The various phases of inland transport described in the course of the work include roads, rivers, canals, turnpikes, railways, tramways, and rail-less electric traction2; and the facilities for communication of which accounts are given comprise packhorses, waggons3, stage-coaches, "flying" and mail-coaches, private carriages, posting, hackney coaches, cabs, omnibuses, cycles, motors, motor-buses, commercial motors, and aeroplanes. Reference is (inter alia) made to most of the English rivers and to many inland towns; the origin, achievements, and shortcomings of canals are traced; a complete outline of the turnpike system is given; a short history of tramways comprises the leading points therein; the story of the rise, development and prospects4 of the motor industry is related; while the evolution and development of the railways and their position to-day both as a means of transport and communication and as constituting in themselves a "National Industry" are treated in such a way as to afford, it is hoped, a comprehensive idea of the railway system from its very earliest origin down to the strikes and the {vi}controversy following the close of the Royal Commission of Inquiry5 in the autumn of 1911.
Incidentally, also, allusion6 is made to the rise of Bristol, Lynn, Liverpool, and various other ports; the early history of the textile industries, the cutlery trades, the iron trade, the salt trade, and the coal trade is briefly7 sketched8, while the facts narrated9 in relation thereto should enable the reader to realise the bearing, throughout the ages, of State policy towards the general question of transport. Finally, the present situation and the future outlook are brought under review.
Even as these pages are passing through the press new developments are occurring which confirm the suggestion I have made, on page 470, that "in the dictionary of transport there is no such word as 'finality.'"
While it is still true that the electrification10 of the London suburban11 railways has not been generally adopted by the trunk companies, yet the scheme in this connection announced, on November 18, 1911, by the London and North-Western Railway Company (see page 507) supplementing the action already taken by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company in regard to some of their suburban lines, is significant of a growing determination on the part of the great railway companies to defend their own interests by competing, in turn, with the electric tramways, which have absorbed so much of the suburban traffic of late years.
Following closely on this one announcement comes another, to the effect that a new company is about to set up, in the Midlands, works covering thirty-four acres for the construction of a type of petrol-electric omnibus for which great advantages over the earlier motor-omnibuses are claimed. (This, presumably, is the vehicle which the Tramways Committee of the Edinburgh Corporation, as mentioned on page 470, propose to watch in preference to deciding at once on a system of rail-less electric traction.)
{vii}
In commenting on the former of the announcements here in question, "The Times Engineering Supplement" of November 22, 1911, observes:—
It is of importance to realise what this decision portends12. The history of the matter is that the steam railways were inadequate13 to fulfil the requirements of the suburbs, and that an opening was thus afforded to municipalities to provide tramways of their own. It was a crude method of dealing with the problem; it robbed the main roads of every vestige14 of rural character, and it added new dangers and checks to street traffic. Nevertheless it was a necessity, and it served its purpose, first, by providing facilities that were always cheap to the travellers, even if they were occasionally dear to the taxpayers15; and, secondly16, by stimulating17 the railway companies to adopt means to get back their lost traffic. Now that the railway companies are fully18 alive to the opportunities offered to them by electrification, the general aspect of the problem is changed, and additional support is given to the belief that electric railways and motor-omnibuses will carry an increasing proportion of London traffic, and that from some roads at least tramways may even disappear altogether.
In other directions there are reports of individual agriculturists who are constructing light railways of their own to secure direct communication between their farms and the nearest main line railway, sympathetic local authorities having offered them practical encouragement by making only a nominal19 charge for the privilege of crossing the public roads where this is necessary. A new era in agricultural transport and cultivation20 is further foreshadowed in the announcement that it is quite reasonable to believe that resort to rail-less electric traction will serve as a means of introducing electrical supply into rural areas for agricultural purposes; while in the House of Lords on November 22, 1911, Lord Lucas, replying for the Government to some comments made by Lord Montagu of Beaulieu on the first report of the Road Board (dealt with on page 481), said that body considered the most important thing at present was to improve the surface of the roads; but {viii}"they had borne in mind the fact that it would be necessary for them before long to undertake larger operations, involving heavier expenditure21."
Still further developments occurring, maturing, or under consideration when the text of the present work was already in type include—
(1) A projected alliance between the tube railways and the London General Omnibus Company, following on the conspicuous22 success obtained by the latter in substituting motor for horsed vehicles for the 300,000,000 passengers it carries annually23.
(2) The issuing of "Minutes of Evidence taken before the Departmental Committee of the Board of Trade on Railway Agreements and Amalgamations" [Cd. 5927], containing some notable expressions of opinion by railway managers concerning the future of the railway system, together with much important information on the general subject.
