TRANSPORTATION | LIBRARY HF. 3.299 . E-4'ſ A6 A AILWAYS IN BENGAL; (BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF A REPORTADDRESSED TO THE CHAIRMAN OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY IN 1849) By w. P. AND REW, Esq. Author of “Indian Railways. By an old Indian Postmaster." - - - - &c. &c. &c. - WITH IsrRootſcrony REMARKs, Ex THE Editor of THE ARTIzas, (EEPRINTED FROM THE ARTIZAN, or JUNE, 1851.) - A MAP AND APPENDIx. “The line (in Bengal) seems to have been adopted, which was originally recommended by - - - Mr. W. P. Andrew."—Times, 19th Nov., 1851. - LONDON: - WM. H. ALLEN, & Co. 7, LEADENHALL STREET, Price Half-a-Crown. - • Nasarah - - - - ..I hull, her Mianee Sº Cotekanga Sultanpur - Ral - º - aloka º * Antil sir - wº- Shipkee - Surrok poor LA H. O. R. E. s? - - S - - Maº: hala Halalpoor M º Nultso - - Madaun -> - º Choung Noºgº" - Mundi - t - S -----> *Thong - ur-e- * * º Do o A B oMohan Bºla, - Shangpo \| D --- * I - I - M o - - - | | || - Hussee os lauga S. \ wº * ** -Nil ela Spoor º chaprong Shungzee --- \ | () - [. | || | ---- Sellspoo, - Kaw -- 3 * - lw - *Juuruck Kºrea º Mulowala. - P T " . * ſº sobrown \alºlºssuta, a Deobra OSED GRAND TRUNK R. º °Fuuin * >Feroslab. Alº fºr R Simla - - - A | L W AY - ---- poor - FEROZ POOR ºjº º Hurri - - - o,ailpoor - - Too Dº *"Poor | - ~~ - _ſº... º. º...??” - With its branches & al - - - - C Jigrow on N -- - º les & alternative lines heechawatnce * - N - i) Rahwun Rhud \. es - w -- - - - - - - G\avº” º- - M o Sirhind Nahun - - ------- - | - - - - cº-ºf º, Sooneea wal c. . . ºx Malse; Landour Lake Tº - 1.5 // /// /// Jſ// /// / //? 2 …, A y - º - - Milvul ºw - ſ / * = Futtegurh -" Nºviº o Umabaln • Mussooree - Mansorava ºf / olvasunka S. º g N •Nal - Lake R | \\ - - Noor-º-or- - alapanee A | | A Y ** - A ſº tº - 2. PG ole poor Pulvuk - Dehra sº R T A. - y A. C O N] N | 5 5 | O N _2^ - - Nº. b. `-- ------ --- - - - Mr - - I O - --- - - Moobarekpoor Manulº § Tºwn ºs-11-1- - Sereenogur +1 ("Gº O III P ºl Ily t he ww. ºv Scharundour . r-d Sn reewal - º - p - ... º 3. - -- - -1- º "Rhytºs Hurdwan - E D I Ti O N O F | N D I AN R A | LWAY S. 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B E N AF º 2 - Chicari Scundah -'o &Nº. in ſººn - cutchwa Raj-Gh tº Majee º º - - | Nº ſº - -------- - S- - - o - 2 Runnoodle Jeitpoor - Iº. Sº §s. |- - Hi-R d's-> - CŞū & Sheerpoor - Odeypoor Ch - Saundode Terruon *** --- –S Moneer - - - - G D Meerpoor º - G attore Q - P. Cl i. °kal &sº WTRZAPOOR r ragegnº. humi º-> owtail -- - --- - Nia Serai ahmooree alterpore allinoer o o -- - - - º-W --- - --~~ Wºº- •Karoda Nimabeira t; Suckutpoor R - 1- Neral o - Ali, º - Deokor Pateetah - Sasseran / - Curruckpoor R AJ M A H Lº NY Jawnd eeker ampoora Eesaugur - ". ul- ° Deogur • Hilleah Bogwanpoor pº • 2. Sºº" oR h º ºf Ilk ºlº) 20 orriday - - att- - ul --- - Che - Sirsa oTeary Punnah -- - *Maanpoor ah tº S Giador. "Dumna *** * "Pºº Bhundur º Munnassar o henda ree - ^, Tewari ° Lauree Some Rotºr - -- - - | - Neemuch º hampoora - Terria Y. Raiºr - Coungbah Pawah - º utillº P Raladoogur --- *Sorkey - - - . - ursaud Soonawud goog Ramgur • - d.o.º. - - y Ramnagur Q \ Dºnwa Singur D s nºw - c - - - I . - Kugowra Bewah. -> Pass | --- Sul c. --- |, 9 Bhaderpool. Maltone oluºrºong - Pole uloomber - Muña Sonail Tharab Bugwuntpoor o S. i | R Mokaps Nudish - i. cººkie } "... - -ºil-soor - - Saladual. aum augur - avnaður * Foler pºurpoor Purtaubgue *G ung - Klaimlassa º °s il ^* -- () . RBisraim poor Kºona, Rampoor - º Sarhaut isomº 1. 