way, be carried
through without being either shifted or re-assorted.
Secondly, the companies respectively shall pay a fixed
rate per mile, for such carriages and waggons not their
own property, as they may use ; and a further sum per
day by way of fine or demurrage for detention, if kept
beyond a prescribed length of time ; and lastly, that no
direct settlement shall take place between the companies
in respect to any traffic, the accounts of which have not
passed through the railway clearing house.
In order to work out the clearing principle, there are
sent daily from each of the clearing house stations (in¬
cluding all the principal booking stations of every line,
forming a part of the railway union),
1st. A return of the passengers booked through.
2nd. A return of the horses, private carriages, and
cattle booked through.
3rd. A return of the parcels booked through.
4th. A return of all the carriages, waggons, &c.,
which have arrived or been discharged either loaded or
empty.
From these returns the accounts of what is due to
and owing by each company is made out at the clearing
house, and after being examined and approved by each
company, the final settlement of the accounts is effected
by the railway clearing, paying, or receiving the balances,
as the case may be, through the hands of the bankers,
who act as agents to the several companies. In this way
all the transactions of one company, with all other com-
164
APPENDIX.
pañíes, amounting frequently to many thousand pounds a
week, are cleared weekly by a sum seldom exceeding a
few hundred pounds.
The means which the clearing house possesses for having
each vehicle reported from the moment it leaves the parent
line until it returns to it, and the plan adopted of charging
mileage for stock used, and demurrage for stock detained,
have put an end to the practice before referred to, of
borrowing from neighbours to supply an improper defi¬
ciency in carrying vehicles.
From these returns, for the year 1845, we find that
517,888 passengers were each conveyed through an
average distance of 146 miles—the average length of the
lines travelled over being forty-one miles, so that each
passenger travelled over four railways on an average, and
must have passed three junctions or points of conveyance
—to accommodate these passengers, 59,765 railway car¬
riages and 5,813 trucks, carrying private carriages, were
sent through. There were also sent through in the same
year, 7,573 horseboxes, ¡2,607 post offices, and 180,606
goods waggons, besides waggons conveying minerals, of
which no record is kept at the clearing house.
There are other circumstances connected with the
clearing house, which render it a most valuable institution.
The control is vested in a committee, composed of all
companies who form part of the union. Their meetings
tend to produce harmony and also uniformity in their
respective arrangements, and to impose a check on the
disposition to introduce diversities of system, which, for
some motive or other, railway managers have so often
evinced.*
v Mr. Morison's pamphlet on Gauge Evidence. Vide also
the work, by Mr. Samuel Sidney, on the same subject.
165
PRICE OF LABOUR AND MATERIALS
IN INDIA.
Average amount of Wages and Prices of materials on the spot.
Masons or bricklayers, per day
Carpenters „ .
Labourers (able bodied) ,, (three of whom are equa
to one European) .....
Ditto „ per month
Cost of excavating to an average depth of twenty
feet, and reproving the earth to a distance, fo
every five hundred and seventy-four cubic feet
or twenty-one and three quarters cubic yards
Cost of one hundred cubic feet of masonry
Ditto ditto of arched masonry
£0 0 6
0 0 6
0 0 3
0 5 0
0 2 0
18 0
2 0 0
MATERIALS.
Bricks—11 inches—per thousand
Ditto „ ,, for arching
Chuñar stone (Calcutta price) each eighteen inches
square and two inches thick, per score
Tiles, eighteen inches, per hundred
Ditto ,, „ (pan or roof)
Lime, per cart load (1 4 cwt.)
Sand (washed) per hundred ferrahs
Timber (rough) teak per ton . £3 0 0 to
„ Saiil „ . 2 0 0
Sisso „ .100
Teak, in plank six inches thick
(Calcutta price) per ton . . 4 10 0
Piles per hundred .....
Cost of conveying materials by land, per ton, pe
mile .......
Ditto by water, exclusive of loss of interest anc
insurance . . . .
0 7 0
0 13 0
0 16 0
0 4
0 2
0 4
0 14
5 10 0
3 10 0
2 10 0
5 10 0
15 0 0
0 0 3
0 0 1|
COST OF BRIDGE OF THIRTY FEET WATERWAY, EXCLUSIVE OF TOWING PATH.
From report on Ganges Canal, 1845. Page 56.
Piers
Arch
Counter arch
Wing walls
Cornice
Parapet
Pillars
Ditto superstructure
Towing path foundations
Ditto superstructure
Foundation curtains
Spandrils
Flooring between pier and towing path
18
42
30
30
120
120
4
3
30
48
30
12
18
B
0
1
n
2
n
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
D
20
18
18
15
1
2
3
6
3
H
H
No. Cub. Con.
Total cubic feet
Deduct
Foundation of pier in rear of towing path | 18 | 6 | 4 | ' 1
Grand total cubic content of masonry
4,320
1,512
702
3,240
2.40
900
384
108
1,086
864
810
108
54
14,328
432
13,896
Of which say, 1,512 cubic ft. of arched masonry at 20 Rs. per 100 cubic ft. Ils.
12,378 ditto plain ditto 14 Rs. per ditto
Cos. Rs.
302 6
1,732 14
Total cost of the bridge . Rs.| 2,035 5 L
£203 10
107
PRICE OF LABOUR AND MATERIALS IN
ENGLAND.
s.
d.
s.
d.
Common excavation, per cubic yard
0
5 to
0
8
If basketed ......
0
6 „
0
9
If wheeled ......
0
8 „
0
10
Ditto and staged, for every run, viz. 20 yards
add ......
0
n
If carted, or otherwise removed a distance
not exceeding 900 yards, add
I
0 „
g
6
(If beyond the distance, add proportionally.)
Note.—If in tunnels, allowance must be
made for the sinking of shafts and
haulage of excavation in proportion to
the depth of shaft a-nd length of tunnel ;
also in excavating for bridges or other
buildings, allowance must be made for
working room and sustaining slopes,
as well as for any other contingency
that may arise in excavation or forma¬
tion and the subsiding of banks.
Unsoiling, per super, yard, without carriage .
0
n „
0
3
If wheeled, per run of 20 yards, add
0
0Í
If removed 900 yards, add
0
4 „
0
10
(If beyond that distance, add proportionally.)
Soiling slopes of embankments or cuttings .
0
3
Forming surface level of road for ballast
0
JJ »
0
3
Forming face of cuttings and embankments
for soiling .....
0
n »
0
4
Forming drains each side of roads in cut¬
tings, per yard lin :
0
8 „
0
6
168 APPENDIX.
brickwork,
Note.—The following prices are calculated at £14 per rod,
taking the bricks at forty shillings per thousand, delivered at
the works, including profit. For every shilling more or less,
add or deduct per cube yard, fivepence halfpenny.
Brickwork, in mortar, per cubic yard
Ditto, in Roman cement
Ditto, if worked camber, per foot superficial
Ditto, if circular ....
Ditto, face pointed, in ash mortar
Ditto, in cement ....
Brick-on-edge coping, in cement, per foot run
1J brick ditto ditto
Note.—Cement, asphalte, or hydraulic cement,
laid over arches, per yard superficial, from one
shilling and ninepence to ...
Clay, well puddled, and laid over arches 6 inches
thick, per sup. yard
d.
9
1
1
1
3
31
5
0 3
0 3 8
The average price of stone in England, fit for building
purposes, may be estimated at four and sixpence per cubic
foot when in the rough state.*
* For the above particulars the author is indebted to the
courtesy of Mr. Weale, 59, High Holborn, who furnished him
with some of the proof sheets of a work now in the press—
entitled "Engineer's Pocket Book for 1847."
169
TRANSVERSE STRENGTH OF WOODS.
A valuable article has appeared in the military reposi¬
tory, embodying in a table the results of a series of
experiments performed on this subject, (transverse
strength of woods) at the gun carriage agency Kásipur
(Cossipore). The woods selected were Bengal Sundria,
(Soondree) Murany Sál, (Morung Saul) Gorakpur Sal,
(Gorukhpore Saul) Rangoon Teak, Java Teak, Pegu
Teak, Bombay Teak, Murany Tun, (Morung Toon)
Bengal Deal, Norway Deal, and American Ash. The
pieces experimentèd on were each seventy-two inches in
length, two inches square, and sixty inches between the
points of support. Amongst other results it appears that
the Bengal Deal, though unseasoned, was equal to the
Norway, each breaking with seven hundred and twenty
pounds, and with a deflection of two and a half inches. The
great range in the strength of Teak is one of the most
curious and valuable of the results. The extremes are
Rangoon and Bombay or Malabar 1175 and 591 pounds
giving a ratio of 2:1. Both woods were seasoned.
The highest value of Bombay Teak was 889 pounds,*
* British oak ranks next to Rangoon Teak in transverse
strength. The iron-wood of Arracan is approved of by the Rail¬
way Commission for sleepers, but little is said as to its
qualities, and nothing as to quantity or price. (1846).
170
APPENDIX.
Bengal Súndri (Soondree) is the strongest wood tried,
and required 1-384 pounds to break it. Murang Sâl
(Morung Saul) is the next, 1319. It appears in general
that the woods are stronger for being seasoned; in the
case of the Sundri (Soondree) the difference was remark¬
able, 1384 and 992 or 75. The greatest range of Sâl
Chaokars (Saul Chovvkers), and Daokars (Dowkurs) was
1319 to 1179, when seasoned; unseasoned it did not go
below 1085—Murang Sal Battis (Morung Saul Batties)
gave only 787. Tun (Toon), not seasoned, 667, and
American ash 483.*
* Gleanings in Science, Calcutta, March, 1829.
RELATIVE POPULATION OF BENGAL AND
BEHAR.
PER SQUARE MILE.
Tear.
Square miles.
Population.
Relative Pop.
Per square mile.
1793
1843
144,762
144,762
24,000,000
48,007,061
165
331*
Rate of increase per cent, in fifty years . 100
* Population of Great Britain, by last census, per square
mile, was 240. (1846).
171
STAPLE ARTICLES OF COMMERCE OF
BENGAL.
Estimate of the quantities of some of the staple articles of com¬
merce annually imported into Calcutta from the country West of
Rajmahl for exportation and local consumption, from the best in¬
formed Mahajuns (native merchants) engaged in the trade.
Tons.
Cwts.
Indigo
3,214
5|
Sugar
. 89,285
14
Saltpetre
. 21,428
Hi
Cotton
7,857
Wheat
. 12,500
Gram
. 16,071
8
Dholl and pease
. 16,071
8
Oats
1,785
14
Barley . .
71
8
Opium
628
11
Linseed
7,142
17
Mustard seed
1,785
14
Teel seed
178
11
Ghee
178
11
Total Tons
. 178,199
15*
N.B. Besides the aboye there is an innumerable
variety of other imports that cannot possibly be estimated,
such as Mirzapore carpets, cashmere shawls, scarfs, coarse
piece goods, &c., but which constitute a large and valu¬
able trade, yearly increasing.*
* The above statement is compiled from the valuable pamphlet
of Mr. R. M. Stephenson, and by recent advices from Calcutta, it
is estimated by English merchants that upwards of one hundred
tons of grain, besides other kinds of provisions, and live stock,
would be conveyed daily by the Rajmalil line for the Calcutta
market. (1846).
TRAFFIC ON JUMNA.
■<!
Total traffic on Jumna downwards, taken at Allahabad Bridge, of boats, during 25 days of April, 1841.
36,024 Bags of salt at 12 Bags per Ton 3,002
52,080 Bales of cotton „ 8 ditto ,, 6,510
828 Bags of saltpetre „ 12 ditto „ 69 Tons.
2,(00 Hides „ 50 ditto „ 40
Add for 5 days .. .. .. .. .. ..1,924
>
u
11,545 S
a
x
Jumna traffic upwards.
13,119 Bags of rice at 12 Bags per Ton 1,193
2,240 Ditto cocoa nuts ,, 12 ditto „ 170
2,347 Spices ,, 12 ditto ,, 195
2,815 Miscellaneous „ 12 ditto ,, 234
Add for 5 days .. .. .. .. .. .. 358 2,150
13,695
TRAFFIC ON GANGES.
Total traffic on Ganges downwards, taken at Allahabad Bridge, of boats, in April, 1841.
54,700 Pieces of Kurwah cloth
at
500 pieces per Ton
109
1,004 Bags of mustard seed
,,
12
84
6,305 Ditto saltpetre
if
12
525
7,162 Bales of cotton
„
s
895
12,250 Hides
if
120
102
4,450 Miscellaneous
)i
12
371
13,700 Horns
a
120
114
Ganges traffic upwards.
1,348 Wine chests
at
12 pieces per Ton
112
1,013 Bags of cocoa nuts
if
12
84
7,394 Ditto rice
if
12
616
4,189 Ditto spice
if
12
349
4,940 Iron and tin
if
10
494
In addition to this, 94 boats containing passengers and goods not counted,
and may be estimated at 40 tons each
Total amount of traffic on Ganges and Jumna in April, 1841
2,200
21
c
1,655
3,760
7,615
21,310
<1
TEAFFIC ON GEAND TEUNK EOAD.
i—i
Statement of the amount of traffic along the Granel Trunk Road, as kept at Futtehpore, under the
superintendence of conductor Tuceffe, during the month of April, 1841.
Futtehpore, 1 st May, 1841.
Hackeries.
Bilies.f
Camels.
Elephants.
Bullocks.
Tattoos.
Mules.
Horses.
Buggies.
Carriages.
Palanquins.
West 636
4Ö7
04
23
100
102
54
19
8
2
48
East 441
428
159
21
189
133
7
19
5
3
55
Day 1,077
835
223
44
295
295
01
38
13
5
103
Night 419
113
197
0
50
33
72
19
58
Total 1,496
948
420
50
345
328
01
110
32
5
161
f Native Carriages.
COMPILED BY PERMISSION OF THE AUTHORITIES, FROM OFFICIAL RETURNS
IN THE INDIA HOUSE.
Statement showing the Number and Tonnage of Vessels resorting to Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, and also Value
of the Imports into, and Exports from, the three Presidencies ; for the Years 1833-4, and 1843-4.
ARRIVALS CALCUTTA. MADRAS. BOMBAY.
1833-34
1843
-44
1833
-34
1843-44
1833-34
1843-44
ships tons
ships
tons
ships
tons
ships
tons
ships
tons
ships
tons
under British Colors
330
122,952
494
208,055
3,561
189,999
397
127,281
144
62,520
360
164,934
„ French
31
10,771
47
13,673
21
5,571
28
6,710
9
1,852
3
645
„ Dutch
2
352
5
1,868
8
917
2
208
1
424
»
11
,, Portuguese
1
350
5
1,101
129
4,064
13
1,747
11
3,520
3
529
,, American
22
7,342
15
6,893
3
958
4
1,686
1
211
5
1,760
„ Arab
10
4,386
10
4,845
130
21,123
195
26,799
4
1,276
5
824
„ Native
432
36,616
196
17,584
1,179
95,785
4,941
210,944
33
33
33
>3
„ Burmese
1
400
2
500
33
„
33
33
33
33
33
>3 -
„ Austrian
33
33
,,
„
33
5}
„
,,
11
,,
1
305
„ Swedish
1
302
»
33
»
3 3
5)
»
11
33
1
190
Total of Arrivals , ,
830
183,471
772
254,519
1 5,031
318,417
5,580
375,375
1 170
69,803
378
169,187
TOTAL VALUE of IMPORTS.
Sicca Rupees
Company's Rupees
Company'
Rupees
Company'
s Rupees
Company's
Rupees
Company'
Rupees
Of the same Periods
195,81,986
493,25,80-7
1,03,09,999
98,47,007
266,74,031
476,06,865
At 2s. pr. Company's Rupee.
£2,088,745
£4,932,580
£1,030,999
£984,700
£2,667,403
£4,760,686
DEPARTURES
ships tons
ships
tons
ships
tons
ships
tons
ships
tons
ships
tons
under British Colors
333
122,815
532
224,318
4,225
218,159
610
189,395
173
78,864
386
178,906
„ French
29
10,416
45
13,085
23
5,666
45
10,950
10
3,066
4
922
„ Dutch
2
352
4
1,580
10
1,185
2
208
1
424
33
,, Portuguese
1
350
3
1,207
146
4,557
9
1,429
7
1,956
3
529
,, American
19
6,765
18
8,372
3
958
3
1,307
3
876
5
1,860
„ Arab
12
5,221
9
4,223
183
24,736
296
38,347
5
1,844
7
2,013
„ Native
432
36,616
197
18,045
970
87,336
5,825
237,410
,5
„
>5
»
„ Austrian
,,
„
>,
,,
33
33
33
33
33
33
2
610
„ Swedish
1
315
„
„
11
33
>5
„
„
„
11
11
„ Spanish
,,
„
3
580
>3
»
,,
,,
„
33
11
11
„ Burmese
»
»
2
344
33
»
»
"
»
»
11
33
Total of Departures...
829
182,880
813
271,754
5,560
312,597
6,790
479,046
1 199
87,030
407
184,840
VALUE of EXPORTS.
Sicca Rupees
Company's Rupees
Company's
Rupees
Company's
Rupees
Company's
hipees:
Company's
Rupees
Of the same Periods
3,79,12,649
9,78,66,356
1,38,46,794
2,22,96,369
4,05,881,135
6,84,30,869
At 2s. pr. Company's Rupee.
£4,044,015
£9,786,635
£1,384,679
£2,229,637
£4,058,813
£6,843,087
Note.—The small country craft carrying the coasting trade, which are separately returned in the Bombay Official
statements and have not been included in the above abstract, are apparently entered in the Madras returns,
which will account for the disproportionately large tonnage of that Presidency.
In estimating the gross trade of Calcuttà—the amount of its imports and exports together, an allowance of
about 7 per cent, in 1833-4, and above 3 per cent, in 1843-4, should be made for imports re-exported.
To face p. 174.]
APPENDIX TO THIRD EDITION.
177
STATEMENT OF THE TRAFFIC BETWEEN CAL¬
CUTTA AND DELHI, FROM OFFICIALLY AUTHEN¬
TICATED GOVERNMENT RETURNS*
Goods Traffic between Calcutta and Mibzapobe,
Ganges Traffic (Goods).
In the year 1844-5, it appears, from the official
statement of the Collector of tolls at Jungy-
pore, on the Bhaugerruttee River, that boats
passed through that branch of the river, con¬
taining 21,497,750 maunds ; or, taking 27
maunds to the ton, the tonnage of the laden
cargo boats was 796,213 tons.
To catch the vessels coining through the rivers
of the Sunderbunds, a toll is imposed on the
vessels navigating Tolly's Nullah, and the cir¬
cular Canal at Calcutta. The toll is half a
rupee for every hundred maunds of tonnage
(boats of less than a hundred maunds not
being counted), and in 1844-5 it yielded
177,791 rupees; showing that 35,558,200
maunds of tonnage had passed through it,
which, at the rate of twenty-seven maunds to
the ton, gives—per annum 1,316,970 „
Traffic in native boats is therefore 2,113,183 tons.
* Vide 1st Report of Directors East India Railway Company.
n
178
APPENDIX.
Brought forward 2,113,183 tons.
In 1844-5, seven steamers made thirty-nine
trips upwards, and carried 112,765 measure¬
ment feet, and 1,156,909 lbs. weight of cargo.
Beckoning a cubic foot to weigh 30 lbs., we
have, carried upwards by steamers 2,027 „
The number of downward trips, and goods car¬
ried, cannot be precisely ascertained ; hut the
number of downward trips must have been
about the same as the number of upward
trips and, from the return of several down¬
ward trips which are ascertained, the propor¬
tion of goods carried downwards would ap¬
pear to be about one third of the goods car¬
ried upwards. We therefore have, carried
downwards, of measurement goods, 37,588
feet, and 385,636 lbs. weight of cargo, or ... 675 ,,
Total of goods carried on the Ganges 2,115,885 tons.
Traffic oil the Mirzapore Road and Damooda River.
Between Calcutta and Burdwan 2,000,000
maunds of coals are carried, say 74,074 tons.
On the road leading through Burdwan, the
yearly traffic is 7,360 hackeries, and 3,650
laden •bullocks. A hackery load is twelve
maunds ; but as the whole number of hack¬
eries would not probably be fully laden, we
may take the load at ten maunds each, which
gives 73,600 maunds as the weight carried,
say 2,726 „
Twelve bullocks will carry about a ton ; there
are, therefore, annually carried by bullocks... 304 „
Carried over 77,104 tons.
TRAFFIC BETWEEN CALCUTTA AND DELHI.
179
Brought forward - 77,104 tous.
Besides this, we have carried along the road—
Of Sugar and Goor maunds 500,000
Salt 350,000
Cotton ..... 1,000
Eice 50,000
901,000, or 33,370 „
Making a total of goods carried along Mirza-
pore Road and Damooda River . . . 110,474 tons.
RECAPITULATION.
Traffic by native boats ..... 2,113,183 tons.
Ditto in steamers . . . . . 2,702 ,,
Ditto along the road . . . . 110,474 ,,
Total tonnage .... 2,226,859 tons.
Passenger Traffic between Calcutta and Mir sapor e.
By native boats .
„ Steamers
„ Passengers passing
over the Annabad
Bridge in various
conveyances, and
on foot
about 60,000 passengers per annum.
2,000
about 508,000
Total
570,000
180
AFPENDIX.
Goods Traffic between Mirzapore and Delhi.
In the returns obtained, the goods traffic is variously stated,
at 1,051,881 tons; 1,017,500 tons; and 900,000 tons, con¬
sisting of salt, sugar, cotton, and general merchandize.
Passenger Traffic between Mirzapore and Delhi.
By Carriages . . about 56,804 passengers per annum.