(3) The publication, on December 1, of the Fourth Annual Report of the London Traffic Branch of the Board of Trade [Cd. 5972], which deals with various matters already touched upon in my last three chapters, including the effects of improved transport facilities on the migration24 of population from the inner to the outer suburban ring; the further widening of the motor-transport delivery radius25, to the advantage of urban, but to the disadvantage of suburban traders; the steady substitution of mechanical traction for horse-drawn vehicles of every type—the Report predicting, on this point, that "if two-wheeled horse cabs continue to diminish at the rate of the last two years, they will disappear before the end of 1912"; the improbability of further material extensions of the tramway system, and the assumption that "the competition of promoters for the privilege of constructing tube railways has come to an end"; while the Report also discusses the merits of a scheme for the provision, at an estimated cost of between ￡20,000,000 and ￡30,000,000 of about 120 miles of great {ix}arterial roads across London for the accommodation of the increasing traffic, and of still another scheme, put forward by a Departmental Committee of the General Post Office, for relieving the streets of London of a good deal of mail-van traffic by the construction of an underground electric railway, 6? miles in length, and costing ￡513,000, across the centre of London from east to west, for the conveyance26 of Post Office matter, the Report further suggesting that this particular system might be found equally applicable to other forms of enterprise which require the use of carts for the frequent conveyance of goods in small consignments27 between fixed28 points.
(4) The passing by the House of Commons, on November 22, of a resolution expressing the opinion that a meeting should take place between the parties on whose behalf the Railway Agreement of August 19, 1911, was signed (see p. 448), "to discuss the best mode of giving effect to the Report of the Royal Commission"; the acceptance by such parties of Board of Trade invitations to a conference, in accordance with the terms of this resolution, and the holding of a conference which began, at the offices of the Board of Trade, on December 7, under the presidency29 of Sir George Askwith, Chief Industrial Commissioner30, and resulted, on December 11, in a settlement being effected.
(5) The prospective31 increase, from January 1, 1912, of certain season, excursion, week-end or other special-occasion fares (many of which now work out at a rate of a halfpenny or a farthing, or even less than a farthing, per mile) as a means of assisting the railway companies to meet advances in wages, such increases in passenger fares (distinct from any increases in merchandise rates, for a like reason, as foreshadowed by the Government undertaking32 of August 19, 1911, alluded33 to on pp. 448 and 511) being already in the option of the companies, provided the latter do not exceed the powers conferred on them by their Acts, and subject to the condition that on fares of over a penny the mile Government duty must be paid.
{x}
(6) The reading, by Mr. Philip Dawson, at the Royal Automobile34 Club, on December 8, of a valuable paper on "The Future of Railway Electrification," in which—after detailing what had already been done in the United States, in Germany, and, in this country, on the suburban systems of the Lancashire and Yorkshire, the North Eastern and the London, Brighton, and South Coast railways—he showed the practicability and the advantages of applying electric traction (single phase system) to main-line long-distance traffic; announced that the surveys and calculations in connection with a scheme for electrifying35 the whole of the L.B. and S.C. Railway Company's services between London and Brighton were already far advanced; mentioned that such a transformation36 would allow of a 10 to 15-minute service to Brighton and of the 52-mile journey being done by non-stop trains in about 45 minutes, or by stopping trains in about 60 minutes; and declared that "the equipment of this line if, as he hoped would be the case, it were carried out, would be epoch-making in the history of British railways."
Thus the whole subject of inland transport is now so much "in the air" that the story of its gradual and varied37 development, as here told—and this, too, for the first time on the lines adopted in the present work—should form a useful contribution to the available literature on one of the most important of present-day problems.
EDWIN A. PRATT.
December 12, 1911.
December 12, 1911.
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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traction
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| n.牵引；附着摩擦力 | |
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waggons
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| 四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车 | |
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prospects
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| n.希望，前途(恒为复数) | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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briefly
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| adv.简单地，简短地 | |
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sketched
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| v.草拟（sketch的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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narrated
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| v.故事( narrate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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electrification
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| n.充电，电气化；起电；电化；带电 | |
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suburban
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| adj.城郊的，在郊区的 | |
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portends
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| v.预示( portend的第三人称单数 )；预兆；给…以警告；预告 | |
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inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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vestige
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| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
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taxpayers
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| 纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 ) | |
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secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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stimulating
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| adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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nominal
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| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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conspicuous
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| adj.明眼的，惹人注目的；炫耀的，摆阔气的 | |
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annually
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| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
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migration
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| n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙 | |
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radius
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| n.半径，半径范围；有效航程，范围，界限 | |
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conveyance
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| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
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consignments
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| n.托付货物( consignment的名词复数 )；托卖货物；寄售；托运 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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presidency
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| n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期) | |
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commissioner
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| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
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prospective
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| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
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undertaking
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| n.保证，许诺，事业 | |
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alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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automobile
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| n.汽车，机动车 | |
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electrifying
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| v.使电气化( electrify的现在分词 )；使兴奋 | |
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transformation
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| n.变化；改造；转变 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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