11-1- ------- ot-ta- - - Bhopal poor ſº - * Sanow - Iºellnar, Ahmednagºur gwarra Rajgur Gurrah - |Intual, Hellºr * Ind º eopoor - ô, *Bompoor º "Ban -wº- Dopa º - - - Ratgur * . --i-wº-1- * Kurie "koora • Sockree Burrakur º -> unapoor ----------- Kullingera sº º Bazur Bhilsº Saugur Nº. o Churka - *Palamow Nagore - - - - n: Poor - - - - - .* - Nandur *\liurlond Murkundee Pond, º wº o Rºº. Vidyurá mºlyalla - Khaº ode ultra- - Chet row Jeera *Burgur Gunk - tºres -Tº- lºgº R - runkl -- - Poorwarra utlaum º - - slºugºur Salernow *Chanda --- Rogonal poor Charratband - -- - ------------ * Dund node * OU C, El N * B Hopa L Rvseen R Sillee & º º - ngº - - - - ºn poor - ‘º §§ Mººre, *Taunda - Rantah - - Jubbulpoor - - *Parsº Ada, N. & Duidgong *}} 5Runnad *Chandpoor -- Mooltan - Astal, Sooheepoor Sohagepoor - B - T oporah Bissºupoor º sº - --- * Somekutch - - *Anokpoor Si - eioura - - - º ciº"l'ºnºr .. oº: la ZS chº. ------- - - - *Roura Sº, ---- irgoojah Buiva Doesah - Echagºr Bugdungº (Sºsaugir ſ ambay - - Rannee poor - Indore wº- pp. --- - ollipore - ºf BARODA Dhar - A*- lelunga º Lº oCoonturra - Mhow Sutwass sº "ho. ungabad M.nal, - p. - Midnapoor § lºgº - % Chaund poor - - - - Amerou P. Kinsala , . .* and ura *P - $ºoor ſ - Modeepoor - *Maundoo Kaunt a poor Futty poor gur Malatin Konkel Nugguº - 5 Dumdum A inva Pooleh - Naapoor *Hindia. Sºrlee -- - Heera poor - Paro -- - - / Sucktullee - - Thawree °kooroo - Singboom • Nursingur | 1 rº. T- - cº- Assee Ramboca ol\etw BARQCHE ſº ſºnſ * /~~" Sinawud: - -- - - - erwah Sº- a udda R º: º - - Charwal, - - Balkul, Maroo Ruttum poor *Sampoor X wº 1. Mokree - Teek ree Moondee Domrait *Mategºon *Jushpoor - - *Narangºr a Balaw wº *Byroo Mºgga - gangpoor Bºdwill Budrab Sausee - Bei tool *Ash. Palaspoor Ys - º oVerow - --~~ ... º, Iell - - --- - Wºrpoore Ar Boorhaunpo - o M Balung Harriorpoor ------- S. - - º - rah poor P --------- - Bungaloe - - º º 5. U RAT Nanderbar - G - I andoorna - o- º N - - - - - - a Pulsana awalgºr "comptah Sacra Turma - ~ §§ wV- Co --- - - - ~ Kamutee - * . - N_ º ºn pre- Lanjee Byragur Sumbulpoor Belasore A º o - • Atalmalıca - v º * Lan lum | Nº o | | | : **** ** t ,”: 43% - AºA ** * ... -, * , <-- . 3 . ; g- 'A s 2. \ , # f * : ~7 # J.A.--~~~~}} ' --- ---------~~~t $ F- 3. ...” - - i }~ : . . . . . .-- . *:: *, r* & K, - -, *) { z . º. - ~~~~~} & º: •. - .: f - , C-3 ' - # A FA & REMARKS OF THE PRESS ON WORKS ON INDIAN RAILWAYS, BY w. P. ANDREW, Esq. Indian Railways, and their pro- | From “THE TIMES,” Cº., 4rticle, © 22nd October, 1846. bable Results. By an Old Indian “It (Indian Railways) contains a Postmaster. (Second Edition, great quantity of information.” 1846.) Third Edition. T. C. Newby: Pelham Richardson, Cornhill. 