„ Palkees . . . 1,959 „
„ Dhoolies . . . 1,437 ,, „
„ Elephants . . 1,3-23 „
„ Camels . . . 668 „ „
„ Horses . . . 38,916 „ „
On foot . . . 334,744
Total . 446,851
[The average speed and cost of conveyance is given in the
ol lowing page.]
Note.—The value and tonnage of imports
and exports of Calcutta by sea for 1844-5 —
£ 18,024,420—and .... 531,262 tons.
(Yide Calcutta Reviexv, No. 14).
Showing an increase in imports and ex¬
ports over the previous year—in value—
£3,305,205—in tonnage . . . 4,989 „
(Yide p. 176).
181
AVERAGE SPEED AND COST OF THE PRESENT
MODES OF CONVEYING PASSENGERS AND GOODS
IN BENGAL AND N. W. PROVINCES.
(One person). Time. Distance. Fare.
s. d..
By Dâk (post) in 24 hours. — 60 miles 1 0 per mile.
„ Palkee (Vide p. 159). 15 „ 0 8 „
,, Gharry* (native carriage) 12 „ 0 5 ,,
„ Steamer „ 50 ,, 16 ,,
,, Budgerowf ., 20 ,, 2s. to 0 6 „
,, River boats) „ 25 „ 0 0|
,, Horse ,, 15 „ 0 11 ,,
,, Hackery with goods ,, 10 ,, 0 If ,,
Goods per ton per mile.
By steamers 2|d. || By river boats lfd. to Jd. § By land ,4d.1T
* Can accommodate three or four travellers.
f Is hired for the trip—and if large—can accommodate a
family of five persons.
I If there are eight passengers, the charge for each will be
as above—only natives, whose means are very moderate, travel in
this way, the wealthy native trader pays a much higher fare.
II A higher rate is charged for short distances.
§ The speed of the cargo boats is much less than that of those
which convey passengers.
11 This is by the common cart of the country—by pack-
bullocks, camels, and ponies it is more expensive.
Travelling by land in Madras and Bombay is much the same
as in Bengal—they have no navigable rivers.
The Madras rate for Government stores by cart, is 5M. per
ton per mile.
In Bombay the rate is very fluctuating, but the average may
be taken at 5d. per ton per mile for the conveyance of cotton
from the interior to the port of Bombay—pack-bullocks are
generally used from the want of roads in this presidency.
Vide paras. 77, 78, £ 79 of the Report of the Government
Commission on the cultivation of cotton in India.
182
TABLE OF THE QUANTITY AND VALUE OF TRO¬
PICAL PRODUCTIONS IMPORTED INTO ENGLAND.
" Statement made by Mr. Montgomery Martin, in the Court of
the East India Proprietors, as to the Quantity and Value of
Articles Imported into England, the whole of which may be ob¬
tained from British India."
1. Sugar, 4,500,000 cwts. at 20s. per cwt.
2. Molasses, 500,000 cwts. at 10s. per cwt.
3. Rum, 5,000,000 gallons, at Is. per gallon
4. Coffee, 40,000,000 lbs. at 6d. per lb.
5. Tea, 40,000,000 lbs. at Is. per lb.
6. Cocoa, 3,000,000 lbs. at 6d. per lb.
7. Tobacco, 50,000,000 lbs. at Od. per lb.
8. Cotton, 400,000,000 lbs. at 6d. per lb.
9. Indigo, 7,000,000 lbs. at 3s. 6d. per lb.
10. Saltpetre, 300,000 cwts. at 20s. per cwt
11. Rice, 300,000 cwts. at 10s. per cwt.
12. Pepper, 7,000,000 lbs. at 4d. per lb.
13. Cinnamon and Cassia, 1,500,000 lbs. at 6s
per lb. .....
14. Ginger, 25,000 cwts. at 20s. per cwt.
15. Spices (general), official value
16. Cochineal, 600,000 lbs. at 5s. per lb.
17. Wool, 60,000,000 lbs. at Is. per lb.
18. Hemp and Flax, 2,000,000 cwts. at 20s. per
cwt. ......
Carried over
. £27,000,000
VALUE OF TROPICAL PRODUCTIONS, ETC. 183
Brought forward ..... £2-7,000,000
19. Vegetable Oils, 6,000,000 gallons, at Is. per
gallon ....... 300,000
20. Hides, 400,000 cwts. at 36s. per cwt. . . 720,000
21. Skins un tanned or dressed, number, 4,000,000,
at 6d. each 1,000,000
22. Linseed, 3,500,000 bushels, at 30s. per quarter 600,000
23. Tallow, 1,000,000 cwts. at 20s. per cwt. . 1,000,000
24. Dye Woods, &c. official value . . . 500,000
25. Drugs and Gums, ditto .... 500,000
26. Sundries 1,000,000
Total
£31,720,000
" There is scarcely one important article of tropical produce,
which is consumed in this country, either as the raw material of
our manufactures, or as an article of daily use for the production
of which India is not as well, or better adapted than any other
country ; while its dense and industrious population would seem
to offer an illimitable demand for our manufactures. Nor are
there opposed to these natural and flattering elements of com¬
merce any iscal restrictions to counteract their beneficial results."
The Economist, August 28, 1847.
APPENDIX TO FOURTH EDITION.
187
RETURN to an ORDER of the HONOURABLE the
HOUSE of COMMONS. Dated 28th July, 1846.
EASTÂÎri856. j JAS- C- ™ILL-
(Perfect Return).
REPORT UPON THE PRACTICABILITY OF INTRO¬
DUCING RAILWAYS INTO INDIA, AND UPON AN
ELIGIBLE LINE TO CONNECT CALCUTTA WITH
MIRZAPORE AND THE NORTH-WEST PROVINCES.
From F. W. Simms, Esq., Consulting Engineer to the Govern¬
ment of India, and Director of the Railway Department; A.
H. C. Boileau, Captain Bengal Engineers ; and J. R. Western,
Captain Bengal Engineers ; March 13, 1846.
I.—We have the honour to submit our Report upon the
practicability of introducing a system of railways into
India, and of their application to the peculiarities and
circumstances of the country and climate ; to answer the
questions relative thereto, as proposed in the Minutes of
the Honourable the Court of Directors of the 7th May,
1845 ; and likewise to make our report, from a personal.
examination of the country, upon the direction of a line to
be recommended for a railroad from Calcutta to Mirzapore
and the North-West Provinces.
2.—We would commence by stating our opinion that
railroads are not inapplicable to the peculiarities and
circumstances of India, hut, on the contrary, are not
only a great desideratum, but, with proper attention, can
be constructed and maintained as perfectly as in any part
of Europe. The great extent of its vast plains, which
188
APPENDIX.
may, in some directions, be traversed for hundreds of
miles without encountering any serious undulations, the
small outlay required for parliamentary or legislative
purposes, the low value of land, cheapness of labour,
and the general facilities for procuring building materials,
may all be quoted as reasons why the introduction of a
system of railroads is applicable to India.
3.—In the Minute of the Honourable Court of Directors
of the 7th May, 1845, the following occurs in the third
paragraph : " Independently of the difficulties common to
railroads in all countries, there are others peculiar to the
climate and circumstances of India, which may render it
advisable that the first attempt should be made on a limited
scale. These peculiar difficulties maybe classed under the
following heads, viz. 1st. Periodical rains and inundations.
2nd. The continued action of violent winds, and the in¬
fluence of a vertical sun. 3rd. The ravages of insects and
vermin upon timber and earthwork. 4th. The destructive
effects of the spontaneous vegetation of underwood upon
earth and brickwork. 5th. The unenclosed and unpro¬
tected tracts of country through which railroads would
pass. 6th. The difficulty and expense of securing the
services of competent and trustworthy engineers.
4.—To these difficulties we beg to reply as follows :—
I. As to the periodical rains and inundations, we do
not expect that, with a judiciously-selected and well-
constructed line, any serious mischief to the works may
be anticipated from this cause ; nothing but what a mode¬
rate annual outlay will set to rights. The practicability
of keeping a railway in order is shown by the existence
of bunds and roads, both metalled and unmetalled, in
various parts of the country, which are kept in order at
INTRODUCTION OP RAILWAYS INTO INDIA. 189
a trifling outlay. It must, however, be borne in mind,
that although this opinion is based upon what we have
ourselves witnessed as the effects of a season when the
floods were unusually high, both in Bengal and the Upper
Provinces, yet, in after years, unprecedented inundations
may occur, causing serious damage to works which shall
have been constructed with a view to resisting only the
highest floods hitherto known.
II. The continued action of violent winds and influence
of a vertical sun. Suitable arrangements in the construc¬
tion of the works will overcome any difficulty arising from
these causes as to the line itself. These effects will be
more felt in working the trains, especially the wind at
high velocities, but no fears need be entertained upon this
subject as to the ultimate result, though, during the preva¬
lence of the hot winds, more than usual attention will be
requisite in watching and guarding against the effects of
friction of such parts of the engines or carriages that may
be exposed to the most intense heat.
III. The ravages of insects and vermin upon timber and
earthwork. If the information we have received be correct,
that the destructive action of insects upon the teak and iron-
wood of Arracan amounts to nothing, or next to nothing,
that question is at once disposed of ; but should further
investigation show that such is not the fact, recourse must
be had either to the use of stone or to the employment of
one or more of the various preparations for timber now in
use in England, which, it is probable, may also be found
desirable on the score of economy, to render the timber
more durable. This, however, at present, is by no means
certain ; Captain Western, who has been in Arracan, states
that he would not guarantee teak as resisting damp and
190
APPENDIX.
insects, but iron-wood he knows, from practical experience,
to resist both, and has seen a post taken up, after having
been in the ground fifteen years, as sound as the day it
was put in. To the earthwork no serious mischief is
to be apprehended from this cause, if the overseers and
labourers on the line discharge their duties in a proper
manner. It is true that earthworks in the Upper Pro¬
vinces, constructed in a loose soil, have occasionally been
damaged by the undermining of rats, crabs, otters, or
other burrowing animals, but it appears that constant
vigilance would provide an effectual remedy for this, as
well as for the next following difficulty.
IV, The destructive effects of the spontaneous vegetation
of underwood upon earth and brickwork. To obviate this
evil, nothing more is required than a faithful discharge of
the duties of the overseers and labourers in rooting up
every germ of such vegetation as soon as it appears.
Captain Boileau suggests that the attention of the
persons in charge of those portions of the line passing
through Young Saul Forests must be particularly directed
to this point, as trees of this kind, after having been cut
down to clear ways for trigonometrical operations, have
been known to spring up again to an altitude of about fifteen
feet in two years, and, in various parts of the country the
rapid growth of Palma Christi (the Castor-oil plant), the
gigantic reed called Surkunda and Nurrul, and many
other such wild productions, may give considerable
trouble, though the strong roots of the latter are
admirably adapted for giving stability to an earthen
bank. The roots of the Peepul tree are particularly
injurious to brickwork, but are tolerably easy of
extraction.
INTRODUCTION OF RAILWAYS INTO INDIA. 191
Y. The unenclosed and unprotected tracts of country.
A fence similar to our quick fences in England will answer
through the open and cultivated parts of the country, which
may or may not be employed through the districts covered
with jungle, as circumstances may require. Such fence
may be formed of the plant called the Berandu, or the
Mysore Thorn, or the Prickly Pear, all of which, and
perhaps many others, if kept well trimmed, would make
a suitable fence. In several localities where stone is
obtainable in abundance, this material might, and in
certain cases where the soil is too barren for the growth
of hedges, must be used for boundary walls, and in the
vicinity of Saul Forests, the exceeding straightness of this
wood renders it particularly valuable for the construction
of posts and railing.
YI. The difficulty and expense of securing competent
and trustworthy engineers. This difficulty, we make no
doubt, will be overcome by a suitable arrangement by the
Railway Companies, at an early period. Such, we should
think, would be the sending of a few native or East Indian
young men to England, to be trained, until some engines
are ready to be sent to India ; upon their return in charge
of such engines, and under the superintendence of one or
two English engineers, there would be laid the foundation
for the training of as many native engine drivers as might
be required. Such native youths, while in England, should
not only be instructed to drive an engine, but to repair them
when out of order.
5.—In the second paragraph of the Minute of the
Honourable Court of Directors, allusion is made to the
probable returns of merchandize and passengers ; this
appears to be one of the bearings to be investigated and
192
APPENDIX.
reported upon by us, but, from an entire want of statis¬
tical information, we are at present unable to give any
opinion.
6.—With the above view of the case we should not
deem it inexpedient or unwise to attempt the introduction
of railways into India to any extent that private enterprize
might be found willing to embark capital upon ; subject,
however, to whatever equitable conditions and regula¬
tions the Government might think proper to require for
the promotion of their own and the general interests of
the country at large ; at the same time having due regard
to that of the parties engaged in the enterprize.
7.—As, however, the Honourable Court of Directors
have, in the fourth paragraph of their Minute, dated 7th
May, 1845, noted, for the instruction of this committee,
that one of its objects will be " to suggest some feasible
line, of moderate length, as an experiment for Railroad
Communication in India," we beg to suggest that there is
a line in the North-West Provinces which would answer
admirably as an experimental line, viz., from Allahabad
to Cawnpore ; but if this line be thought too extensive as
an experimental one, we believe that a line from Calcutta
to Barrackpore would find no lack of British capitalists,
both able and willing to undertake its immediate con¬
struction.
8.—Having thus expressed our opinion, in general,
upon the subject of introducing railways into India, we
will proceed to describe the route we would recommend,
from personal examination of the country for a line of
railway, connecting Calcutta with Mirzapore, and from
thence to Delhi and the North-West Frontier.
9.—On the line from Calcutta to the North-West Pro-
INTRODUCTION OF RAILWAYS INTO INDIA. 193
vinces, first impressions would lead to the supposition that
the proper direction for a line of railway, connecting Cal¬
cutta with the North-West Provinces, passing through
Mirzapore, would be to cross the river Hoogly at
Calcutta, and proceed in the direction of Bankoora ;
this course would take the railway across a district of
country not only subject to periodical inundations that are
among the greatest in the lower provinces of Bengal,
but, in the event of the breaching of the bunds of the
Damooda and other rivers that it would have to cross
(as was the case during the last rainy season), would be
subject to the action of powerful torrents acting injuri¬
ously, if not destructively, upon the works of any railway.
These considerations led to an examination of the country
further to the northward, which, commencing at Calcutta,
was extended along the left or east bank of the Hoogly,
past Barrackpore, and crossing the river a little below
Chandernagore, at right angles to its stream. The line
would then leave Chinsura and Hoogly on the right, and
cross the trunk-road to Benares, near to Mucklumpore,
and from thence, nearly in a straight line, to Burdwan ;
at this place it would cross the Banka Nullah, and be
continued nearly parallel to the trunk-road, and enter
upon the land that rises above the general level of the
periodical inundation.
10.—The object in making this apparent detour is, that
by flanking the Damooda we should in part escape the
water that flows towards the sea in the direction of that
large river, but not be wholly free from its effects ; and
whenever an occurrence should hereafter take place
similar to what took place during the late inundations
(viz., the breaching of the bunds of the river), a con-
o
194
APPENDIX.
siflerable amount of damage would arise to the works of
the railway.
11.—So long as the water is confined within the river
banks, no material injury would arise to the works of the
railway simply from the submersion of the country during
the rains ; but upon the accident before named the body
and rush of water was so great as entirely to undermine
and destroy a bridge near Dullah Bazar, and to threaten
destruction to the bridge over the Banka Nullah at
Burdwan, by which Nullah the surplus waters, in a great
degree, found their vent towards the river Hoogly.
12.—In addition to the foregoing considerations, it is
possible that hereafter it may be considered advisable to
abandon the preservation of the river bunds, and to allow
the waters during the rainy season to overflow the sur¬
rounding country, in the expectation that the sedimentary
matter that is now raising the bed of the river may over¬
spread the country, and tend to raise the general level :
(this has been hinted to us as a suggestion that has been
made, but upon which we must be understood to give no
opinion) : such a procedure would have an effect upon
the railway works that is difficult to foresee or provide for,
except in all probability by the construction of a larger
quantity of viaduct for the free passage of the waters
than would otherwise be necessary, and thus increase the
cost and maintenance of the works.
13.—The above considerations and information ob¬
tained from Lieutenant-Colonel Forbes, Captain Ander¬
son, &c., led to an examination of the country still
further to the northward, from which it appears that a
very advantageous line of country for a railway exists on
the left bank of the Hoogly, and crosses that river at a
INTRODUCTION OF RAILWAYS INTO INDIA. 195
short distance below where it is first formed (or takes
that name) by the junction of the Bhaugerruttee and Jellin-
ghee at Nuddea, from which crossing it would proceed
due west, and pass about ten miles to the north of Burd-
wan, near to a place called Balkishun.
14.—This line would quit Calcutta at its northern ex¬
tremity, skirt the gun-foundry at Cossipore, and take a
direct line northwards nearly parallel to the Barrackpore
road, which it would cross at the bend near Barrackpore.
Hereabouts a station for the accommodation of that dis¬
trict might he advantageously established. From thence
it might follow the general direction of the river, to ac¬
commodate Chinsura and Hoogly, &c., and onward by a
straight course to Goonpulla, on the road between Bar-
rasut and Banaghat.
15.—As regards simply the construction of a railway,
it might, with equal advantage to the works, be con¬
structed in a straight line from Calcutta to Goonpulla,
and thus, by avoiding Barrackpore, &c., would be a little
shorter in distance than by that route ; but it appears
preferable to adopt the former line for the accommoda¬
tion of that and the neighbouring localities of Serampore,
Chandernagore, Chinsura, Hoogly, &c., which would
then more than ever become the favourite resort of the
citizens of Calcutta, and be a source of remuneration to
the railway itself.
16.—From Goonpulla the line would take nearly a
straight line towards Banaghat, near which it would cross
the Matabhanga river, and from thence proceed almost
parallel to the road leading to Kishnagur, but gradually
trending to the north-west, and cross the road from Kish¬
nagur to Santipore, near to a place called Dignagur. It
196
APPENDIX.
would then continue to curve until it crossed the Hoogly,
near to an indigo factory.-called Punchilla, which is south
of the junction of the Jellinghee and Bhaugerrutt.ee, as
before described.
17.—After crossing the river, the railway would be
carried in nearly a straight line past Singalee, Baljoree
and Balkishurn, which is the place before alluded to as
ten miles north of Burdwan.
18.—The railway, if constructed by Banaghat and Nud-
dea, would be about thirty miles longer than by taking it
in the direction of Hoogly and the trunk-road to Burdwan,
which extra distance, although it would tell largely upon
a short line of railway, becomes of less importance when
it forms part of a railway of so great an extent as the
one under discussion (namely, to the North-West Pro¬
vinces about 900 miles in length) ; besides which, it will
pass through and accommodate a rich district of country,
in addition to affording the same amount of accommoda¬
tion to the Burdwan district, and in all probability would
hereafter form a trunk from which branch railways will
be made to those parts of India north and north-east of
Calcutta.
19.—In furtherance of this object, we extended our
examination in November last to the country north of
Kishnagur, through Berhampore and Moorshedabad to
Bhagwangola, with a view to a branch railway from Kish¬
nagur to those places ; and although the country is
highly favourable for such a project, yet the great mart
at Bhagwangola is of so unfixed a character, from the
extensive and continued changing of the bed of the
Ganges, that unless its continuation northward and east¬
ward be considered desirable, it would appear that a
INTRODUCTION OF RAILWAYS INTO INDIA. 197
branch to Bhagwangola, simply to accommodate the
trade that now passes along the Ganges to Calcutta by
the Sunderbunds route, will not be found to answer as a
commercial speculation ; a permanent point, however, on
the banks of the Ganges, exists at or near Kajmahl,
which might be suitable to receive the great traffic of the
river, and be connected with the trunk line a little
northward of Burdwan, and be found advantageous to
the general trade of the country, in like manner as the
proposed canal of Lieutenant-Colonel Forbes would cer¬
tainly have done, if that important work had been carried
into execution. Such a branch railway would in no point
be removed very far to the westward of the projected line
of the canal in question.
20.-—Also, as regards the comparative cost of the works
on the above lines, we consider it would be less, mile for
mile, on the Ranaghat Line than on either of the others,
that is independent of the great bridge that must cross
the Hoogly in either case, the cost of which would be less
the higher up the stream it is constructed.
21.—The chief objection that appears to the above line
is the fact that it involves the crossing of the Matabhanga
river, near Ranaghat, in addition to that of the river
Hoogly, which river must be crossed, at any rate, in
order to bring the railway into Calcutta, unless it be re¬
solved to terminate it at Howra, on the opposite side oi
the river to Calcutta, which would, at least, be very
inconvenient for business, even supposing the country be¬
tween that and Burdwan was as suitable for the construc¬
tion of a railway, and offered as much general accommo¬
dation to the country, as the line further to the northward.
Besides, the expense of constructing a bridge over the
198
APPENDIX.
Hoogly, at Calcutta, would be greater than a similar
crossing sixty miles higher up the stream.
22.—With a view to the saving, if possible, of the
extra bridge over the Matabhanga, which is a consider¬
able river, we examined another line that would leave
the last-described line nearly opposite to Chinsura, and
take a more direct course to the river Hoogly, which it
would cross near the villages of Collipore, on the east
side thereof, and Damooda on the west, thence onward
to Inchura, where it would cross a nullah, and, leaving
Culna on the right, would curve to the north and west
by Sacheroy, and, crossing the Bauha and Kurree nullahs,
join the Nuddea Line, near to the before-named Balki-
shun, about ten miles northward of Burdwan.
23.—The latter route would be about fifteen miles
shorter than by the Nuddea Line, but (pro rata) it would
be more costly in its construction, and miss accommo¬
dating a very valuable district of country, which, in all
probability, would pay for the extra length of railway.
The crossing of the Matabhanga at Kanaghat, therefore,
appears to be the chief consideration against the adoption
of the more northern line, as compared with the line by
Culna.
24.-—Upon an inspection of the most eligible place for
crossing the Hoogly on the Culna Line, near the village
of Damooda, it also appeared that, in addition to the
simple crossing of the stream, there was, on the left or
east bank, a considerable extent of flat country between
the wooded elevated land and the water, which is doubt¬
less submerged during the rainy season, and seems to be
the ground through which the river has wandered in
former times and left dry, from the continued change in
INTRODUCTION OF RAILWAYS INTO INDIA. 199
its bed. If this be correct, it will be necessary to con¬
struct a viaduct of great extent to carry the railway over
this recent alluvial deposit, in addition to the actual
bridge over the river; and the uncertain expense in
founding and erecting such a work in that situation is so
well known that the fact need only be named to ensure a
dissent from its adoption.
25.—Such was our opinion formed upon the spot ; but
before a final decision be given upon the subject it might
be advisable for the Railway Company who may under¬
take the work, to make a detailed survey and section of
each line, and submit them for estimate and comparisons,
as in a work of such magnitude the utmost saving of ex¬
pense is desirable ; but so impressed are we in respect to
the public advantages to be derived from the more cir¬
cuitous route, that we consider a comparatively small
saving should not be allowed to weigh in favour of the
Culna Line.
26.—From Balkishun, as a common point on the two
northerly lines, the railway would proceed nearly direct
to and cross the trunk-road at about Kagsa, where the
Southern or Chinsura Line, after passing through Burd-
wan, and nearly following the course of the high road
from that city, would be united with them ; from thence
it would take the left bank of the river Damooda, pass
through the Raneegunge collieries, and onward to near
where the river Barrakur joins the Damooda.
27.—The line will next take up the valley of the Bar¬
rakur, and follow, approximately, the course of that river,
nearly for its whole extent, to the summit of the country
at or near the Dhunwa Pass, where a very rapid descent
occurs from the westernmost range of hills in Bengal to
200
APPENDIX.
the plains of Behar. Up to near this place the gradients
of the line will be very easy, and although steeper
gradients will have to he here introduced to overcome
this natural barrier, we do not expect, from the levels we
have taken, they need be greater than can be worked by
assistant power when the trains are heavy, and it is the
only place upon the whole line where favourable
gradients cannot be obtained at a small cost as regards
the earthworks.
28.—After entering upon the plains of Behar, the line
will proceed nearly direct by Shuhurghotee and Nowrun-
gabad to the Soane Eiver.
29.—The river Soane is a formidable obstacle to the
cheap construction of a railway, being two miles and
three furlongs in breadth, and the foundation, or natural
substratum below (at present) an unknown depth of sand.
The erection of a viaduct across this great river is, how¬
ever, a matter of expense only, there appearing no diffi¬
culty in the case that perseverance and ingenuity will
not overcome. The most suitable point for crossing the
river seems to be about three miles higher up than where
the trunk road now crosses it, at the foot of the range of
sand-stone hills, from which much valuable material for
the structure might be obtained, and for this purpose,
also, granite of excellent quality may be quarried about
two miles south-west of Nowrungabad, and about twelve
miles south-east from the proposed site of the bridge.
Lime also is obtainable on or near the spot.
30.—In the construction of this bridge, and of all
others of great magnitude, as the crossing of the Iloogly
and the Jumna, hereafter to be referred to, we would re-
INTRODUCTION OF RAILWAYS INTO INDIA. 201
commend that they he made of ample width, not only for
the railway, but also for a common highway, which may
be separated from the railway by a screen of masonry.
The additional cost of such extra width at the time of
construction will be but little, in comparison with the
cost of a separate structure for the public highway, and
compensation might be given to the Railway Company
for the extra outlay, either by Government supplying an
equivalent portion of the cost, or granting them the right
of levying a toll for a given number of years.
31.—On the other hand, we would advise that all
bridges of great magnitude erected by Government, for
the purpose of any public highway, in any part of India,
should be constructed of ample width to accommodate a
railway also, if there should appear any moderate proba¬
bility that such a work would become desirable for, or
likely to be executed in, that direction within any reason¬
able period of time.
32—From the river Soane, the railway will skirt the
foot of the hills to the'town of Saseram, two miles north¬
west of the proposed bridge, and then in like manner for
about seventy-four miles, west by north, to the town and
fortress of Chuñar, on the right bank of the river Ganges,
leaving the trunk-road and the city of Benares consider¬
ably to the right. This is done in order to obtain better
ground for the construction of the line, and a branch to
Raj Ghât, opposite to Benares, seventeen miles in length
(leaving the main line nine miles before reaching Chuñar)
would answer all the purposes of that great city and the
district of country to the northward thereof.
33.—The railway will pass between the sand-stone
202
APPENDIX.
hills on the south side of Chuñar, which will all along
furnish valuable building materials for the very numerous
masonry works along the line.
34.—From Chuñar toMirzapore, a distance of eighteen
miles in the same direction, west by north, the line will
still keep along the foot of the hills, although a little cir¬
cuitous, as it will be desirable to avoid the bad ground in
the more direct course.
35.—Having now explained our view as to a suitable
line for a railway between Calcutta and Mirzapore, we
will, before proceeding further, describe the branches we
should propose to diverge therefrom, to give the most ex¬
tensive accommodation to the country at large, and to
relieve the traffic of the Ganges proceeding to Calcutta
from its great drawback during at least eight months
of the year ; namely, the circuitous route by the Sunder-
bunds, when the waters of the Bhaugerruttee are too low
to admit of the more direct route from the Ganges to the
capital of India.
86.—The first branch should be from a point near
Burdwan to Bajmahl, along the district of country
selected many years ago by Lieutenant-Colonel Forbes,
for the Bajmahl Canal : such a railway will, in future,
supersede the necessity for the canal, which, however,
would have conferred great benefit on the trade of the
country, if carried into execution when he first proposed
it ; the fact that such a canal has been for many years a
desideratum, proves the same thing in favour of the more
modern mode of intercommunication.
87.—Besides the accommodation of the trade of the
Ganges, it will give accommodation to Purneah, Malda,
Dinagepore, Rungpore, and the country in that direction,
INTRODUCTION OF RAILWAYS INTO INDIA. 203
through which it may possibly hereafter be found desir¬
able to extend this refined mode of transit.
38 —After all that has been stated from time to time in
favour of Lieutenant-Colonel Forbes's important work,
nothing more need be added in favour of a branch rail¬
way in that direction. This branch would be about 120
miles in length.
39.—The second branch we would propose would leave
the main line about five miles eastward of Shuhurghotee,
and pass northward through Gaya to Patna and Dinapore,
thus accommodating a very important district of country,
as well as the military and civil stations above named,
and, on the opposite side of the Ganges, the valuable dis¬
tricts of Tirhoot and Sarun, &c. This branch will be
about eighty miles in length.
40-—Another branch might probably be advantageously
made from the main line, up the valley of the Soane, to
the coal-fields westward of Rotasgurh, but we do not lay
much stress upon its immediate formation as a branch
until it be ascertained whether or not the main line from
Bombay will take that course, as it appeared some time
ago probable that such might be the case. Such a branch
may be found desirable, if not indispensable, to the in¬
terests of the Railway Company, as they might thereby
obtain coal for their own purposes as well as to supply
the public in that and the still higher parts of India.
41.—The last branch we should propose for immediate
construction on this portion of the Great Trunk Line from
Calcutta to the North-West Provinces, should he, as
stated in Para. 32, from about nine miles before reaching
Chuñar to Raj Ghât opposite Benares, a distance of about
seventeen miles.
204
APPENDIX.
42.—We have described our view of the most suitable
direction for a line of railway from Calcutta towards the
North-West Provinces; but it may be argued that the
line passes through a comparatively barren portion of the
country, as compared with the valley of the great river
Ganges, which has been suggested by other parties as the
most eligible route for a line of railway, and which is
stated to have in its favour a great probability of be¬
coming more lucrative than the line we have recom¬
mended.
43.—First impressions might be favourable to this view
of the question ; such a result might be expected if either
line was dependent only for its support upon the agri¬
cultural produce and population of the district through
which it passes ; but, upon further consideration, it ap¬
pears to us that the ultimate result will be favourable to
the direct line ; for, by means of its branches to Patna
and Pajmahl, it will take all, or nearly all, the trade
likely to be transposed from the river to the railway, in
either case, and give nearly as good accommodation to
the country around, and to the district northward of the
Ganges, as Tirhoot, Purneah, Dinagepore, &c. through
which it will probably hereafter be found advantageous
to extend the railway system, by starting from the oppo¬
site respective termini at Patna and Pajmahl, and, in
addition to accommodating the trade of the river and sur¬
rounding district, it will bring forward a country now
much neglected in consequence of its imperfect communi¬
cation, a district which contains mineral wealth, and
possesses great capabilities, as is evident from the proofs
of recent improvement, to a great extent contiguous to
the line of the trunk-road, within the last few years, a
INTRODUCTION OF RAILWAYS INTO INDIA. 205
greater part of which until then was abandoned to the
beasts of the forest : this great benefit will therefore be in
addition to nearly the same amount of accommodation
being given to the whole country as could be given by
the river line alone ; and, lastly, a direct line between
the extreme termini, where attainable, is always most de¬
sirable, especially in a political point of view, and in a
country circumstanced as India is. Thus much for the
traffic considerations of the subject ; and it only remains
to be stated that we cannot give a decided opinion upon
the engineering question without a personal examination
of the river line.
44.—On the extension of the line from Mirzapore to
Delhi : but little need be said respecting this portion of
the proposed works. In length it will be about the same
as that of the line we have already described, Mirzapore
being about midway between Calcutta and Delhi. The
direction of the line will be nearly as follows : between
Mirzapore and Allahabad it will trend a little to the south
of a direct line, to secure better ground for a foundation
to the works. Upon this portion of the line the railway
will cross the river Tounse, and, in order to extend it
into the Doab, the river Jumna must also be crossed at or
near to Allahabad : a suitable spot for crossing exists
near the present Bridge of Boats : thus the military
magazine at Allahabad would be connected by railway
with Calcutta, and, by the extension to Agra and Delhi,
with the magazines at those places respectively.
45.—Leaving Allahabad the railway would keep on the
south-west side of the trunk-road to Futtehpore and
Cawnpore ; from thence it might take a direct line to
Mynpooree, which would be its proper course if continued
206
APPENDIX.
direct to Delhi ; hut if it be finally resolved that the line
shall pass through Agra, and thence to Delhi, along the
right bank of the river Jumna, it would be more desirable
that the railway should proceed from Cawnpore by She-
koabad to Agra, as that line would not only be shorter,
but would avoid the crossing of one or more nullahs that
it would have to do if taken by Mynpooree.
46.—Supposing that its route would be through Agra,
it would again cross the river Jumna at the latter city, a
suitable site for which purpose would be a little north¬
ward of the present Bridge of Boats ; and, passing the civil
lines to the north of the Government offices, and Ackbar's
Tomb at Secundra, take a tolerably direct course through
Muttra to Delhi.
47.— A suitable place for a station at Agra exists where
the rails continued from the bridge would become level
with the present surface of the ground, about midway be¬
tween the river and the civil lines ; and, if necessary,
such station could be connected with the banks of the
river at a much lower level than the railway, by a branch
descending to the water's edge.
48.—Before, however, determining that the main line
should pass through Agra to Delhi, it is a subject for
consideration, whether or not it would be more desirable
to take the line direct through Allyghur, and cross the
river Jumna, at Delhi ; for this purpose a suitable place
for crossing the river is immediately to the northward of
the palace, from whence it could be continued along the
bank of the river to a station on the vacant ground at
the back of the magazine ; and, if necessary, can at any
time be prolonged northward, past cantonments towards
Kurnal.
INTRODUCTION OF RAILWAYS INTO INDIA. 207
49.—The advantages of the direct line to Delhi over
that by Agra, would be, 1st. The shortening of the dis¬
tance between Calcutta and the frontier. 2nd. Passing
through probably a richer agricultural district than would
be done on the route between Delhi and Agra ; and, 3rd.
In case of invasion from the westward, a possible,
although not probable occurrence, the railway would be
protected by the river Jumna. On the other hand, the
city of Agra, at present the capital of the North-West
Provinces, with its magazine, would be less directly con¬
nected with the frontier and the Magazine at Delhi, if
situated at the extremity of a branch, than if placed upon
the main line. The country also to the west of the river
Jumna, although perhaps not so productive to the agri¬
culturist as that in the Doab, yet is admitted to possess
a very considerable trade.
50.—As respects the two routes, in an engineering
point of view, there appears to be no great difference;
for although on the direct line there would be the addi¬
tional cost of crossing the river Hinden (no trifling matter
certainly, unless, as suggested by his Honor the Lieu¬
tenant-Governor of the Upper Provinces, the crossing be
effected below the junction of the Hinden with the
Jumna, if the Jumna itself be as manageable there as at
Agra or Delhi). The route by way of Agra would be
about twenty miles longer, and consequently, from that
cause, increase the cost of construction to probably within
a trifle of that of the direct route.
51.—If Agra be accommodated with a branch line
only, and that branch be terminai ed on the opposite side
of the river to the city, it would be highly inconvenient
and undesirable ; but if a bridge is to be constructed at
208
APPENDIX,
Agra, at all events, to carry the railway into the city,
which it should by all means do, then the consideration
would be greatly in favour of taking the main line by the
Agra route, for the more perfect accommodation of that
great capital of Upper India.
52.—Whichever of the two directions for the main line
between Cawnpore and Delhi be finally fixed upon by
Government as most desirable, the line can, at any future
time, be extended to Kurnal, and to the frontier, where a
terminus might be established on the highest navigable
part of the Sutlej, and thus connect the great rivers, the
Indus and the Ganges.
53.—The branches to be recommended for construc¬
tion on this upper portion of the main line from Calcutta
to the north-west would be one to Furruckabad, a second
to Allyghur, a third to Meerut, and, upon the future ex¬
tension of the line to Kurnal, a branch could be advan¬
tageously constructed from thence north-eastward to¬
wards the hills on which the sanitary stations of Simla
and Mussooree are situated, or wherever else it may be
found desirable.
54.—The first branch, or that to Furruckabad, would
leave the main line about sixty miles north-westward of
Cawnpore, and proceed direct, the length being about
forty-five miles from the line, through Shekoabad to Agra,
and thirty-two miles if taken from the direct line to Delhi
through Mynpooree.
55.—The second branch, or that to Allyghur, would
lead direct from Agra, and would be about forty-eight
miles long ; but if the direct line to Delhi be adopted,
this branch would not be required, as the line itself would
pass through Allyghur.
INTRODUCTION OR RAILWAYS INTO INDIA. 209
56.—The third branch would he from Delhi to Meerut,
about thirty-six miles long, and which, if the main line
takes the right bank of the river, we propose should ter¬
minate opposite to the city of Delhi, as it appears to us
the traffic would not be sufficient to warrant the expense
of constructing a costly bridge over the river Jumna for
the purpose.
57.—The fourth branch, namely, from Kurnal towards
the hills, requires no further remark at the present time
than we have already bestowed upon it.
58.—If, however, it should ultimately be resolved that
the direct line to Delhi through Allyghur be adopted, the
branch to Agra would leave such main line near to Sikun-
dra, a distance of about forty miles.
59.—We have given, as we consider, the leading facts
on both sides of the question, necessary for the final
choice of the direction for the main line ; these appear to
us so nicely balanced that we would refrain from making
a positive recommendation upon the subject ; but if called
upon to state which of the two we would prefer, we
should be disposed to recommend the route by Agra.
60.—The general character of the works, &c.—The
heavy works upon the whole line from Calcutta to Delhi,
will, for the most part, he of masonry, consisting of
bridges to cross the very numerous rivers and nullahs
in its course, many of which are of great magnitude, and
all very considerable. The earthworks will be light,
except at the summit of the country described in Para. 27,
at which place it may be found necessary to undertake
works of a heavier kind : but, upon the whole, it is not
to be expected that there exist in the world many lines of
equal length requiring so small an amount of earthwork
to be performed.
p
210
APPENDIX.
61.—The great bridges comprise those over the rivers
Hoogly and Soane upon the lower portion of the line,
and the crossings of the Jumna, at Allahabad, and Agra,
or Delhi, upon the upper portion ; and although these
structures will be very costly, yet there is nothing in their
character that can cause them to be considered as insur¬
mountable difficulties ; the chief difficulty will be in their
cost.
62.—With a view to enable contracting parties to open
the whole line at the earliest period with the least pos¬
sible outlay, it might be advisable to permit of the laying
down, in the first instance, of a single line of railway,
with all necessary passing places ; but this should dis¬
tinctly apply to the permanent way only, as the earth¬
works and masonry (but more especially the masonry
works) should be constructed for the reception of a
double line : this latter observation regarding the
masonry should apply also to the branches, so that at
any future time a second line could thereon also be ap¬
plied without difficulty. The earthworks upon the
branches might with safety refer to a single line only,
as they will, in the branches already named, amount
altogether to a trifle.
63.—It is highly probable that a double line of rails
will be absolutely necessary upon the main trunk-line at
no distant period, if not required in the first instance,
and therefore we would recommend, that in consenting to
a single line to begin with, it should be understood to
imply that such single line is only admissible until the
whole length is opened to the public, when a second line
should be added forthwith, if the Railway Company be
called upon by the Government to do so.
64.—We cannot but view the whole distance from
INTRODUCTION OF RAILWAYS INTO INDIA. 211
Calcutta to Delhi as one line, for we are of opinion that
as such it would be better worked and conducted under
the management of one company than if it were divided
and in the hands of more numerous bodies ; besides
which, we consider that it would also be advantageous as
well as fair, that the whole should be granted to one
company, if a sufficiently sound party will come forward
to undertake it, because they would then have a great
length of line for a reasonable average outlay. The
lower half, from Calcutta to Mirzapore, costing consider¬
ably above that average, and the upper half, from Mirza¬
pore to Delhi, as much below it.
65.—We conclude by adding, that, in addition to the
line from Bombay joining the main trunk-line between
Allahabad and Calcutta, as before alluded to, it has been
suggested to us by his Honor the Lieutenant-Governor of
the North-West Provinces, that a suitable line of country
may hereafter be found for the construction of a railway
from Agra to Bombay ; by these two lines, the North¬
western Provinces would be effectually supplied with
communication, not only with the seat of the Supreme
Government at Calcutta, but with the great seaports on
the two opposite coasts of the continent of India.
,F. W. SIMMS, C. E.
A. H. C. BOILEAU,
Captain Engineers.
(Signed)
J. B. WESTERN,
Captain Engineers.
Camp Sersoul,
13th March, 1846.
(True copy.)
T. L. PEACOCK,
Examiner of India Correspondence.
East India House,
3rd Aucjust, 1846.
212
BEPORT ON THE INTRODUCTION OP RAILWAYS IN
BENGAL, ADDRESSED TO SIR ARCHIBALD GAL¬
LOWAY, K.C.B., CHAIRMAN OP THE EAST INDIA
COMPANY, 1849. By W. P. Andrew, with Introductory
Remarks, by the Editor, reprinted from the Artizan, of June,
1859.*
" Those who recollect our former articles upon railways
in India, (says the Editor of the Artizan) will remember,
that in the district of Bengal two distinct projects pre¬
sented themselves before the public for favourable accep¬
tation. The first of these proposed to connect Calcutta
with the great central mart of Mirzapore, by means of a
line four hundred and fifty miles long, carried by the
most direct route between the two termini, and running
for the greatest part of its length nearly parallel with the
great trunk road which connects Calcutta and Benares.
The other project proposed to accomplish the same ob¬
jects by connecting Calcutta with Raj mahl, a town lying
on the main stream of the Ganges, at the head of the
Delta, one hundred and eighty miles from Calcutta, and
below which the chief difficulties in the navigation of the
river are found to exist ; and, as that part of the Ganges
lying between Mirzapore and Rajmahl and Calcutta, and
in which the water is split up into many streams, would
be superseded by the proposed railway, an efficient
* The line seems to have been adopted which was originally
recommended by Mr. W. P. Andrew.—Times, 19th Nov. 1851.
RAILWAYS IN BENGAL.
213
system of communication with the interior would, it was
contended, be obtained by the proposed railway at a com¬
paratively small expense. The line between Calcutta
and Mirzapore was the line proposed by the East India
Railway Company, of which Mr. Macdonald Stephenson
was the originator, and Sir George Larpent, and subse¬
quently Mr. Aglionby, was chairman, and was also the
line recommended by Mr. Simms and the Indian Railway
Commission. The line between Calcutta and Rajmabl
was the line advocated by the Great Western of Bengal
Railway Company, of which General Macleod was chair¬
man, but which was first brought prominently into notice
by the ' Old Indian Postmaster,' Mr. W. P. Andrew,
who obtained for it, by his writings, the recognition of
the authorities. The advocates of the East India Rail¬
way maintained that the speed of the existing Ganges
steamers, which did not exceed fifty miles a day, was
quite inadequate to warrant such an expedient of com¬
munication to be accepted as part of the main line con¬
necting the interior with the coast. It was also contended
that the transhipment of merchandise at Raj mahl would
be attended with loss and inconvenience. Mr. Andrew
contended, on the contrary, that a railway four hundred
and fifty miles long was too gigantic a work for the com¬
mencement of railways in India ; that some parts of the
line, especially the bridge over the Hoogly at Sook-
sauger, and that over the Soane (the absurdity of the
former is now acknowledged, while the latter is upwards
of two miles long, with only quicksand for a foundation,
and with a rise of water in the river of thirty or forty feet
during the rains,) would be liable to be carried away by
the floods ; and that as the rivers in Bengal have not in
214
APPENDIX.
general defined channels but deviate over the plains, the
bridges, even if they stood, might be deserted by the
rivers, and new bridges be made necessary elsewhere.
At Raj mahl, however, the river happens to run in a
rocky bed, and there are no great rivers lying between
that point and Calcutta; so that it was contended this
particular line would be free from physical impediments
of a weighty character. With regard to the deficient
speed of the steam vessels navigating the Ganges, it was
maintained that vessels of an improved class might be
introduced, by which in all probability a superior speed
would be obtained ; but that a high speed was not the
great desideratum in India, as much as cheapness with
a moderate speed, and safety and regularity in the
arrivals.
"We have never been among the advocates of the
Rajmahl line, and the opinions we have on former occa¬
sions expressed respecting it we still entertain. But
when the East India Railway Company, finding their un¬
dertaking too gigantic, proposed to make a fragment of
the line leading from Calcutta into the jungle, and which
never could possibly acquire a remunerative traffic, it
became very obvious to us that the alternative lay between
making the Rajmahl line, and having no railway at all in
Bengal. Accordingly we find the East India Railway
Company at length abandoning its fragments, and pro¬
posing to itself the formation of the Great Western of
Bengal line, which for years it has sought to discredit.
But it succumbs, as all human powers must do, to the
gravitation of fact. It has tried all issues, and now finds,
at the eleventh hour, that it must adopt the very counsels
which years ago it rejected. Years ago we saw that to
RAILWAYS IN BENGAL.
215
undertake a fragment of the line was an unsound and
untenable measure. It has well nigh proved fatal to the
project, and, after all, has to he abandoned in favour of
another measure, formerly the object of reprobation.
Surely the reflection is not irrelevant, that infinite morti¬
fication would have been avoided—much waste of effort
and much waste of time—if a little less obstinacy had
been exhibited and a little more docility.
" But enough of these refactions, which cannot recal
the past, though with this past before them our readers
may, perhaps, acquire more confidence in any prognosti¬
cations of the future which we may hereafter put forth.
On the present occasion, however, we shall content our¬
selves with laying before our readers a valuable report,
by Mr. Andrew, the consistent advocate of the Bajmahl
line, giving a condensed view of his published opinions,
illustrative of the advantages of that undertaking. This
report, of which we have been fortunate enough to obtain
a copy, was, we understand, submitted to the late Sir A.
Galloway, at his own request, when Chairman of the East
India Company in 1849 ; and, at the present moment,
when the intimation reaches us from India, that the rail¬
way to which this report refers is one which is actually
proposed to be constructed, the document will have
peculiar interest for our readers."
" But at the outset of the career of improvement, the
rivers should, we consider, be availed of as much as pos¬
sible ; and when, by their aid, a district has been nursed
into importance, and cultivation and irrigation have been
largely extended, then a railway may be carried into that
district with the certainty of a remunerative result, and a
remunerative result is quite indispensable to the wide in-
216
APPENDIX.
troduction of the railway system. And as in the earlier
career of the railway system, the rivers may lend, in
many cases, important aid by acting as feeders, and may
gradually so develope the resources of remote districts,
as to enable railways to he carried into them with advan¬
tage ; so, on the other hand, the railways thus carried
into the country will be available for the transmission of
its productions, when the rivers are dried up from their
waters being employed for irrigation, and this we are
persuaded is their ultimate destiny. The railway and the
river navigation systems, therefore, must go hand in
hand. Without the aid of the rivers, the railways can
never acquire any large extension during the present
generation ; but with that aid they may be expected to
grow with all the rapidity due to success, and in the
proportion in which any district flourishes, and its irri¬
gation is extended, so will the importance of the rivers
for all purposes of communication gradually decline,
leaving to the railways the inheritance of the traffic and
prosperity they have created. With these cursory
remarks we introduce Mr. Andrew to our readers, omit¬
ting such portions of his report as we deem less essential
on the present occasion."
REPORT.
To Major General Sir Archibald Galloway, K.O B„ Sc. Sc. Sc.
London, May, 1819.
The East India Railway Company having been exclu¬
sively identified in the public mind with a direct line
from Calcutta to Mirzapore, a gigantic, difficult, and
RAILWAYS IN BENGAL.
217
costly undertaking, mainly for political purposes, was
necessarily, in a great measure, dependent for success
upon tlie amount of liberality accorded to it by the
authorities.
The character of the undertaking itself, viewed as a
commercial speculation, irrespective of the 5 per cent,
guaranteed by the Honourable East India Company,
holding out to the adventurer little inducement to
embark his capital therein ; the line not being in any way
adapted for an experimental or preliminary line from its
vast extent (450 miles in length), and from the unpre¬
cedented, and now admitted, fact, that no beneficial result
could be obtained, either by the Government or the
commercial public, until the entire undertaking should
have been completed, bringing Calcutta into railway
connexion with the Ganges at Mirzapore*—the extent
and formidable nature of the physical obstacles to be
surmounted—the want of population in 250 miles of the
regions to be traversed by the proposed railway— the
difficulty (in seed time and harvest, the impossibility) of
* This commercial entrepot stands some fifty miles below the
confluence of the Ganges and Jumna, and by following the down¬
ward course of the former we are brought to the Bhaugerruttee,
which flows into the Hoogly, on the left bank of which stands
Calcutta : this is the track of commerce ; a continuous water
communication, in the form of a bow or arc, connecting Calcutta
with Mirzapore. Look now at the course of the proposed rail¬
way to Mirzapore, and you will see that it is the string to the
how or arc, and the irresistible conclusion is at once arrived at,
that no traffic can accrue till the cord of that arc is completed,
or until the railway from Calcutta touches the Ganges at Mir¬
zapore. (1849).
218
APPENDIX.
there collecting, housing, and feeding labourers and
artisans, as well as of preserving the health and lives of
such, and of their European or other superintendents
when collected from a distance, and of inducing them to
remain in the pestilential jungle-covered hills of a great
portion of the line *—the expense, delay and labour in
the conveyance of materials to localities remote from
river transit; and, finally, the utter impracticability of
affording any sufficient protection to the line when
finished, against the depredations and mischievous at¬
tempts of adjacent and uncertain hill tribes to destroy
the railway, or against wild animals.
Many other reasons might further be adduced to show
that the completion of the Mirzapore direct line must
necessarily be a work of great delay, expense, and diffi¬
culty, requiring, at the most moderate computation, from
fifteen to twenty years for its completion, and involving an
expenditure of ten millions sterling before it could make
any return on capital, or answer any purpose, political
or commercial. Even when finished, it could prove useful
to Government but in a very limited degree, as three-
fourths of the Bengal army are cantoned above Mirza¬
pore, and all emergent movements of troops and stores
take place more to the north-west, or in advance of
Mirzapore. But in a commercial point of view it is phy¬
sically and geographically impossible that it could ever
* As was painfully exemplified when the attempt was made of
making the grand trunk road (by means of convicts collected
from surrounding districts) from Calcutta to Benare, in 1836-7,
the lives of more than half of those sent from their respective
Zillahs were sacrificed. (1849).
RAILWAYS IN BENGAL.
219
meet the wants of the country ; for it would facilitate but
in a very limited degree the transit of the valuable pro¬
ducts of the opposite side of the Ganges to their ocean
outlet, and it was ascertained in evidence before the Wet
Dock Committee at Calcutta, that the great bulk of the
traffic arriving at Calcutta comes from points on the
Ganges below Mirzapore.
The proposed railroad eschews the ancient and beaten
track of commerce, turning away from the rich and popu¬
lous valley of the Lower Ganges,—the grand arena of
production, and, consequently, of trade, and which must
ever continue to be so till the great river forgets to
overflow its banks, and ceases to be navigable,—choosing
rather to scale or tunnel the desolate and impenetrable
mountain-ranges running parallel to its course.
The export trade being mostly of heavy goods, could
not he expected to ascend the river to the terminus at
Mirzapore against the stream, or ascend to the railway
by branches, contending the whole way (the one pro¬
posed to Patna, for instance, being eighty miles in length)
against the natural inclination of the country. It is
evident, therefore, that a line of railway having Calcutta
for its lower terminus, and a point on the Ganges for its
upper terminus, that the traffic, of necessity, must he in
an inverse ratio to the length of the line, that is to say,
the further you extend your railway before debouching
on that great commercial artery, the less must be the
traffic.
Objections so formidable and incontrovertible, have
doubtless been long apparent to the Honourable Court,
as they have assuredly been to all those acquainted with
the country who have taken an interest in a question of
220
APPENDIX.
such moment ; and it is under this impression, and being
aware that the best mode of granting relief to the vast
and impeded traffic of Lower India, has long been the
subject of anxious solicitude to the Honourable Court,
that I venture to recall your attention to another project,
essentially different,—not liable, when thoroughly ex¬
plained and understood, to fluctuate in public estimation
according to the exact ratio of prestige or credit attach¬
able to the names of those connected with it, or founding
its entire and only claim to the support of the capitalist of
England on the extent of liberality accorded to it by the
authorities ; but one comparatively moderate in extent,
yet having a great and defined object, simple and easy of
execution; adapted to the requirements of commerce,
co-operating with, not suddenly, but gradually, super¬
seding where most defective the existing means of transit,
and susceptible of making a large return, from the
cheapness of construction and the extent of the traffic.
On former occasions, in conjunction with General
M'Leod and others, I had the honour to lay before the
Honourable Court the unambitious but important results
obtainable by a line of railway connecting Calcutta with
the Ganges, at or near Raj mahl, from which point the
river is continuously navigable at all seasons of the year
for steamers upwards, or in a north-westerly direction,
for a distance of five hundred miles ; but it was intimated
to us that it would be more agreeable to the Honourable
Court, as well as more convenient, and tend to facilitate
the adjustment of a great national question, to waive
pressing at that time this more limited, and therefore
more practicable project. This suggestion was at once
acceded to from deference to the authorities, although
RAILWAYS IN BENGAL.
221
contrary to settled opinions derived from personal know¬
ledge of the country.
I beg now, however, again to state, that I am still con¬
vinced that this project, strictly in accordance with the
views originally entertained by the Honourable Court,
in sanctioning Colonel Forbes's projected canal for esta¬
blishing a direct permanent water communication between
the Ganges at liajmahl and the Hoogly at Mirzapore,*
is a scheme well worthy of the early attention of the
Honourable Court, and of the Indian Government.
I have received from Mr. Greaves, the engineer
employed in surveying the Eajmahl line, and who is
now in London, plans and sections in detail of the line
from Howrah, opposite to Calcutta, to Rajmahl, all of
which have been submitted to the inspection of Colonel
Forbes ; and I am now in a position to prove, from
surveys made during the rains, by boat and otherwise,
everything which I have advanced, and feel assured that
there is not in India, or in any other country, a line
possessing such peculiar facilities for construction and
working, combined with an existing traffic so large and
so susceptible of being augmented ;f and I would re-
* Vide—accompanying Extracts of Report of Canal Com¬
mittee.
t It is apparent, from the statistical tables attached to the
first report of the East India Railway Company, that the traffic
■which they claim for the Mirzapore line belongs in reality to the
Rajmalil line, for it will be seen that nearly all the traffic which
is appropriated to the former, is taken at two points, namely,
Calcutta and the Bhaugerruttee River, the principal portion of
which, coming either from the opposite bank of the Ganges, or
from points below Mirzapore, would of necessity be obliged to
222
APPENDIX.
spectfully beg leave to refer the Honourable Court to
that high authority in engineering projects, Colonel
Forbes, in confirmation of these views.
The upper terminus of the proposed railway at
Raj mahl would necessarily become the steam port of
Calcutta, and the grand depot of all the valuable com¬
modities constituting the inland trade ; while the lower
terminus at Howrah, meeting contiguously in the same
focal area, with wet docks, and communicating with
Calcutta by means of a steam ferry or suspension bridge,
would economise and expedite in an extraordinary
degree the transactions of the external commerce of
India.
By connecting in this manner the two great channels
of commerce, the Hoogly and Ganges, five hundred
and twenty-eight miles of a circuitous route, large por-
pass over the Rajmahl, or some such line, to reach the Calcutta
and Mirzapore direct line. The river traffic is estimated at
more than two million tons, while that by the road is only
33,370 tons ; both evidently exaggerated, many boats and carts
being empty, or nearly so.
There has been always one great omission in the traffic returns,
from taking only the traffic at Jungypore on the Bhaugerruttee.
The tolls on the other two rivers, tributaries to the Hoogly, are
very great; that for the Jellinghee is collected at Kishnagur,
and though not equal to Jungypore, is large, owing to its having
more water all the year : that for the Matabanga and Ishamuttee,
is collected either at Ranaghat, Sibnibas, or Hanskhalee, and
should be entered in traffic returns in preference to the gross
collections of the eastern canals, which includes all the traffic
of Dacca and Sylhet, to which neither the project of the East
India Railway Company, nor the line which I advocate can lay
claim. (1849).
RAILWAYS IN BENGAL.
223
tions of which are extremely dangerous and intricate,
through the labyrinth of the Soonderbunds, would be
saved for eight months in the year, and the " rapid and
ever tortuous Bhaugerruttee," always dangerous to com¬
merce, and annually occasioning numerous wrecks,
attended with the total loss of large amounts of property,
would be avoided for the remaining four months. The
railway train would, with certainty, perform in ten or
twelve hours what now takes the steam vessel, on the
average, as many days, and what is only precariously
accomplished by the heavily-ladened country boat in a
month.
After having thus endeavoured to supply what has
long been considered by the Honourable Court and the
Government of India the grand desideratum for the
commerce of the country,* and having thereby not only
solved the problem of the practicability of railroads in
India, but from having selected the line of all others
likely to yield a large immediate return, demonstrated
that a railway in India is a highly remunerative under¬
taking, we should then have no difficulty in making
another line or section, recommencing where the naviga¬
tion again becomes defective, for instance, from Benares
to Allahabad, or from Allahabad to Cawnpore, the river
intervals between these sections being provided for (until
united) by a sufficient number of powerful iron steam¬
boats. We should thus gradually, easily, and profitably
for the government, the public, and proprietary body,
establish an extensive and available railway development,
every part of which might eventually become an integral
* Bid«—Extracts from Reports accompanying this letter.
224
APPENDIX.
portion of a complete trunk line of railway communica¬
tion between Calcutta and the north-western frontier :
pursuing along the entire route the beaten track of com¬
merce through the most populous and productive regions
in India ; connecting the great towns and military and
civil stations ; and having every facility for construction
by means of river transit and a dense population ; the
comparative salubrity of the climate, the perfect security
to the works during their progress, the peaceable and
industrious habits of the people, so entirely under con¬
trol ; together with the abundant supply of food, and all
other requisites.*
* Another reason, according to papers recently received from
India, for the construction of this line (Calcutta to Bajmahl), is,
that the largest river connecting the Ganges with the Hoogly is
yearly closed up ; and they add that :—
" There are many local circumstances which may render the
construction and working of this line (Calcutta to Rajmahl) the
cheapest, as it would be the most valuable. Coals, for instance,
may be brought down the Adjie River and laid down under
twenty-five rupees per hundred maunds (27 maunds = 1 ton).
Lime may be taken from the bed of the same river and laid down
burnt ready for use, for less than the above sum. Bricks may
be burnt by the people of the country all along the line, at two
rupees eight annas per thousand. Granite, for sleepers, or
wooden ones, if preferred, are easily obtained. Timber of large
size can be brought down the Ganges from Gurruckpore. at low
rates, and landed at Rajmahl, or it may be obtained in the dis¬
trict itself.
" The country through which the line would pass is populous,
and the people au fait at bunding, levelling, making water¬
courses, none but mere Coolie labour would be needed beyond that
supplied along most part of the line itself. This line is neither
RAILWAYS IN BENGAL.
2 25
The comparative merits of the two modes of connect¬
ing Calcutta with Delhi and the north-west frontier, may¬
be stated in a few words. A line from Calcutta by
Burdwan, Hazareebaugh, Shergotty, and Mirzapore to
Delhi, or, a line from Howrah, opposite to Calcutta, by
Ilajmahl, Bhagulpore, Monghir, Patna, Benares, and
Mirzapore, to Delhi. By the latter, the actual or lineal
distance would not he increased more than eighty miles,
and the time occupied in traversing the entire distance
would scarcely be affected, as it would be essentially a
level throughout ; while the former would have on
several portions stiff gradients, requiring assistant power,
so that the question resolves itself into one of time—not
distance, for pro rata to the power required, so is the
distance—while to many intermediate points (Patna, for
instance) the lineal distance by the Gangetic Valley
would be actually less, and the necessity would no longer
exist for a number of branches to supply the railway with
traffic ; the main trunk itself meeting the requirements
of both the through and local traffic of the country, and
thereby saving the cost of construction of upwards of
one hundred miles of railway. Every few miles of such
a railway, when opened, would be available for traffic,
and yield some return on the capital expended, while
scarcely any beneficial result could be expected from the
Mirzapore direct line until the whole was completed.
subject to inundation, nor to being flooded by the bursting of
Damoodah bunds, the embankment therefore may be low ; and
for nearly fifty miles scarcely any is wanted. The construction
of this railway may thus be easily effected with economy and
prudence." (184A.)
Q
226
APPENDIX.
It may, however, be deserving of the Honourable
Court's deliberate consideration, whether the East India
Company can withdraw from the pledge which was given
to the commercial community, when its Government in
Bengal engaged to devote all surplus collections from the
tolls established on the Nuddea Rivers, to the great object
of securing to the commerce of that country a secure and
permanent communication with the Ganges at a point
free from circuitous navigation.
In the spirit of that pledge the survey of the projected
canal between Rajmahl on the Ganges, and Mirzapore
on the Hooghly, was undertaken by one of the Honour¬
able Court's most zealous and able engineer officers,
Lieutenant Colonel Forbes. And it is only necessary
to refer the Honourable Court to its dispatch of the
23rd December, 1844, finally disposing of Lieutenant
Colonel Forbes's elaborate surveys and estimates of the
projected navigable canal, to remove the slightest doubt
that that project was merely postponed with the view of
ascertaining whether the more expeditious mode of inter¬
nal transit by means of a railroad, might not be substi¬
tuted for that by water.
This, however, still remains to be done. It is true, as
is explained in a note attached to this paper,* that the
Rajmahl line has been incidentally considered by Mr.
Simms, the advising civil engineer in Bengal ; but there
is no evidence to show that Mr. Simms was required to
report upon this great work as a primary object, embrac-
* Vide Extracts from Railway Reports from India, ordered
by the House of Commons to be printed, 15th February, 1847,
p. 244.
RAILWAYS IN BENGAL.
227
ing the ready transit of commodities between the port of
Calcutta and the interior of India, by the ancient
channels of the internal and external commerce of that
country.
It is, therefore, this defined and comparatively practi¬
cable project, that I would again earnestly press upon
your consideration : trusting that the direct communica¬
tion being once established between Raj mahl and Cal¬
cutta, the improvement of the steam navigation from that
point to the north-westward would rapidly follow, and
ultimately tend to the formation of railroads in the upper
provinces, which are admitted to be free from those
obstructions which render the scheme of the East India
Railway Company (from Calcutta to Mirzapore), exceed¬
ingly problematical as a financial undertaking. I would
also recal to the recollection of the Honourable Court,
that the paramount importance of commencing the rail¬
road system in Bengal was strongly and emphatically
urged by the Chairman of the Honourable Court, at the
Court of Proprietors, in June, 1847, in the following
words :—" As to cotton, in Bengal, it was more important
to have railways for that article than in any other part of
India ; because the cotton produced in the Nerbudda lost
twelve months from the time it was gathered until it was
exported. It was liable during that period to great dete¬
rioration, to charge for warehousing and transport."
" But it should be in the recollection of the Court, that
they had other objects' of paramount importance in view;
a connection between the western provinces and the seat
of government was pre-eminently necessary, and this
they proposed commencing as soon as they could."
It cannot be doubted that the social position and
228
appendix.
general prosperity of the inhabitants of the British
Empire in the East, as well as the maintenance of the
commercial and manufacturing pre-eminence of England,
must be most powerfully influenced by the success or
failure of the flrst railway in India. The momentous
results involved in the solution of this question must
plead my apology for having ventured to extend this
letter to such an unusual length.
I am, &c.,
W. P. Andrew.
London, July, 1853.
In further confirmation of the views expressed in the
foregoing communication, addressed by the writer to
Sir A. Galloway, in 1849, reference is now made to the
accompanying éxtract from the speech of Sir Chas. Wood,
as reported in the Times of the 4th June, 1853 :—
" I cannot here avoid expressing an opinion, that the
Indian railroads were commenced without sufficient con¬
sideration, and the consequence has been that in both
cases, it has been found necessary to change the line
originally laid out. In the first instance, it was intended
that the line from Calcutta should run along the old
turnpike road ; but after it had been carried to a certain
point, it was wisely determined that it should run along
the line of the river, and through the most populous
parts of the country."
" Statistical Papers," printed for the Court of Directors
of the East India Company in 1853, are still more explicit
as to the partial adoption of my views :—
RAILWAYS IN BENGAL.
229
" The railroad from Calcutta to the north- western pro¬
vinces was projected in 1844. The contract for its con¬
struction, between the East India Company and the
Kailway Company, was signed in August, 1849. The
expenditure of £1,000,000 was sanctioned for the first
section, viz. from Howrah, opposite Calcutta, to Raneegunge,
via Pandooah and Burdwan.
" The line is to be continued from Burdwan, in a north¬
erly direction, to Rajmahl, and thence probably along the
right bank of the Ganges to Patna, Mirzapore and Alla¬
habad. A further sum of £1,000,000 has been sanctioned
for the purpose of continuing the extended line to
Itajmahl, the whole expense not having yet been esti¬
mated. The East India Company guaranteed interest on
the capital advanced for this purpose, at the rate of five
per cent, per annum for the first million, and four and
a-half per cent, for the second."*
And Lord Dalhousie is understood to have recom¬
mended in a recent despatch, that the Rajmahl line
should be carried up the valley of the Ganges to Alla¬
habad.
In surveying the vast extent of territory embraced by
the British dominions in India, with a view to the intro¬
duction of railroads into that country, it would appear
obvious, that the local demarcations which have been
found convenient in the administration of the Indian
government, should be kept in view. Some such limi¬
tation, the official paper just quoted from, appears to
* Vide Minute by the Governor General, 30th April, 1853.
p. 255.
230
APPENDIX.
indícate, while the " Friend of India," and other leading
journals, adduce weighty and practical reasons for con¬
fining the operations of each company within reasonable
bounds; and the report recently received from the
Governor-General of India affirms in express terms the
principle of restricting the operations of companies within
certain limits.
It was evident from the beginning, that little railways
in Bengal and Bombay, especially when competing with
water carriage, must of necessity, from the nature of the
country and the traffic, prove great failures. Yet in 1850,
we were told authoritatively in parliament, that the mighty
problem of the applicability of railroads in India would
be solved, if it could be proved that in that country
sleepers could be laid, and water would boil! That
although the adaptability of the railway to the traffic of
the country could not be ascertained, unless a much
larger sum were guaranteed than £1,000,000, the experi¬
ment might be regarded as perfectly successful, even if
the railway should only be able to carry its own fuel, and
have just vitality enough now and then to startle a tiger
from his lair ; the great point being, to ascertain the
adaptability of the railroad and its appliances to the
country and climate, and not to the people and traffic.
This is simply absurd. Were it merely necessary to
ascertain the adaptability of a railroad to the country and
climate of India, an experiment of one mile would have
sufficed as well as one hundred.
The completion of the Calcutta and Bajmahl line (or
of any other properly selected line, terminating some¬
where, instead of nowhere), would have solved the adap¬
tability of railroads to India to some purpose, by showing
RAILWAYS IN BENGAL.
231
not only that railroads could be made in that country, but
that they would pay.
I had, in various publications, frequently and earnestly
pointed out, that making a portion of the Raj mahl line
must inevitably result in disappointment. In the first
edition of my work on " Indian Railways," the following
passage occurs :—" On the whole, then, it is our convic¬
tion that the Great Western of Bengal (from Calcutta to
Raj mahl), and the line from Allahabad to Delhi, co¬
operating with fleets of river steamers, from Raj mahl to
Allahabad, would at once be the most judicious, the
easiest, the least costly, the soonest constructed, and in
every other point of view, the most advantageous mode
of introducing the railway system into India." Two
years afterwards, in the preface to the third edition of
" Indian Railways," I return to the subject in these
words :—
" The above suggestions are again respectfully recom¬
mended to the consideration of the authorities with the
following explanation :—
" In June, 1846, when the writer advocated as above,
that a line should be made in Upper India simultaneously
with one in Lower India, it was under the impression
that a minimum rate of interest on £5,000,000 would
have been guaranteed, which would have sufficed for
completing the line from Calcutta to Rajmahl, and a large
section in Upper India ; but as £3,000,000, the sum
actually guaranteed, is declared inadequate for these pur¬
poses, the impolicy is apparent of burthening the, certain
to be productive upper section with a fragment of a sec¬
tion in Lower India leading, comparatively speaking, to
232
APPENDIX.
nothing. No assistance could be given to the Government,
or general commerce of India by opening a portion of the
Rajmahl line, unless that portion from Rajmahl to Mirza-
pore on the Hooghly, 120 miles in length, and which is the
exact line of Colonel Forbes's celebrated canal. But if the
railway is to commence at Calcutta, or rather, as the
writer wishes, at Howrah, on the opposite side (where wet
docks could also be made), and connected with Calcutta by
a steam bridge, then in that case no great purpose could be
answered until the railway debouches on the main Ganges,
and thus supersede the present tedious, uncertain and
dangerous channels of commerce, the Nuddea rivers and
Sunderbunds, which convey to and from Calcutta and
the main Ganges upwards of 2,000,000 tons annually.
When the railway from Calcutta to Rajmahl relieved the
inland trade from these various impediments, the neces¬
sity would no longer exist, for the steamers having their
machinery in one vessel, and their passengers and goods
in another, and the native cargo-boats would no longer,
for nine months in the year, be confined to the alter¬
native of either subdividing their freights amongst a
number of small frail craft to pass the Nuddea rivers,
or to go by the Sunderbunds an extra distance of 320
miles. Rajmahl would thus become the head-quarters
of the inland trade, and a railway from it to Calcutta
would, by bringing the vast descending trade of the
Ganges into contact with the ships of all nations an¬
chored off Calcutta, supply in the most effectual manner
the only link wanting in the chain between the internal
and external commerce of the country. By making a
portion of the Rajmahl line nothing would be achieved
RAILWAYS IN BENGAL.
233
by connecting Calcutta with Raj m ah 1 by means of a
railway—a new impetus would be given to the com¬
mercial prosperity of India."*
To the Editor of the Artizan.
London, 20thJune, 1851.
[EXTRACT.]
Sir,
In your last number I have perused with much
interest and satisfaction the observations which you pre¬
fix to "my letter, submitted some years ago to the late
Sir Archibald Galloway, on the Introduction of Railways
into Bengal.
Entertaining, as you have all along, views but little in
accordance with those which I have advocated, so far, at
least, as the Rajmahl line is concerned, I cannot but
appreciate the candid spirit which pervades your re¬
marks, and the courtesy which assigned to my paper so
prominent a place in your publication. In addressing
you, on this occasion, for the first time, it is less with the
view of calling in question the accuracy of any of your
* " It is gratifying to the writer to find that his views are
corroborated by the authority of the deputy-governor of Bengal."
" ' A railroad from Calcutta to Bagwangala or Rajmahl, will
not answer the purpose for which it is undertaken, till it is com¬
plete, so as to connect the termini with one another ; for both these
projects contemplate as their main objects the conveyance of
merchandize from the river Ganges, at the points of their
northern termini, to Calcutta." ' Vide Minute, by the Hon. Sir
T. Herbert Maddock, ordered by the House of Commons to be
printed, 15th February, 1847.
234
APPENDIX.
opinions and statements, than with the object of bringing
out and placing more prominently before the public the
great question of Railways in connexion with River
Navigation in Bengal.
I have ever contemplated the one in relation to the
other, thinking it reasonable and desirable to aid the
river navigation, where it was defective, by the removal
of natural obstacles, or by surmounting them by means
of steam vessels of improved construction, and co-operat¬
ing with this improved river navigation by means of a
railway, where the traffic was great and the rivers cease
to be navigable, and where the absence of physical and
other obstacles would render the construction of a rail¬
way comparatively of easy attainment.
This gradual mode of introducing the railway system
of transit was peculiarly adapted, in my opinion, to the
Bengal Presidency, where the traffic, however vast in
extent, being mostly of a bulky nature, was more adapted
to water conveyance than to transit by railway, unless
some great advantage had to be gained, and that more
affecting safety than speed. The Rajmahl line, for
instance, would give 180 miles of railway, instead of,
for eight months in the year, 528 miles of dangerous
navigation by the Sunderbunds, and for the remaining
four months in the year supersede the tortuous and
uncertain Nuddea rivers, which flow from the Ganges to
the Hoogly.
I also considered that it was of the utmost conse¬
quence, in introducing so great an innovation as the rail¬
way mode of transit must of necessity be in such a
country as India, to select, in the first instance, some line
of moderate extent, yet having " a great and defined
RAILWAYS IN BENGAL
235
object," that would yield a good return on capital spent
on its construction, that would disturb the existing inte¬
rests and order of things as little as possible ; for in the
words of an eminent writer on India—" It has been
observed in every age, that when any branch of com¬
merce has got into a certain channel, although it may be
neither the most proper nor the most commodious one, it
requires long time, and considerable efforts, to give it a
different direction."
In addition to the above reasons for introducing the
railway system into India in a gradual manner, I adduced
others that would ensue, and amongst them, that the want
of skilled labour in that country would be best obviated
by making the first railway constructed a school for teach¬
ing skilled labourers for subsequent operations, and that
by relieving in this gradual manner the river steamers
from the most difficult, dangerous, and circuitous portions
of the navigation, many improvements might be expected
to result in the superior adaptation of vessels navigating
the waters of the main Ganges.
I feel so strongly impressed with the truthfulness of
what I propounded so far back as 1846, that I cannot
forbear quoting a short passage from my work on Indian
Railways :—
"We have already stated our decided preference for
that plan of commencing improved transit, which would
only supersede the river navigation where it was most
defective, and co-operate with it where it was always
available, i.e., a railroad from Calcutta to deep water in
the Ganges at Rajmahl; from this point, river steamers
to Allahabad, at the confluence of the Jumna and Ganges,
where deep water ceases, and a railroad from Allahabad
236
APPENDIX.
to Delhi and the Sutlej. This would be nearly one thou¬
sand miles of railroad, exclusive of branches, traversing
the easiest, the richest, and most densely peopled por¬
tions of our dominions, where the river transit is either
dangerous or tedious, as by the Nuddea rivers and Sun-
derbunds, or only applicable to the smaller country-
craft, and closed entirely to steamers, as the great rivers
are beyond Allahabad. Above this point it is impossible
by land or by water to move military stores or merchan¬
dize, in any quantity beyond the average of twelve miles
per diem. IS o Utopian ideas of a railroad system start¬
ing at once into complete perfectibility should divert
enterprise and capital from so fair and inviting a field,
with such feeble rivals, as the carts and boats of the
country* to compete with the river steamers which
accomplish fifty miles per diem, and which will soon
nearly double that rate, when a railroad relieves them
from the Nuddea rivers and Sunderbunds. If such a
rail be established, the steamers, instead of starting from
Calcutta, will start from its northern terminus, which
will thus become, in fact, the steam port of Calcutta.
The narrow and often angular streams in the Sunder¬
bunds, and lower Bengal will thus be avoided, the neces¬
sity of a double vessel will cease, single vessels of larger
dimensions, and engines of greater power, may then be
employed, by which a large saving of time and money
will be effected.",,f
* The charge by the former is 4d. per ton per mile—by pack
bullocks, camels, and ponies, it is more expensive—native boats
are cheap, but slow and precarious.
f See 2nd edit. Indian Railways. By an Old Indian Post¬
master. p. 116.
■RAILWAYS IN BENGAL.
237
The government have for years given an example to
private enterprise by keeping up a fleet of steamers,
■which, although the first that were floated on the Ganges,
and evidently capable of being greatly improved upon,
have yielded a return of 10 per cent, on the capital
invested, and leave their rivals far behind in regularity of
dispatch and safety. But even by the government boats,
a Calcutta merchant desirous of visiting Benares, distant
by land 428 miles, by water for four months in the year
620—and for the remaining eight months about 1000
miles,—incurs an expenditure of £40, and loses more
than a month on the journey there and back.
The great desideratum that is required in India is, in¬
creased facilities for transporting large bodies of passen¬
gers ; for instance, entire regiments and their baggage,—
besides the bulky commodities constituting the inland
trade. I mention these circumstances, as it appears to
me, from an observation that you make, you do not render
that justice to the Bajmahl line, in connexion with im¬
proved river transit, which the perfect fairness with which
you had in your preceding remarks, recited the chief
arguments I had been in the habit of adducing, as well as
those of my former opponents, yourself amongst the num¬
ber, might have led me to expect.
You say,—" Unless the river communication between
Bajmahl and the north-west be materially accelerated,
the journey from Calcutta to Mirzapore and Benares, by
way of Bajmahl, will be longer in point of time, even
after the railway is opened, than the present dawk journey
by the road."
At present the journey from Calcutta to Benares is per¬
formed by the steamers during four months in the year,
238
APPENDIX.
in ten days, and for the remaining eight months, in about
twenty days, which is much more rapid than by any other
conveyance, with the exception of travelling post in a
palanquin, which is only available for one or two persons
at a time ; and the Eajmahl line, by relieving the existing
steamers of the Sunderbunds and Nuddea rivers, would
certainly reduce the time occupied between Calcutta
and Benares to about seven days all the year round, which
is about the time occupied in travelling post, inclusive of
halts, sixty miles being the average performance in twenty-
four hours in a long journey, and I think you will admit
that the Eajmahl line, aided by steam boats of an im¬
proved construction, would readily forward the passenger
in five days from Calcutta to Benares, the entire distance,
making allowance for the bends in the river, being six
hundred miles by this route, and for an expenditure of
from ¿66 to ¿610. On the other hand, an European, or
a wealthy native, going by dâk (post) from Calcutta to
Benares, a distance of four hundred and twenty-eight miles,
will incur an expense of one shilling per mile, besides
buckshees (presents) to the bearers, about one shilling
per stage, making in all about £25 for the journey, which
he will be five days in accomplishing (exclusive of halts).
If by palkee with eight bearers, going fifteen miles per
diem, he will have to pay £12 10s., besides £2 10s. for a
banghy, (a bhangy wallah, or bearer of two light boxes),
and will consume nearly a month on the road. This
mode of travelling, besides the loss of time, is attended
with danger from robbers. The journey is accomplished
in sixteen days on horseback.
But the question ought not to be narrowed as to the
comparative delay and expense incurred in conveying a
RAILWAYS IN BENGAL.
239
single individual from one point to another, and I am
confident you did not intend so to deal with it when you
instanced the time occupied in d&h travelling : but from
my experience I know that this is a source only capable of
meeting the requirements of one or two individuals at a
time. This was strikingly demonstrated at the commence¬
ment of the first campaign against the Sikhs ; and as what
I published soon after on that subject was thought of
sufficient importance to be quoted by a gallant proprietor
(General Briggs) well acquainted with India at a Court
of Proprietors of India stock, and as it illustrates the
point in question better than anything else which occurs
to me at this moment, I hope you will pardon my again
bringing a part of it forward.
"In the annual relief, infantry regiments are often moved
from one end of India to the other, at an average of ten
miles and a-half per day, halting six days in the month,
so that it takes about six weeks to move from Calcutta
to Benares : hence arises the necessity of the concentration
at all times of a large force in the neighbourhood of an
enemy. There are not the means existing (in India) of
concentrating troops on a sudden emergency. This was
strikingly exemplified in various ways, on occasion of the
recent war on the north-west frontier. When it broke
out, all officers whose regiments were in the field were
ordered to join the army. About one hundred, we believe,
in the different services, engineers, artillery, infantry and
medical, required to go from Calcutta. They were sent
at the public expense, and with the greatest dispatch. How
many do our readers suppose the Postmaster-general was
enabled to send daily? Three !—and as the journey took
sixteen days, travelling night and day, few arrived before
240
APPENDIX.
the war was over.* Even this could not have been accom¬
plished at any other period of the year.
" Under the order, now countermanded, for the estab¬
lishment of depots, the regiments stationed in the Presi¬
dency division, were ordered to supply about six hundred
men to the depot intended to be formed at Benares. The
utmost dispatch was desired by government ; bullock
hackeries, the only kind of carriage ever available here,
were put in requisition in the usual manner, but the garri-
wans (drivers) had taken alarm at the rumour, industri¬
ously, and perhaps maliciously, circulated, that they were
to go to the seat of war. They were consequently obtained
with difficulty. Many ran away, and from these causes
several days were lost before the march could commence,
and a halt of some days more became necessary at the end
of the first day's journey. Is this a predicament proper
for the government to be placed in, within a few miles of
a great political and commercial capital ? Is it just to the
great interests involved in the stability of British power,
that the movement of troops should depend on native
opinion, or on the caprice of the drivers or owners of
bullock hackeries ? I shall only add to this, that when
European troops are sent by the country boats, two months
are occupied in the journey from Calcutta to Benares, and
a charge incurred of £3 per man for conveyance alone,
without taking into consideration boats for sick, row boats,
store boats, and extra establishments proceeding with a
regiment or detachment, to say nothing of the privations
* About 1400 men were required to carry each officer, at a
charge of £ 120 for the entire journey.
RAILWAYS IN BENGAL.
241
o£ the men, the loss of time, and the risk of loss of life
and property.
I do not think that the above extract meets the ques¬
tion of transit in India, as you, and all others, who have
paid attention to the subject would wish to see it met,
for of course any means of transit, to be useful in that
country, either to the Government or the community,
and beneficial to the shareholders, must have, as an essen¬
tial ingredient, the power of conveying, at an improved
speed, large numbers of persons with safety and cer¬
tainty, and at a moderate rate of charge ,• and this the
Rajmahalline, coupled with steamers of greater power and
lighter draught of water, would easily accomplish.
After having advocáted the Rajmahal line for so many
years, it is certainly gratifying to me to find that it is
at length recommended for adoption by Mr. Turnbull,
the engineer of the railway company, and Major Pitt
Kennedy, the consulting engineer to the Government of
India, so that the views I so long ago put forth are now
apparently about to prevail.
I am, Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
W. P. Andrew.
EXTRACT.
Administration Retort of Railways in India,
LS82-3, by Colonel F. S.. Stanton, R.E.
Gauge 5' 6".
State Line worked by Company.
Length Length
of line of line
sanctioned. completed.
East Indian ..... 1,513 1,506!
Guaranteed Companies.
Great Indian Peninsula .
1,288
1,288
Scinde, Punjab, and Delhi
688
663|
Madras
861j
861*
Bombay, Baroda, and Central Indian
438|
438|
Oudh and Rohilcund
686!
546f
Eastern Bengal
160
160
APPENDIX.
243
State Imperial.
Indus Valley and Khandahar .
Length
of line
sanctioned.
653
Length
of line
completed.
652
Punjab Northern
355$
352$
Sindia
74f
74f
Dhond-Manmad
145f
145 f
Wardha Coal ....
46$
46$
Patri
22$
22$
State Provincial.
Calcutta and South Eastern
56$
43
Patna-Gya
57
57
Amritsur Pathankot ....
65
—
Poradaha-Damukdia ....
13
13
Dildarnagar-Ghazipur
12
12
Native State.
Nizam ......
121
121
Bhopal
62
11-
Khamgaon
8
8
Amraoti
6
6
Assisted Companies.
Bengal Central ..... 125£ 20
Serafuli-Tarkessur .... 22 —
7,554f 7,128$
E 2
244
APPENDIX.
Gauge 3' 3§".
Guaranteed Company.
South. India 6534 6534
Length Length
of line of line
sanctioned. completed.
1
2
State Imperial.
Raj putana-Mulwa . . . . 1,419! 1,205!
Punjab Salt Branch .... 73f 73f
State Provincial.
Northern Bengal ....
2524
2324
Tirhoot ......
243
158J
Cawnpore-Farukhabad
197
86
Rangoon to Toungoo
163|
—
„ Prome .
161
161
Prome to Allamyo ....
42
—
Nagpur to Chhattisgarh .
149
149
Dacca-Mymensingh ....
85
—
Hathras-Muttra-Achnera .
53
52
Bareilly-Pilibhit ....
33
—
Native State.
Bliavnagar-Gondal ....
1924
1924
Mysore ......
129
86
Jodhpore . . . . . .
184
184
APPENDIX.
245
Assisted Companies.
Southern Maharatta .
Bengal and North Western
West of India Portuguese
Assam Light Railway
Rohilkhund-Kumaon.
Pondicherry
Baidjnath-Deogarh .
Length
of line
sanctioned.
435
455
75
62
71
'4
6
4,955f
Length
of line
completed
15
7f
3,095|
Nalhati
Gauge 4'.
State Provincial.
27i
274
Gauge 2' 6".
State Provincial.
Kaunia-Mogul Hât Tramway
Kaunia-Dhurla Tramway .
13|
21
134
21
Native State.
Gaekwar of Baroda's
60¿
Assisted Company.
Burdwan-Kutwah
40
I344
944
246
APPENDIX.
Gauge 2'.
iState Provincial.
Length Length
of line of line
sanctioned. completed.
Kokilamukh 6| —
Assisted Company.
Darjeeling-Himalayan ... 50 50
Summary.
East India and Guaranteed Lines . 6,288f 6,118
Assisted Lines 1,327§ 96|
State Imperial 2,790f 2,572f
State Provincial .... l,650f 1,026
Native States . . . . . 597j 503|
12,655j
10,317j
APPENDIX.
247
FEEDER ROADS FOR RAILWAYS.
A Suggestion.
I have repeatedly drawn tlie attention of Government
to the urgent importance of feeders to Railways in
general, and to the great deficiency that exists in this
respect on the Railways under my control in particular.
I have no doubt that the Government is ready to admit
the necessity of the case, but would reply that the ques¬
tion is one entirely for the Local Governments, and is
with them simply a question of funds.
2. I wish to point out, however, that the question is
one in which the Railways themselves are far more
interested than the Local Governments, and this for the
simple reason that, to the former, the construction of
good feeder roads means an immediate increase of revenue,
while to the latter it means a loss of revenue, owing to
the annual cost of mantenance, as well as the first cost of
construction, without any tangible receipts whatever.
The practical result is that the Railways are perpetually
calling on the Local Governments to make feeder roads,
which it is utterly out of their power to construct and
maintain with their present resources, and the uses of the
Railway are greatly restricted for want of them, being
practically confined to a narrow breadth of country on
each side of the line.
3. Take the case of the best section of the Sindh,
Punjab and Delhi Railway, that from Lahore to Gházi-
abad, a length of 335 miles. This is fed by metalled roads
248
APPENDIX.
only at the Stations of Amritsar, Jullunder, Ludhiána,
Rájpura, Umballa, Saháranpur, Muzaffarnagar and Mee-
rut, i.e. at intervals of 32, 49, 35, 53, 13,® 55, 36, 35
and 27 miles; while the other stations, 36 in number,
are practically unapproachable by cart traffic for three
months in the year, and during the remaining nine
months only at a heavy cost in carts and bullocks, which
have to make their way over the village tracks which do
duty for roads. To anyone who sees the actual state of
the case, the wonder is that a large portion of the traffic
ever gets to the line at all. I have shown, indeed, in
more than one of my Inspection Reports, from cases that
have actually come under my notice, that the cost of
cartage to the line even in fair weather is from 10 to
40 times the cost of carriage over the same length on the
Railway ; though even this is a mild statement of the
case, for such is the state of the cross country roads that,
in the rainy season, they are practically impassable by
carts, and traffic is more or less suspended all over the
country.
4. Let it be borne in mind that the above line passes
through a richly cultivated and populous country for the
whole of its length, and is very much better provided
with roads than other lines in the north. The Punjab
Northern, the Indus Yalley and the Mooltan and Sindh
Sections of the Sindh, Punjab and Delhi Railway may be
said to have no metalled feeders whatever, and on the
Indus valley line traffic is practically suspended during
the flood season, i.e. from June to October. It is not
very wonderful, therefore, that these lines do not pay.
5. I know very well it is often said that kaclia roads
APPENDIX.
249
do well enough for the country traffic ; that the bullocks
are employed in drawing carts when not required for
ploughing, and if not so employed would be idle ; and
that the difference in draught over a metalled and un-
metalled road is often exaggerated. I can only repeat
that the practical effects of the present state of things
are to restrict the traffic very seriously all the year round,
and during part of the year to suspend it altogether, and
in any case to make a very heavy difference in point of
cost. And that these assertions may easily be tested by
anyone who doubts them.
6. Seeing, then, how largely interested Railways are in
the construction of proper feeder roads to their various
stations, by which the produce of the country may reach
the line at a moderate cost, I venture to make what I
think is a very obvious suggestion, viz. that the railways
should themselves devote a certain portion of their
revenues towards the construction of these indispensable
adjuncts to them, in the assurance that the amount so
expended will be almost immediately recovered in the
shape of extra traffic.
■ 7. The net revenue of the Sindh, Punjab and Delhi
Railway (for example) now amounts to about 35 lakhs
per annum. I would take (say) one per cent, of this,
and with it raise a loan to be expended entirely on
feeder roads. If the money is raised at four per cent.,
this will give a sum of Rs. 8,75,000 ; enough, probably,
to construct 175 miles of good metalled cross roads, at
Rs. 5,000 per mile. The Railway will continue to pay
the interest on the cost of construction; and as the
additional traffic brought to the line will very soon cover
250
APPENDIX.
that small charge, the Railway will be able to make a
further grant from its revenue for additional loans from
time to time as the traffic continues to develop.
8. I feel confident that it would be well worth while for
any line thus to spend a portion of its revenue in order
to open up the districts through which it runs, and
draw to itself the adjacent traffic, which is now often
unable to move to it. And by waiting until the interest
on the first loan had been entirely recovered in the shape
of inereased traffic, the amount of money risked by the
Railway would be very small.
9. To show what is approximately required in the case
of the line mentioned above—from Lahore to Gháziabad
—the Railway may be said to serve a strip of country,
approximately eighty miles wide, or forty miles on each
side of the line ; by which I mean that there is no present
likelihood of any parallel line of railway being made at
a less distance from the main line than that. In order
to develop its traffic properly, it may therefore be fairly
reckoned that that length of cross road would be required,
at least at twenty miles intervals, or 1,360 miles of road
altogether, in addition to the few miles already made.
10. Of course I do not propose to rule the country
with parallel lines of road at fixed intervals independent
of existing towns and villages. I am only giving an
idea of the total length that will be required at the most
moderate computation. If, for instance, we had a road
only twenty miles long on each side of the line from the
thirty-six stations still without any, this would give us
1,440 miles, while, from some stations, it might be pre¬
ferable to make three or four diverging roads of ten
APPENDIX.
251
miles each. The calculation in any case will show that
some 1,400 miles of road are needed.
11. It will be seen, therefore, that something like 70
lakhs of rupees would eventually be required to meet
the wants of thÍ3 particular line, in the shape of feeder
roads—a large sum, but still only about two years' purchase
of its present net revenue, and which I am convinced would
be more than fully repaid to it, if expended gradually
and judiciously as above proposed.
12. A difficulty will, of course, present itself as to the
cost of maintaining these roads. It would seem fair that
if the whole cost of construction is defrayed by the
Railway, the Local and District Funds should be charged
with the cost of maintaining them, the amount being
assessed on the land to the value of which their con¬
struction will obviously add very largely. Whether this
is practicable or not, I cannot say. The construction of
these feeder roads is of such vital importance to the
Railway, that, rather than be without them, it would, I
am sure, be worth while, if necessary, to maintain as well
as make them out of its own revenues.
13. But a preferable course would doubtless be to do
what has often been suggested, viz. after raising and
bridging the roads to substitute a light steel tramway for
the metalling, on which goods could be carried in trucks
or wagons at a rate sufficient to cover the working
expenses and repairs, if not a fair interest on the Capital.
Even if no interest were obtained, we should still be
better off than with metalled roads, which cost a consider¬
able yearly sum to maintain without any tolls being
received.
252
APPENDIX.
14. It may easily be shown that such tramways can,
at the present price of steel, be laid down at the same
cost as road metal ; and if bullock draught were at first
employed until the increased traffic demanded steam
power, we should avoid committing ourselves to a heavy
expenditure and secure economical results.
15. For such a roadway I should advocate á 2 ft.
gauge and a rail weighing 19 lbs. per yard, which would
do either for cattle or steam draught. Specimens of such
rails were shown in the Calcutta Exhibition, and full par¬
ticulars as to prices, &c., can easily be obtained.
16. If the traffic on any particular road developed
sufficiently to warrant the construction of a regular Rail¬
way, on the metre or broad gauge, the tramway could
be easily removed and laid down elsewhere. It may be
said, generally, that such short branches would not pay
to work with steam power if they involved a break of
gauge. With long branches the case is different, and
the break of gauge, though a nuisance in the case of a
heavy traffic, at any rate is an improvement on a break
between a cart track and the railway, as at present.
17. The question as to who is to work such cattle tram¬
ways is one merely of detail. The new Local Boards or
Road Fund Committees should be able to arrange for this,
and might be permitted to do so under supervision of
the Railway or the Provincial Government; I will not
anticipate any friction between these two authorities.
My object has been to insist on the heavy stake that
the Railways have in the matter and the propriety of
applying a portion of their revenues to make the roads
in question rather than wait for the action of the Local
APPENDIX.
253
Governments who are not specially interested in the matter
at all. The particular machinery by which the roads
should be made and maintained is a matter to he settled
by competent authority when the principle has been
accepted. To postpone their construction until the
resources of the Local Governments are adequate for the
purpose, under existing rules, is virtually to prevent the
railways from earning a fair return on their capital, and
so to retard the construction of other lines.
J. G. MEDLEY, Colonel. R.E.,
Consulting Engineer.
Lahore, 27th February 1884.
254
APPENDIX.
MEMO. BY MR. J. LIGHTFOOT, AUDITOR, SIND,
PUNJAB AND DELHI RAILWAY, LAHORE,
ON THE SUBJECT OF THE IMPROVEMENT
OF TRADE IN INDIA.
As it has been thought expedient to make a special Par¬
liamentary enquiry into the question of increased Railway
facilities in India, it may be useful to bring forward a few
points which, in the interest of trade, require Capital
expenditure and consideration as much as the construc¬
tion of new Railways ; indeed, some existing Railways
can scarcely hope to be thoroughly productive until these
points have been settled :—
I.—Improve Harbours and other natural outlets
of traffic.
II.—Reduce to a minimum Cartage, handling,
and intermediate Agencies at the sea-
hoard by the erection of Landing
Wharves and " along shore " Ware¬
houses.
III.—Increase available Shipping at the sea-board
by establishing regular lines of steamers
from England for Government Stores,
Troops, and Mails to all Depots and
Stations connected with Railways, and
thereby seriously reduce sea freights from
such ports.
APPENDIX,
255
IV.—Build Warehouses up-country in which
traders can store and clean country pro¬
duce until the state of the markets
permit of its despatch to the sea-board.
V.—In connection with such cleaning Depots
provide Bonded Warehouses connected
with the Railway stations at all large
centres of trade, where imports and
exports may remain free from Octroi
and other Imposts until actually required
for consumption or export.
VI.—Bridge, or otherwise arrange for a cheap
transit over large rivers and torrents.
VII.—Empower Railways to establish a system of
through-booking between India and
Europe.
VIII.—Construct feeder-roads to connect all am-
O
cultural centres with existing Railway
stations.
IX.—Place through systems of railway, from the
grain-producing centres to the sea-board,
as far as possible under one management.
X.—Remove impediments and afford additional
conveniences rather than unduly reduce
Railway rates.
The remarks herein contained are confined to such
points as more particularly concern the trade of the
Punjab, but no doubt some of the questions will be
equally applicable to other parts of India.
One of the most serious impediments to the develop¬
ment of the Punjab trade is the want of accommodation,
256
APPENDIX.
and the cost of Cartage, handling, and intermediate
Agency at the Port of Kurrachee, which, being under the
control of the Bombay Government, cannot in any way
be assisted by the Government of the Province of which
it is the natural outlet, even if that Government had
funds available.
The extracts hereto annexed from a Punjab Govern¬
ment Resolution, dated November 28th, 1882, will show
the importance attributed by the Administrators of that
Province to the Port.
Indeed, no stronger arguments can be adduced for the
necessity of considering the whole of the questions now
raised than those contained in this resolution, and the
extracts from other correspondence which are also
attached to this memo., viz. :—
Extracts from Acting Agent, Sind, Punjab and Delhi
Railway's letter to Sir William Andrew, dated August
31st, 1882.
Extracts from a memo, by the Auditor, Sind, Punjab
and Delhi Railway, on the subject of Ferozpur and
Sukkur Ferry charges, dated March 12th, 1884.
Extracts from the " Civil and Military Gazette," dated
March 14th, 1884.
It will, therefore, be inadvisable to repeat such argu¬
ments, and separate attention will only be called in the
present paper to points not already made clear in the
various extracts, which are briefly as follows :—
Kurrachee Harbour Improvements.
The Sind, Punjab and Delhi Railway, since the date of
the Acting Agent's letter above referred to, have taken
APPENDIX
257
the initiative in the matter of improvements at Kiamari,
and have erected a limited quantity of shedding and
wharfage accommodation upon their own immediate pro¬
perty, hut nothing has yet been done towards the carrying
out of any comprehensive scheme by the Harbour Board,
the delay being mainly attributable to the difficulties
attending the formation of a Port Trust, and the want of
the necessary funds. It would appear desirable to transfer
the custody of this Harbour to the Punjab Government,
and empower that Province to raise a special Loan charge¬
able upon the Harbour Revenues for the purpose of
executing all the necessary improvements ; after the com¬
pletion of which, a Port Trust might probably be much
more readily established.*
The importance of sending all up-country Mail vid
Kurrachee.
The whole of the Punjab and Sind, embracing an area
of more than 200,000 square miles, including the " hot
weather " seat of Government at Simla, as well as all the
* Note.—Since writing the above, sanction has been
accorded to raise a loan of Rs. 10,00,000 ; of which, however,
only Rs. 3,00,000 will be expended at Kiamari upon the
Merewether Pier, the remainder being devoted to the im¬
provement of the inner part of the Harbour about five miles
from the anchorage ground for large vessels. This work
will, therefore, not make much reduction on the present
heavy cost of lighterage, Cartage, and intermediate Agency,
and will indefinitely postpone the execution of the most im¬
portant works required for the removal of Deep Water Point
and the establishment of Long Shore Wharves, and Landing
Arrangements near the anchorage.
s
258
APPENDIX.
Frontier out-posts, would receive their letters during the
north-west monsoon in most cases three days earlier, and in
some a week earlier, than by the Bombay route. Troops
and Government stores, if sent via Kurrachee, would save
a considerable distance in the Railway journey, and a
consequent reduction in Railway fares and time, while
officers proceeding on leave to and from England would
largely benefit by the regularity in running of a recog¬
nized Mail Steamer. Men with limited leave dare not
now venture to use the Kurrachee route, owing to the
irregularity of the service, although, if it were otherwise,
they would save largely in Railway fares to the sea¬
board.
The Kurrachee and Sind Mails from England are now
carried to Bombay, and there transferred into British
India Steamers for conveyance to Kurrachee. It would
seem a far better and simpler arrangement if this transfer
was effected at Aden ; not only for the Kurrachee and
Sind Mails, but for the Mails and Passengers of all
Northern India. Moreover, such an arrangement would
give an additional impetus to Punjab trade by the increase
of available shipping.
Transit Charges over large Rivers and Torrents.
The cost of ferrying rivers, and the delay attendant
upon crossing torrents, reduces materially the exporting
power of the Punjab by increasing the cost of its exports.
The cost of the Ferry at Ferozpur at its best period is
equal to a Railway charge of over 150 miles, while the
torrents in the river Chukki between Pathankot and
Nurpur, at certain seasons, will completely stop the export
APPENDIX.
259
of tea from the Kangra Valley. These two are only cited
as examples, there being many other crossings of great
importance, notably the Jhelum at Pind Dadan Khan, the
Indus at Dera Ismael Khan, and the Chenab and Indus
at Deri G-hazi Khan, &c. &c., at all of which the crossing
charges and cartage are almost prohibitive to the export
trade.
Bonded Warehouses.
In most Indian cities the Municipal revenues are
derived from octroi, and nearly all agricultural produce
brought within such limits is taxed. But if the produce
be re-exported within a certain prescribed limit of time,
a refund is obtainable. The delay and trouble attendant
upon such refunds, however, frequently results in no
application for it being submitted, and the export trade
suffers thereby. Again, the produce may be brought in,
in small quantities by agriculturists who pay the duty,
while it is exported in large bulk by traders who purchase
the aforesaid small quantities, and who, from want of
sufficient detail or lapse of the specified period, are not
able to claim the refunds.
Through Booking to Europe.
Sir William Andrew, the talented and enterprising
Chairman of the Sind, Punjab and Delhi Railway, has for
a long time advocated this measure, and offered to give it
a trial from Kurrachee, but owing to the peculiar con¬
stitution of the contracts between the Guaranteed Railways
and the Secretary of State, the system cannot be legally
adopted,
s 2
260
APPENDIX.
Amalgamation of the S. P. and D. Railway and I. V. S.
Railway Systems.
So much has been said and written on this subject, and
its advisability is so generally admitted, that it would be
useless to occupy any of the space in this paper beyond
stating that it would result in a great saving of State
expenditure, and afford much greater facilities for the
development of trade.
Removal of Impediments rather than Undue Reduction in
Railway Rates.
Upon this subject it would be well to remember that,
the working expenses of Railways in the north of India
are necessarily very heavy.
Coal has to he imported at very high prices, super¬
vision is expensive, and English stores have to he con¬
veyed at great expense from the seaboard to the workshops,
and up-country stations. Moreover, the lines are subject
to frequent damage from floods and inundations.
Notwithstanding these heavy charges, grain is carried
at A pie per maund per mile, or at an exchange of \'7\
per rupee, at a rate of *46 of a penny per ton per mile,
and in some cases it is carried at '39 of a penny per ton
per mile.
If the produce had only to bear the Railway charges,
it might possibly be exported on very favourable terms,
but unfortunately natural impediments beyond Railway
control occasion such a large addition to the cost of
transit, that, no amount of reduction on Railway rates
within the limits of absolute loss would suffice to nullify
their effect.
APPENDIX.
261
The same remarks apply to imports, as may be readily
seen by a perusal of the following figures :—
Transit charges on small iron imported by way of
Kurrachee to Ferozpur—
Through Railway rate at *46 pence per ton £ s. d.
for 830 miles - per ton 111 8
Further charges owing to natural impedi¬
ments and want of conveniences—
s. d.
Cartage, &e. in Kurrachee, per ton 2 8
Intermediate Agency in Kurrachee,
per ton 4 1
Ferry charge at Sukkur „ 2 9
Do., and Cartage at Ferozpur,
per ton 6 10
0 16 4
Total cost - - £2 8 0
In addition to this, the iron will probably be carted
some ten or twelve miles over unmetalled roads to native
villages for the manufacture of ploughs or other imple-
ments, at an additional cost of 3s. 4d. per ton, bringing
the total cost of transit up to £2 lis. 4d. per ton. It
may also by lapse of time occasionally become liable to
Octroi at both Kurrachee and Ferozpur.
To reduce Railway rates to an extent necessary to nullify
these natural impediments, the Railway would have to
carry the traffic at twelve shillings per ton for the 830
miles, which would be equal to a rate of only of
a penny per ton per mile, which would not pay working
expenses. Probably existing Railway rates might still
262
APPENDIX.
bear reduction with a larger traffic : but this can scarcely
be looked for until the heavy charges beyond Railway
control are reduced to a minimum.
Concluding Remarks.
Provincial Governments have no funds available for im¬
provement other than savings of revenue, which are totally
inadequate for the purpose ; the amount available in the
Punjab for new public works, as mentioned in the extract
from the " Civil and Military Gazette " hereto annexed^
being only about £65,000 per annum, and to increase
taxation sufficiently to make adequate provision for roads,
bridges, ferries, and harbours out of revenue would be
manifestly unjust to the existing population, if, indeed,
their incomes would bear such heavy taxation.
State assistance is wanted for such improvements as
much as for " directly productive," railways and canals,
and until such assistance is given, the trade of the country
must remain undeveloped, and its people continue to exist
in a state of semi-barbarism. The State, moreover, would
receive a return for its outlay in the shape of increased
land, and Railway, Revenues occasioned by the more
thorough development of the country; indeed, such ex¬
penditure might fairly be classified as "indirectly pro¬
ductive" works.
Nothing in this paper is intended to demonstrate that
more Railways are unnecessary; on the contrary, the
trade can only be fully developed by Railway extension,
but State assistance for metalled roads, ferries, harbours,
and other works offering facilities to commerce should be
APPENDIX.
263
looked upon as an essential portion of every Railway
system in India.
Should further information be desirable upon the points
raised herein, it may be well to mention that Sir William
Andrew, Chairman of the Sind, Punjab, and Delhi Rail¬
way, has been for years past endeavouring to initiate
reforms and improvements in Kurrachee, and other places
along his line of Railway, and his valuable advice might
consequently be of great assistance to a Parliamentary
Committee in the present emergency. Sir Douglas For¬
syth, Chairman of the Southern Mahratta Railway, and
one of the Directors of the Sind, Punjab, and Delhi
Railway, has also very recently visited the Punjab,
and made himself personally acquainted with the subject.
(Sd.) JABEZ LIGHTFOOT,
Auditor, S. P. & D. Railway.
Lahore, 22nd March, 1884.
264
APPENDIX.
Extracts from Punjab Government Resolution No.
6,436, of November 28th, 1882.
Relating to Rurrachee Harbour.
For the larger portion of the Province the natural
outlet for its surplus produce may be said to be Kurra-
chee.
This port is situated at the extreme northern end of
the Indus delta, and is connected with the entire river
system of the Punjab. It possesses a harbour safe and
easy of approach, with fairly regular soundings and few
formidable currents. It has the additional advantage of
being northward of the limit of cyclones. It is less
affected by the south-west monsoon than most parts of
Western India. Being nearer by 200 miles to Aden, and
bringing as it does a great part of the frontier 1,000
miles nearer to England than the route viâ Bombay, the
importance of the port of Kurrachee as an outlet to this
Province can hardly he exaggerated.
There are certain disadvantages at Kurrachee that
require to be remedied in order to make a popular and
successful port. These are principally—1st, the heavy
cartage and agency charges ; 2nd, the inadequacy of
existing harbour accommodation and conveniences ; and,
3rd, the scarcity of shipping, due in great part to a pre¬
ponderance of the tonnage of exports over imports and
consequent high ruling rates of export freight.
The cartage, shipping, and agency charges are reported
to he such that even wheat purchasable in Kurrachee at
APPENDIX.
265
almost the same rate as that ruling in Calcutta cannot
be exported on such favourable conditions. Excluding
agency, these amount to about R. 1-11-0 per ton shipped
from the native jetty, and R.2-12-0 shipped from the
pier on Kiamari island. There is little inducement, there¬
fore, for traders to use the latter. In so far as the charge
for cartage is attributable to the fact that much of the
grain sent down for export requires cleaning, and has
therefore to be unloaded, carried to the merchants' go-
downs in the town, and again to either jetty or pier, the
real remedy rests with the cultivators or those who pur¬
chase from them direct. The cleaning process only
requires to be done once, and it ought to be arranged for
at depots up country. If the grain were sent down ready
for shipment, there would be a saving in the carriage of
refuse to Kurrachee, and nearly the whole of the cartage
charges at Kurrachee, amounting in the case of the pier
to R.2 a ton, or over 2 per cent, in the value of the
wheat, would be saved, as the grain would be run straight
out to the shipping.
Relating to the Encouragement of Additional Shipping in
Kurrachee Harbour.
The export trade is at present heavily handicapped by
the want of return traffic from Kurrachee, and the wheat
has to bear the cost of its own haulage and of the return
of the empty wagons in which it has been carried.
Therefore, to obtain cheap transit charges downward,
an up traffic must be sought for and fostered as far as
possible. The best way to accomplish this is undoubtedly
to encourage import trade to the port of Kurrachee.
266
APPENDIX.
This will be further noticed below in connection with that
port ; but it may here be said that a good deal may be
done by judiciously offering special advantages for up
country traffic. His Honour is of opinion that liberal
concessions might be made in this direction with much
advantage.
The scarcity of shipping available for outward freight
is due in great measure to the fact that ships have gene¬
rally to be specially chartered, and to come in ballast from
other ports.
They seldom come into the harbour to look for freight ;
even those consigned from England with railway stores
and material are often pre-engaged to take return cargoes
from other ports and go away in ballast. Home freights
consequently run high, and it is a question worth con¬
sidering whether it might not be the interest of both the
B.ailway Company and the Government to give special
encouragement for a limited period to a line of steamers
to and from this port in return for some concessions to
be given on freight from England, and on condition of
ships so employed giving the Kurrachee trade a preference
when freight from the port is available.
Relating to Improvement of Communication by Metalled
Roads and Ferries.
Among the most important of the measures for the
development of the export and import trade of the Pro¬
vince must be placed the improvement of communications
in the shape of feeder lines, either rail, tramway, or
metalled roads. Although river carriage can undoubtedly
compete with the Railway in respect of rates of carriage,
APPENDIX.
267
the trader has by the latter the advantage as regards
speed, certainty of delivery, and safety—all of which are
material advantages for a large trade in grain. The com¬
petition between river and rail, however, tends to secure
low rates of freight. The river traffic should not be
destroyed, but rather fostered, and used as a feeder to
Railway depots.
Fazilka is a town on the Sutlej already doing a good
trade with Kurrachee in corn, seeds, and wool. A
metalled road, or, better still, a steam tramway, from the
right bank of the river to Okara, is another much needed
feeder, the great drawback to extension of this traffic
being the excessive cost of carriage.
At both Ferozpur and Fazilka improved ferries are
needed, and these will be still more necessary when the
railway lines from Ludhiana and from Hissar-Rewari are
completed, so as to enable a system of through booking
to be carried out.
At other points much may be done by improvements
of existing roads, important lines communicating with the
railway systems being as far as possible metalled.
Relating to Cleaning and Storage Warehouses up
country.
Among the minor miscellaneous improvements desirable
to facilitate trade, is the erection of warehouses or go-
downs as near as possible to Railway Stations, where, on
payment of a small rental, traders could store and clean
their grain until such time as the markets were favour¬
able for its despatch by rail. These will no doubt in
time be constructed by the private agency of merchants
268
APPENDIX.
and others who, in a few cases, have already shown a
willingness to do so. But where large quantities of grain
are brought to the line, it might be to the interest of the
Railway itself to provide them. Such depots would also
afford a means of gauging probable requirements in
carriage.
The cleaning and bagging of wheat (and it may be
noted that, both for rail and sea, bags afford the most
convenient means of carriage) at such depots, and its
despatch to Kurrachee ready for shipment, has been
already alluded to as a matter to be desired, saving both
the cost of unloading and cartage at Kurrachee, and the
carriage of extraneous matter. It would also to a great
extent obviate the necessity for the intermediate agency
which falls heavily on the smaller traders. Many small
consignments are at present despatched to native mer¬
chants at the port who deal with large English firms, and
anything tending to break up this system and transfer
the agency from Kurrachee to the grain-producing dis¬
tricts would be a saving. Were the grain thus finally
bagged for shipment, it is probable some understanding
might be come to between the Railway Company and the
shipowners to enable wheat to be consigned direct to
foreign ports without the intervention of brokers at
Kurrachee.
Resolution of Punjab Government.
Under the circumstances above explained, His Honour
the Lieutenant-Governor considers that while every effort
consistent with the resources of the Province should be
made for the improvement of communications, whether
APPENDIX.
269
in the form of feeder lines of railway, the provision of
improved ferries, and the extension of metalled roads or
steam tramways, the attention of the Government of
India should be drawn to the desirability of liberal con-
cessions for the encouragement of up-eountry traffic and
to the possibility of arranging with the Store Department
to consign additional stores to the Kurrachee port, and of
giving encouragement to steam vessels trading there.
It is also greatly to be desired that existing dis¬
advantages at Kurrachee, should as far as possible be
removed, in order to give to the natural outlet for Punjab
trade those facilities which its importance demands."
270
APPENDIX.
Extract from Acting Agent, Sind, Punjab and Delhi
Railway Company's Letter to Sir William
Andrew, dated August 31st, 1882.
On the subject of Kurrachee Harbour.
Although more than twenty years have elapsed since
their first commencement, the Harbour works are not yet
completed.
The principal anchorage is at the extreme end of the
Harbour, near Manora point, about two miles from the
nearest available Landing Stage at Kiamari, and four or
five miles from the Native Jetty near the town, moreover
at neither of the Landing Stages is the slightest sign of
effort to afford merchandise convenience apparent ; with
the exception of the recently-erected Merewether Pier,
which is scarcely completed, and of a very limited
capacity.
Looking at Kiamari as a Landing-place, we find that its
whole face available for landing is scarcely 1,600 feet in
extent ; that it is entirely occupied by the new ship pier
and a few small private Jetties, only one of which, the
Railway Jetty, has facilities for landing goods.
The shore space available moreover is very scanty ;
there are no sorting or storing arrangements whatever,
and all traffic has to find its way by cart along the Mole,
a distance of over three miles to the Merchants' Godowns,
APPENDIX.
271
at a cost of about oue rupee eight annas per ton ; there
it has to be unloaded and stored for a short time until
required up country, when another eight annas per ton are
expended in carting it to the Railway Station.
These cartage charges are virtually an increase to the
Harbour dues and prevent the development of the trade
of the port.
Turning to the Native Jetty as a landing-stage, we find
that the goods are brought by boat from the ships to this
point, a distance of about five miles, at a cost of five
annas per ton, and carted from thence to the Merchants'
Godowns at a cost of eight annas per ton, to be again
carted to the Railway Station at a cost of eight annas per
ton when proceeding up country.
There is, moreover, no space available on the Native
Jetty for large warehouses, as it is simply a double-sided
wharf.
Do what he may, therefore, a trader cannot possibly
get his goods from ship to land, and from thence to the
Railway Station, at a less cost than one rupee five annas
per ton, which amounts to far more than the Harbour
dues, and is equivalent to a Railway transit of over fifty
miles.
Ship Captains moreover complain that the port is badly
appointed, that there are no head and stern moorings, no
facilities for refitting and repair, and that the water-supply
is unsatisfactory.
To make Kurrachee a popular and successful trading
port, something must be done to remedy existing disad¬
vantages. And I would venture to suggest that full
consideration may be given to my proposals to provide
272
APPENDIX.
increased Sea frontage and Warehouse accommodation at
Kiamari.
By such a system twenty or thirty ships at a time
might, if necessary, be simultaneously loaded and un¬
loaded with ease by lighters, &c., at a point almost
opposite the anchorage. Goods could be warehoused by
merchants until required for Railway or shipment, and
the expensive cartage charges would be abolished, and the
cost of shipment reduced to a minimum. The present
pier could be utilized for all heavy articles, and for mails,
passengers, troopships, and Railway stores, which would
in all probability keep it almost fully employed.
It may be said there are no Funds available for such
purposes ; the simple business answer to which is borrow
them or get them somehow.
The rental of the sheds and grounds would repay the
interest on the whole of the Capital outlay, and the
reduction in cartage and boat-charges should largely
increase the revenue of the port by bringing additional
trade and shipping.
A system of doing Harbour work piecemeal, as annual
grants cap be spared from dues, is financially unsound,
detrimental to trade, and unjust to merchants.
The amount of Harbour dues devoted annually to
Capital works, if devoted to the payment of interest on
Harbour works loans, would permit of twenty times the
accommodation being provided for existing shipping, and
the completion of the works twenty years earlier. It is
manifestly unjust to charge the merchants of a young
port with the cost of providing a good harbour to benefit
a future generation, who will enjoy its advantages without
ÄTPENDIX.
273
having contributed to its cost; such a policy, moreover,
postpones the development of trade in proportion to the
delay in the provision of conveniences.
Kurrachee has now shown itself of such vast importance
as the outlet of the Punjab Trade, that no expenditure
should be spared in perfecting its arrangements.
I fear, however, until it has been annexed to the
Province of which it may justly be considered the Trade
Estuary, it will scarcely meet with the consideration its
Geographical situation and natural advantages demand.
(Sd.) JABEZ LIGHTFOOT,
Acting Agent, S. P. fy D. Ry.
Lahore, August 31st, 1882.
T
274
APPENDIX.
Extracts from Memo, dated March 12th, 1884,
on the subject of FeROZPUR and sukkur Ferry
Charges.
Cartage and Ferry Charges over the River Sutlej at
Ferozpur.
The Ferry chftrge at Ferozpur for a two-bullock cart is
4 annas, which, assuming a load of about sixteen maunds,
is 3 pies per maund; equal to a Railway distance of
eighteen miles.
This rate in itself is not excessive, but, owing to the
rudeness of the Ferry arrangements, the Cartage charges
from Ferozpur to Gunda Singh range from 2 annas in
the cold season, to 4 annas in the floods ; the contract
rate for Ordnance Stores being 4 annas per maund all
the year round, inclusive of Ferry tolls. A charge of
4 annas at the rate of pie per maund per mile, is equal
to a railway distance of 288 miles; so that if a Railway
were laid from Ferozpur to Ludhiana, a distance of
seventy miles, the rates from Ferozpur to Ludhiana and
thence to Raewind vid Lahore, would he less than the rates
via Gunda Singh to Raewind, although the distance is 175
miles more.
Even the cold season rate of 2 annas Cartage and 3 pie
Ferry charge, is equal to a distance of 162 miles by
APPENDIX.
275
Railway ; and as the greater part of the trade is carried
on after the April harvests, the hulk of the traffic must
be taxed to a much higher rate, owing to the floods.
The present grain rates by Sind, Punjab and Delhi
Railway, and the future rates to Bombay by Rewari-
Perozpur Line, may roundly be stated as follows :—
Rate per
Distance. maund.
As. p.
Ludhiana to Kurrachee - - - 937 12 6
Ferozpur to Bombay viâ Rewari
(about) 1,066 13 4
Ferozpur to Kurrachee viâ Gunda
Singh, plus cold weather rate of
2 annas and 3 pies for Cartage
and Perry charge ... 830 14 0
Through Railway rates at -J- pie from
Ferozpur to Kurrachee, provided
the line ran into Ferozpur - - 830 11 9
Prom these figures, it will he seen that grain may be
despatched from Ludhiana to Kurrachee for 12 annas
and 6 pie per maund, or 18 pies less than it can be
despatched from Ferozpur, although the distance is 107
miles greater.
Again, the rate to Bombay via the Rewari-Ferozpur
Line, although the distance is 236 miles more, will be
8 pies less than the cost from Ferozpur to Kurrachee with
the present imposts.
But if the town of Ferozpur were connected with the
Railway, and the river were bridged, the actual cost of
despatch at Railway rates for the entire distance would
he only 11 annas 9 pie, or considerably less than the
rate by either of the other Railway routes ; and taking
276
APPENDIX.
into consideration the additional safety and speed, would
compare favourably with the combined cost of river
transport to Adamwahan, and Railway freight from
thence to Kurrachee, which ranges from 10J to 11 annas.
The distance from Ferozpur to Kurrachee being 236
miles less than the distance from Ferozpur to Bombay,
it follows that all stations on the Rewari Line within a
radius of less than 118 miles from Ferozpur would be
able to make advantageous use of the Kurrachee route,
provided the existing difficulties in the way of transit
charges were removed ; but so long as the trade is taxed
to the extent of an average Railway freight charge of
nearly 200 miles, the use of this most important feeder
line will be nullified, and communication blocked, not
only with the sea-board at Kurrachee, but with all the
important districts lying north of Raewind including
Lahore, Amritsar, Jhelum, Rawalpindi, and Peshawur.
Ferry Charges over the River Indus at Sukkur.
The quantity of goods of all classes, except Railway
material for Sind, Punjab and Delhi Railway imported to
the Punjab via Kurrachee during the past three half-
years, and the Ferry charges thereon, were as follows :—
Ferry charge at one
anna per maund.
Maunds. Rupees.
December 1882 - - 4,26,087 - 26,628
June 1883 - - - 4,67,343 - 29,209
December 1883 - - 4,21,475 - 26,342
If a bridge had been in existence, the Railway freight
charge upon this traffic for the distance would not have
exceeded Rs. 1,000 in either of. the half-years under
APPENDIX.
2 77
reference ; the difference between the Railway freight and
Ferry charge is a tax placed upon imports, and unless it
is removed, trade cannot be expected to increase.
In reality, Ferry charges ought not to be borne by
either the traders or the Railway gross Revenues. They
are fairly chargeable against the net Revenue as interest
on Capital, for which they are merely a temporary
substitution.
(Sd.) JABEZ LIGHTFOOT,
Auditor, S. P. D. Ry.
Lahore, 12th March, 1884.
Extracts from the "Civil and Military Gazette,"
dated March 14th, 1884, the accuracy of which
has been tested.
On the subject Feeder Roads and Provincial Loans.
And—most pressing of all in a great agricultural
Province—more means of communication are urgently
needed. The Province has an area under direct British
administration of 105,000 square miles, and as yet it has
only some 1,000 miles of metalled roads, or about one
mile per 100 square miles of country ; considerably less
in fact than the length of open line of Railway. This is
supplemented by 16,000 miles of unmetalled roads, but a
kutcha road can hardly be called an efficient means of
communication ; and owing to this, many districts are
said to be " notoriously only partially developed."
A Railway station without efficient feeder-roads is in the
278
APPENDIX.
rainy season practically cut off from traffic for some
months of the year; and, even during the remaining
months of dry season, is very heavily handicapped by the
cost of cartage, which, under favourable circumstances, is
often twenty to forty times as costly as the same distance
by Railway. Even the best sections of the existing lines
of Railway are very badly provided in this respect, while
the more northern lines may be said to have no metalled
feeders at all ; and if the Punjab is to compete success¬
fully with other grain-exporting countries, not only more
Railways, but a very large increase in the number of
metalled feeder-roads must be constructed and maintained
for the lines already made.
There is seldom more than 7 to 8 lakhs available
for new Provincial works of all kinds, spread over the
thirty-two districts of the Province. Prom this has to be
provided funds for all the administrative buildings, for
Law, Justice, Jails, Police ; to build the Chief Court of
the Province ; to keep out the Indus at Dera GhaZi Khan ;
provide Lahore with pure water, and Amritsar with a
system of drainage; construct approach roads to the
Indus Bridge at Attock ; improve the roads through the
Pezu pass ; and conserve the historical buildings, " from
the Topes at Manikyala to the plains of Kurukshetra.'
When a commercial Company finds that to develop its
business profitably, more capital is absolutely required,
the natural procedure is either to increase that capital or
issue debentures ; and why should not the provincial
Government, seeing that to develop its agricultural re¬
sources and insure an export trade increased facility of
communication is a necessity, endeavour to meet the
APPENDIX.
279
difficulty by a similar process, and construct its feeder-
roads, and branch lines or tramways, by a loan. Sup¬
posing the calculation is sound, and the value of these in
the development of trade assured, they would seem to
have as good a claim upon the Imperial loan funds as
either navigable canals or railways themselves. It might
be more difficult to show the net result of a feeder-road
in actual percentages, but might it not be accepted as an
integral part of the Railway system ?
281
PUBLICATIONS,
BY
SIR WILLIAM ANDREW, C.I.E.
F.R.G.S., etc.
—♦
(1846.)
INDIAN RAILWAYS.
BY AN OLD INDIAN POSTMASTER.
3rd Edition, 1848. 8vo. Maps, 10s. 6d.
NEWBY: PELHAM RICHARDSON.
" The third edition of a work on railways is a fact in literature almost un¬
precedented, and one which speaks trumpet-tongued for the value of the pub¬
lication. ... In fact there has not been such a valuable contribution to the
civilisation of India, as this work on Indian Railways."—Observer, February
13, 1848.
" It is not a little remarkable, on reviewing the past and present posi¬
tion of the Indian railways, to perceive that the views of a private indi¬
vidual have prevailed against, and finally overthrown, the plans of the
Indian Railway Commission (composed of a civil engineer, sent at a great
expense from this country, aided by two talented officers of the Hon. East
India Company's engineers), approved of by the Governor-General, the
India House, and Cannon Row authorities, and applauded by the press. . . .
Indeed, the Railway Companies in Bengal and Bombay that have obtained
concessions are carrying out the views of ' the Old Indian Postmaster ' to
the letter, so far as the limited capital at their disposal will allow them ;
and it may be predicted that whenever a concession is given for a railway
in Madras, it will be for the line that writer so strongly advocated, viz. to
Arcot, the only short line in India which, in his opinion, would prove com¬
mercially remunerative. . . . The Government and people of India are there¬
fore indebted to the ' Old Indian Postmaster.' "—Observer, November 23rd,
1851.
" By which public and official notice was mainly, if not first, directed to
the great object of railway communication in India."—Morning Herald,
September 14th, 1852.
" Had the authorities acted (more promptly) upon Mr. Andrew's views, a
large and useless expenditure of time and money would have been saved."—
Britannia, December 13, 1851.
u
282
"The best testimony of the soundness of the ' Old Postmaster's ' views
is, that, in the settlement of Indian railways, as far as it has recently taken
place, not a few of his opinions have been followed by those in authority."
—Indian News, February 22nd, 1848.
" The line (in Bengal) seems to have been adopted, which was originally
recommended by Mr. W. P. Andrew."—Times, 19th November 1851.
(1847.)
Second Edition of
LETTER TO THE SHAREHOLDERS OF THE EAST
INDIAN AND GREAT WESTERN OF
BENGAL RAILWAYS.
BY ONE OF THEMSELVES.
SMITH, ELDER, & CO.
(1848.)
IS INDIA TO HAVE RAILWAYS?
W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, Waterloo Place.
" The writer is a man evidently well-versed in his subject, which he treats
in a manner that exhausts the whole question, and leaves nothing to be
desired."—Observer, November 17th, 1848.
(1853.)
RAILWAYS IN BENGAL.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
(Being the Substauce of a Report addressed to the Chairman of the East
India Company in 1849, by his own desire.) With Map and Appendix.
" The following paper (Railways in Bengal) giving, in a condensed form,
the published opinions of the writer, was at the request of the late Sir A.
Galloway, K.C.B., submitted to him when chairman of the East India Com¬
pany in 1849, and forwarded by him to the Board of Control, who considered
it sufficiently important to retain possession of the original. The East India
Railway Company being about to apply for additional capital, to enable it
to carry out the views contained in this report, in place of those propounded
by its own promoters and founders, and recommended by the Indian Railway
283
Commissioners, the document comes before the public at this moment
invested with additional interest and authority."—Colonial amd Asiatic
Review, July 1852.
(1856.)
THE SCINDE RAILWAY,
In relation to the Euphrates Valley and other Routes to India, with Illus¬
trative Maps, Statistical Tables, &c., from Official Sources.
8vo., 10s. Qd.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
" In reference to the Punjaub, the capacity of moving troops to a given
point was of immense importance. In a military point of view the advan¬
tage would be this, that if the Khyber pass should be closed to our forces,
they could be moved with rapidity to the Bolan pass, and in either case
the enemy would be taken in flank or in the rear. The Euphrates Valley
railway would give them the command of the sea-board of the Persian
gulf ; the completion of that railway would practically make Chatham
nearer to any point of action in the Persian territory, than any military
force which could be brought to bear upon it from Central Asia. If the
triumphs of Great Britain are to be permanent, they muse be rendered so
by a mutuality of interests, by the material and civilising influences of ex¬
panding commerce. The great battle of the country for the tranquillity of
Central Asia must be fought at Manchester and Liverpool. (Hear, hear.)
If we would command Central Asia, that dominion must be established by
opening up a ready market for their raw produce, and subjecting them by
the force of their own material interests."—Extract from Speech of the Right
Hon. Sir Bartie Frere, Bart., G.C.B, G.C.S.I., at a Meeting of the Scinde Rail¬
way, February 1857.
LETTER TO VISCOUNT PALMERSTON, K.O.,
ON THE
POLITICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE EUPHRATES
VALLEY RAILWAY.
BY W. P. ANDREW.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
With Reports by Major-General Chesney and Sir John Macneil, and Memo¬
randum by Sir Justin Sheil, K.C.B. ; also Minutes of Evidence before the
House of Commons, on the establishment of Telegraphic Communication
XJ 2
284
with India through Turkish Arabia by Sir W. B. O'Shaughnessy, T. K. Lynch,
Esq., and W. Ainsworth, Esq., &c. ; with coloured Map.
M. Lesseps, the great founder of the Suez Canal, has borne in eloquent
words his testimony to the importance of the Euphrates Valley railway.
TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION WITH INDIA.
LETTERS REPRINTED EROM THE "TIMES," ETC.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
" The ever-active master mind to which India is indebted for that rail¬
way system of which others have obtained the credit, and the profit, cannot
but at last compel that recognition of his services, which it ought to have
been the pride of those who rule to have long since gratefully and publicly
acknowledged. In projecting and in pledging himself, supported as he ever
is, to carry out the European and Indian Junction Telegraph from Seleucia
to the head of the Persian Gulf, Mr. Andrew is doing yeoman's service to the
cause of civilisation. His little Scinde line was a good step in the right
road. His projected, and we may now say his accepted, extensions of it,
coupled with his Euphrates Valley line, and its electric telegraph, all lead
in the same direction, and tend to the same important result—the solution
of the time-honoured question—the shortest route from the far west to the
fabled Cathai—the completion of almost daily intercourse between the most
distant nations of the universe."—-Bill's Weekly Messenger, August 2nd, 1856.
In 1856 Mr. Andrew concluded an arrangement with Her Majesty's
Government for the establishment of telegraphic communication with India,
and in the same year obtained the only act of Parliament ever granted for
the purpose ; Lord Stanley (now Lord Derby) being the Chairman of
Committee of the House of commons on the Bill.
(1857.)
MEMOIR ON THE EUPHRATES VALLEY ROUTE
TO INDIA,
WITH OFFICIAL CORRESPONDENCE AND MAPS, AND
APPENDIX.
DEDICATED TO THE EAEL OF CLABENDON, K.Q.
8vo., 10s. 6d.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
" It is impossible to refer to the surveys and Reports of General Chesney
gnd his colleagues on the Euphrates, published twenty years ago, without
285
astonishment that even at that period the British Government and people
failed to take immediate steps to avail themselves of its capabilities."—The
Times.
" It is hardly possible to overrate the effects thus to be produced (by the
Euphrates railway and telegraph) upon the commerce of the world."—The
Times.
In " the words of the Austrian War Minister, Field-Marshal Baron Kuhn
von Kuhnenfeld . . . ' Whatever the commercial value of the Suez Canal to
Central Europe, there is no doubt that it is secondary in importance to the
Euphrates Railway, which affords the only means of stemming Russian
advances in Central Asia, and which directly covers the Suez Canal.' "—The
Edinburgh Quarterly Review.
ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A FLOTILLA OF
STEAM VESSELS
OF IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION ON THE INDUS.
2nd Edition.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
LONDON TO LAHORE ; OR, THE EUPHRATES,
SCINDE AND PÜNJAUB RAILWAYS.
With Map.
EFFINGHAM WILSON, Royal Exchange.
TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION WITH INDIA.
LETTERS REPRINTED FROM THE "TIMES," ETC.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
THE INDIAN GUARANTEE ON RAILWAYS
COMPARED WITH THE FOREIGN AND COLONIAL.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
286
TRAMROADS IN NORTHERN INDIA,
In connection with the Iron Mines of Kuman and Gurhwal.
EFFINGHAM WILSON.
PORT OF KURRACHEE, DEPTH OF WATER,
AND COMMERCE,
FOR THE OFFICIAL YEAR 1856-57.
With Map of Comparative Distances.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
THE PUNJAUB RAILWAY,
Official Correspondence.
WITH MAP OF SCINDE AND THE PUNJAUB.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
At the formal commencement of the Punjaub railway at Lahore in
February 1859, Sir Richard Temple (then Commissioner of Lahore) said:
" Mr. Andrew has by his enterprise and spirit as a public man, and by his
talents as an author, largely contributed to the great undertaking of which
we have this day celebrated the commencement. . . . Mr. Andrew showed
with descriptive eloquence, with statistical accuracy, with local informa¬
tion, gathered from various sources, that Kurrachee and the Indus are to
North-Western India what Calcutta and the Ganges are to Bengal; that
Kurrachee can compete with Bombay ; that all the traffic from the Jumna,
westward, will find its natural outlet by the Indus. . . . Besides this, Mr.
Andrew showed how this project is connected with the navigation of the
Persian Gulf, the Euphrates Valley route, and the commercial lines in the
mountainous regions of Central Asia."
Sir R. Temple, when Governor of Bombay, at a farewell dinner in Scinde,
said, " there was no one the Province ought to be more proud of than the
chairman of the S. P. and D. Railway."
(1858.)
COLONISATION IN INDIA AND AUSTRALIA
COMPARED.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
28?
THE INDUS AND ITS PROVINCES; THEIR POLITICAL
AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE.
Witt Maps and Appendix, 10s. 6d.
W. H. ALLEN & GO.
" The Indus and its Provinces is really as interesting to the general reader
as it is essential to the merchant, the trader, the politician, and the historian."
—Morning Chronicle, May 27th, 1858.
"A magazine of information which may be most profitably consulted by
the Statesman, the merchant, the manufacturer, and the student."—Economist
"Not contented to repose on his laurels as the early advocate for the con¬
struction of railways in India, Mr. Andrew has steadily persevered in
developing his original idea, and now, after twelve years of incessant appli¬
cation, we find him concentrating his energies on the improvement of land
and river communication in Scinde and the Punjaub, though with ulterior
views extending far beyond the immediate benefit of those provinces."—
Allen's Indian Mail, June 12, 1858.
" The union [says Mr. Andrew] of the Punjaub with the Meerut and Delhi
territory, for political and military purposes, has been so plainly marked out
by recent events, that their political connection under one distinct govern¬
ment appears inevitable, and the fortunes of these extensive and important
regions are inseparably connected with that of Scinde. ' The two provinces
(Scinde and Punjaub),' says a late writer, ' have been inseparably connected
by the hand which made them. They have been connected also by
the fortunes of the great empire to which both belong. They are the
provinces of the Indus, as Bengal and Behar are the provinces of the Ganges.'
. . . They constitute one section of the empire, and are separated from every
other part of it by rivers, mountains, the sea, or broad belts of sandy desert.
Their commercial interests are inseparably united. . . . Both depend for
their communication with the external world upon one and the same port. . . .
Again, the physical, political, and social characteristics of the two countries
are identically the same. ... It (the union) would strengthen, not root up,
the system already successful ; and on every other ground it is indispensable.
. . . The Presidency of the Indus would be the second of the great divisions
of British India."—The Indus and its Provinces.
LETTERS REPRINTED FROM THE "TIMES"
ON TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION WITH INDIA.
W. H. ALLEN & GO.
288
(1861.)
THE GOVERNMENT GUARANTEE ON INDIAN
RAILWAYS,
As officially explained and recognised by the Bailway Boards, the Govern¬
ment, and the Stock Exchange. Compiled by the Chairman of the Scinde
Bailway.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
(1869.)
LETTER TO THE DUKE OF ARGYLL
ON THE
COMPLETION OF THE RAILWAY SYSTEM OF THE
VALLEY OF THE INDUS.
With Maps.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
(1870.)
LETTERS TO SECRETARIES OF STATE FOR
FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND INDIA ON EUPHRATES
VALLEY RAILWAY.
With Map.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
LECTURE BEFORE SOCIETY OF ARTS ON
RAILWAYS IN INDIA BY GUARANTEED COMPANIES.
With Map.
(1871.)
LETTERS TO THE GRAND VIZIER OF TURKEY
AND THE BRITISH AMBASSADOR AT CON¬
STANTINOPLE, etc., ON THE EUPHRATES
ROUTE TO INDIA.
With Map.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
289
LETTERS ON THE EUPHRATES VALLEY ROUTE
TO INDIA.
REPRINTED FROM THE "TIMES," ETC.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
(1872.)
PAPER READ BEFORE BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT
BRIGHTON ON EUPHRATES VALLEY
ROUTE TO INDIA.
With Map.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
(1873.)
LECTURE DELIVERED AT THE ROYAL UNITED
SERVICE INSTITUTION ON THE EUPHRATES
ROUTE TO INDIA,
In connection with the Centeax. Asian Question.
With Map.
THE BREAK OF GAUGE IN INDIAN RAILWAYS.
With Reports by Messrs. Fowler, Bidder, Hawkshaw, and Molesworfch.
Two editions.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
" If there be any line in the world that requires to be placed in perfect
communication with all the railways which are made in that country [India],
it is the line of the Indus Valley ; if there be any railway in existence which
requires to be efficient and strong, and ready to carry great numbers of
people, and a heavy description of traffic—such, for instance, as warlike
stores and heavy ordnance—that is the railway ; and yet that is a railway
that some people would put on a different gauge from other lines in India.
. . . Instead of having the enormous rolling stock of India available on any
great emergency, they will have nothing but trumpery waggons and weakly
little locomotives ; and before they could have reinforcements sent, they
would ascertain what a mistake they had made, and that a common road, if
they would only bridge it, would be a better means of conveyance than the
290
narrow gange light and inefficient railway."—Speech of Sir William Andrew,
23rd December 1870, at Meeting of S. R. and D. Railway.
Sir William Andrew led the Discussion on the Gauge of Indian
Railways at the Institution of Civil Engineers, Westminster,
in February and March, 1873, and
Mr. Hawkshaio remarked : The narrow gange proposal might be one of the
greatest calamities that could be brought on the country.
Mr. Bidder said : The alleged saving was altogether illusory.
Captain Tyler : The question was a very serious one : serious to the Indian
Government, serious to the maintenance of the British rule in India.
Mr. Harrison : The mixed gauge proposed on these lines would be a great
evil, and would entail a large additional cost for maintenance.
Sir G. B. Airy was surprised to find that the introduction of such an evil
had ever been seriously entertained.
Captain Douglas Qdlton said : Prom much acquaintance with the question
in official positions, he considered it undesirable to introduce a second
extensive network of railways upon a different gauge [in India].
Mr. Allport having had much experience of break of gauge, pronounced it
so great an evil, that on low-priced articles it was destructive to the traffic.
The Canadian Grand Trunk railway had decided to expend a very large sum
in abolishing it. He thought if there was a curse on a railway system
in any country it was having different gauges ; and it was the duty of the
Government of any country to insist on uniformity of gauge. He described
some experiments made on the transfer of troops, which proved that to
tranship an army of even only 20,000 or 30,000 men, with horses and equip¬
ments, would be so prejudicial, and would cause such a vast loss of time,
that it would be better, in his judgment, to march by the road rather than
undergo such an operation.
Mr. J. Grierson gave a copy of a memorial from 269 firms of manufacturers,
merchants, and traders, praying for the abolition of the break in the South
Wales district, and stating its disadvantages in the strongest terms. In con¬
sequence of this the Company had expended about £600,000 in altering a
portion of their line ; and to one firm alone the abolition of the break had
made a difference in their business of fully £20,000 a year. In India,
according to the plan shown, there would not only be twenty-one points of
break, but there would be eleven separate systems having no through com¬
munication with each other ; and these would be as badly off as if they were
made on eleven different gauges. There was no parallel to such a thing in
this country. ... If there was one reason more than another which should
291
weigh powerfully against any break of gauge on trunk lines, it was that they
might be required for strategic purposes. There should be certainty,
rapidity, and the power to use every available means of transport.
General Sir L. Simmons, as a soldier, protested in the strongest possible
way against the low estimate of inconvenience caused by a break of gauge
in what would become the great strategical lines of communication in India.
Condensed from the Abstract of the Discussion.
(1874.)
THE STRATEGIC AND COMMERCIAL EVILS OF A
BREAK OF GAUGE IN INDIA.
With Map and Appendices.
W. H. ALLEM & CO.
" Mr. Andrew had the foresight to perceive and the boldness to lay before
his countrymen the great importance and practicability of connecting those
points [the sea, the capital of the Punjaub and Delhi] by railway. . . . He
must now, I think, look back with satisfaction to the relations which then
existed between him and the merchant princes who ruled India, and those of
Her Majesty's Government who controlled the rulers of India. . . . One
great cause of congratulation seems to me to be the success of your efforts
to have a continuous unbroken gauge. Those who have concurred with your
chairman and myself in from the first deprecating any such break in the
great lines in the valley of the Ganges and the Indus will appreciate what an
enormous advantage this unbroken gauge is. I can look at it in no other
light, occurring in such an enormous length of trunk line as your railway,
than that with the break of gauge you could get no more than half the
advantages your railway would otherwise offer. . . . You will not reap half
the advantages you ought to have unless you have uniformity of management.
I do not suppose there is a gentleman present who has any kind of mercantile
experience who will not endorse this truth. . . . Complete the work, and,
once completed, I cannot imagine a railway shareholder who would fail to see
that without uniformity of management your work is but half complete ; the
advantages you are entitled to reap from it and the advantages the country
are entitled to reap from it are but half realised. I trust, therefore, that the
arguments which your chairman has so well put before the authorities in this
matter will lead to a speedy concession of a uniform management throughout
the whole of your great line."—Extract from Speech of the Bight Hon. Sir
Bartle Frere, Bart., G. C.B., G. O.S.I., at a Meeting of the S. P. and D. Railway
on 23rd December 1880.
292
(1878.)
INDIA AND HER NEIGHBOURS.
With Maps. 15s.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
" Fortune has favoured Mr. Andrew in the opportune appearance of his book
on India. ... If we are to oppose effectual barriers to Russian encroach¬
ments, we must tighten the bonds and consolidate the communications that
unite us to our fellow subjects in Hindostán. . . . While M. Lesseps was
agitating his great project, Mr. Andrew had always been the consistent
advocate of a railway down the Valley of the Euphrates, which should connect
the Mediterranean with the Persian Gulf. . . .
" It ought to prove as useful as it is certainly extremely interesting. In
the chapters on 'British Rule in India,' and 'Governors-General,' he has
given a succinct and lucid history of the growth of the trading-posts that
were established on sufferance»in the mighty Empire that has been casting its
shadows over Constantinople and the deliberations of the Congress at Berlin.
Mr. Andrew, in a series of rapid sketches, depicts what the people of
Hindostán had to suffer in the old, unruly times. . . . Mr. Andrew relates
acts of heroism and chivalry that may vie with anything in the chronicles of
Monstrelet or Froissart."—Times.
" A work which we should be glad to find have an effect in removing that
blank feeling of utter ignorance about India which is so general even among
cultivated Englishmen who have no direct relations in or with that vast
empire."—The Edinburgh Quarterly Review.
"Among the many services rendered to India by Mr. Andrew the present
must be regarded as both opportune and acceptable. It presents all the
salient points of Indian history in a picturesque and graphic form, and gives
a very complete view both of the past and present of that great country and
its people. The leading facts are well marshalled, and the chief actors
brought out in bold relief. . . . Several chapters of great brilliancy, devoted
to the 'remarkable women óf India.' . . . The characters of our several
Governors-General, from Olive down to Viceroy Lord Lytton, are dashed off
in a chapter of their own."—Morning Post.
" M. Andrew, dans l'intéressant ouvrage qu'il vient de publier sous ce titre,
l'Inde et les pays voisins, nous retrace à grands traits l'histoire du développe¬
ment primitif de l'empire indien sous la domination brittanique."—Revue des
Deux Mondes.
" He has the historian's faculty of gathering up and sorting his materials,
and he tells the history of India and describes its physical features and
293
characteristics with the pen of knowledge and experience."—Times of New
Yorlc.
" The hook is one which was much required, is admirably drawn up, and, so
far as we have tested the statements, may be relied upon throughout. We
must dismiss it with praise for its general accuracy, its completeness,
precision, and, not unfrequently, also for its eloquence."—Examiner.
" He foresees that Russia will certainly possess herself of Merv, and will
gain over all the neighbouring tribes to her own interests.
" In order to put a stop to, this Russian expansion in Central Asia, and to
protect the Suez Canal, and with a view to giving timely succour to Turkey
and Persia, the author is of opinion that the Euphrates Valley Railway should
be constructed, which will connect the Mediterranean with the Persian Gulf."
—The St. Petersburg Vedomosti.
" It is now upwards of a quarter of a century since the chairman of the
Scinde Railway commenced to broach the idea of connecting the Kyber and
the Bolan passes with the railway system of India. Por more than a quarter
of a century he has unsparingly advocated these views, not only in weighty
official communications to the Indian Government, in repeated letters in our
columns, but in books replete with valuable information concerning the trade
and history of India. Last year we reviewed a work by Mr. W. P. Andrew,
in which he energetically insisted on the immediate completion of a railway
to our scientific frontier. Only a few days ago we published a letter from
him adverting to the same subject. Had the views so persistently advocated
by Mr. Andrew and so repeatedly brought forward by us been adopted at the
commencement of the struggle last October, as we then ventured to insist
upon, vast sums would have been spared in the hire of transport, and we
should have been spared the ignominy of feeling that a British army,
nominally on active service, has occupied five weeks in covering less than
seventy miles."—Times, October 13th, 1879.
(1879.)
ASIA MINOR AND EUPHRATES VALLEY RAILWAY.
W. H. ALLEN & 00.
(1880.)
THE BOLAN AND KHYBER RAILWAYS.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
" The first scheme for such a line (the Kandahar Railway) was publicly
mooted about the time of the Indian mutinies by Mr. W. P. Andrew."—The
294
First fSection of the Kandahar Railway. By James Richard Bell, M. Inst.
O.E.
Excerpt Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, vol. lxi.
Session 1879-80.
PAPEE EE AD BEFOEE THE SOCIETY OF AETS
ON THE EUPHEATES EOÜTE TO INDIA.
With Map by Stanford.
Field-Marshal the Lord Strathnearn, G.C.B., G.C.S.I.,
in the Chair.
OÜE SCIENTIFIC FEONTIEE.
With Sketch Map.
W. H. ALLEN & CO.
" For more than twenty years he (Mr. Andrew) has had opportnnities of
discussing frontier questions with the distinguished officers who have served
in the border-lands, and his own interest in the subject is shown by the
numerous works he has written. He is emphatically an apostle of railways ;
and though under existing conditions he can hardly hope to see launched his
great scheme of the Euphrates Valley line, he can yet affirm with pardonable
pride that disastrous experience has compelled the Government of India to
give effect to the views which a quarter of a century ago he enunciated as to
the necessity of extending the Indian railway system to the frontier."—
St. James's Gazette, October 20th, 1880.
" The advantages of the railway communication we now enjoy in Scinde
and Northern India are entirely due to the enterprise and untiring perse¬
verance of one man, Mr. Andrew, the indefatigable Chairman of the Scinde,
Punjaub and Delhi Railway, who so ably withstood official opposition for so
many years, and in spite of all rebuffs carried out his ideas to the immense
benefit of India as well as England. Nay, we ask, if it had not been for Mr.
Andrew, how would the army lately engaged in the Afghan campaign have
been conveyed, with horses, war material, and all the impedimenta pertaining
to such an immense host ? and if not exactly landed at the mouths of the
Khyber and the Bolan, it was not for the want of reiterated representation
by the Chairman of the Scinde, Punjaub and Delhi Company as to the
necessity for railway extension to Peshawur and also towards Quettah. . . .
In honouring such a man, the pioneer of railway enterprise in India, the
Government would only be honouring themselves."—Lahore Paper, Feb, 1881,
295
" As early as 1857, Mr. Andrew, as month-piece of a deputation to Lord
Palmerston, took occasion to express his views as to scientifically strengthening
this frontier. He pointed out the importance of railways to the Bolan and
Khyber passes, the two gates of India. What he then spoke of as of im¬
portance has since been painfully demonstrated to be a necessity. After
some three-and-twenty years of apathy the necessity has been realised, and
now these railways are being constructed. . . . Sir Bartle Frere, then Com¬
missioner of Scinde, in the same year said, ' In reference to the Punjaub the
capacity of moving troops to a given point was of immense importance." . . .
In a military point of view the advantage would be this—that if the Khyber
pass should be closed to our forces they could be moved with rapidity to the
Bolan, and in either case the enemy would be taken in flank or in rear.' . . .
General Hamley, in an excellent lecture delivered at the United Service
Institution in December 1878, advocates views much in harmony with our
author's. . . . Mr. Andrew's views, stated throughout with remarkable fairness
and honesty, reduce these requisites (for defence) to a minimum, for his aim
is not aggression, but defence."—The Morning Post, March 27, 1880.
" While listening to the lecture [General Hamley's at the United Service
Institution] and hearing the arguments upon it, it occurred to him (Mr.
Thornton) that he was hearing that which had been urged in that room for
many years past, and advocated by their chairman more than twenty years
ago in the book he then published, entitled The Indus and its Provinces; . . .
in that book he found all the conclusions arrived at were in remarkable con¬
currence with those which were come to by the military men who discussed
the lecture to which he had referred. He (Mr. Thornton) regarded this as
so remarkable an instance of the fore-sight and prescience of their chair¬
man that he thought it a circumstance which was worthy of being mentioned
on the present occasion."—Extract from the speech of Mr. E. Thornton, C.B.,
at a meeting of the S. P. and D. Railway, in December 1878.
" Identified during many years with the history of progress in India, from
his earliest work, published under the nom de plume of ' The Old Indian Post¬
master,' the advocate and apostle of the Euphrates Valley route, with which
enlightened scheme his name and that of the late gallant General Chesney
are indissolubly connected, the father of Indian railways, and the undaunted
champion whose energy carried him victoriously through the 1 battle of the
Ganges,' to win for the public the boon of an unbroken gauge upon our
frontier line."—Edinburgh Courant.
" He has for years been known as the most prominent advocate of the
Euphrates Valley railway, and the chief object he has had in view in writing
the present work has been to show the necessity of constructing a railway
296
to the Bolán pass, and retiring from all our posts in Afghanistan except
Candahar, which should be ' made the Kars of our north-west frontier. ' "—
Scotsman, April 16th, 1880.
" On matters connected with our Indian policy, Mr. W. P. Andrew has the
right to be heard which attaches to extensive knowledge of a subject."—
Daily News, July 12th, 1880.
Our Scientific Frontier was referred to in both Houses of Parliament when
discussing Central Asian politics in January 1881.
" The dignity of knighthood, and that of the Companionship of the Indian
Empire, that have recently been conferred on the able and patriotic Chair¬
man of the Sind, Punjab, and Delhi Railway have been omnium consensu
richly deserved; and will, we trust, prove only the forerunners of those
hereditary honours which are the accustomed rewards of public services
so important and so long-continued as those of Sir William Andrew, C.I.E."
—Allen's Indian Mail, January 23, 1882.
" Sir W. P. Andrew has well deserved the honour of knighthood at
length accorded him. No man has laboured more sedulously in these
latter times to draw India nearer to Europe than the Chairman of the
Scinde Railway Company, and the indefatigable advocate of the Euphrates
Valley railway. If the latter project be realised by English enterprise the
fact will be due as much to his untiring zeal as to General Chesney's labours
in ascertaining and establishing its practicability."—The Bombay Gazette
Summary, February 2, 1882.
" In these border-lands (Beloochistan and Afghanistan) to
have a rival in prestige and power would be dangerous—
to have a superior impossible."—India and Her Neighbours,
p. 319.
Loudon : Printed by W. H. Allen & Co., 13, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall. S.W.
3 5556 042
56618