1848. From “THE TIMEs,” City Article, 19th November, 1851. “The line (in Bengal) seems to have been adopted, which was origi- nally recommended by Mr. W. P. 32 From “ALLEN's INDIAN MAIL,” Andrew. August 13th, 1846. From the “MoRNING HERALD,” Leading Article, November 14th, “In regard to the great line to 1846. connect the seat of government with “We have little doubt that the pre- the extreme north-west, the author's opinions are peculiar. “EIewould construct the northern part of the line before the southern, arguing that the Ganges, as far as it is navigable, supplies the means of communication; and that it is where this accommodation ceases, that a railroad is more especially wanted.” ference given to the Mirzapore Line by the Railway Commissioners, will be confirmed by the Supreme Govern- ment and the Court of Directors; for we can scarcely imagine that those bodies will participate in the * Old Postmaster's ' weakness in favour of the intermediate river trip from Rajmahal to Allahabad, on the way from the Presidency to the north-west frontier.” I’rom the “MoRNING HERALD,” September 14th, 1852, City Article. “Mr. Andrew is well known as the author of a valuable work pub- lished some years since by Mr. Pel- ham Richardson, under the nom de guerre of an ‘Old Indian Post- master,’ by which public and official notice was mainly, if not first, di- rected to the great subject of railway communications in India, and its immense import, not alone to the accelerated development of the pro- digious resources of that vast empire, but to its safety and conservation.” From “THE EconoMIST,” 26th February, 1848. “Our author is for trusting the formation of the roads with some ju- dicious guidance, to private specula- tion. He makes the following state- ment, illustrating the folly of govern- ment undertaking such examples, by the case of Philadelphia:- PRIVATE OR PUBLIC MANAGEMENT, “‘Three propositions suggest themselves as to the policy to be adopted, and agencies to beenployed, 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 conducive to the common weal, as in Belgium. - “‘3rd. That the government should grant concessions or leases of various sections, or particular pro- jects, to private companies, on such terms as might be mutually advanta- geous; the latter to have the execu- tion of the works, and the manage- ment of the traffic of the lines, under the direct supervision and control of officers appointed by the govern- ment, as has been practised in France, and more recently in Bel- gium. “‘Judging from the confusion which has arisen in this country, by giving the reins to speculative en- terprise, the crude and angular man- ner in which railways were com- menced in France, and the harmo- nious and beneficent mannerin 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 finan- cial considerations, 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, A.…” till very lately, yield more than two and a-half per cent. And Pennsyl- vania, which in 1824 was bitten with the improvement 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 inte- rest on the first cost, but would leave a liberal overplus for public What was the result P **The state, after having spent purposes. millions, wisely gave away the works in an unfinished condition to com- panies of private individuals, on con- dition that they would finish them. In addition to this the favouritism and peculation inseparable from Go- vernment 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 canneither be worked with the same economy, nor can they have imparted to them that impulse which the spirit of private enterprise alone can give. “To follow our author through all his calculations, would be to tran- scribe a large part of his book; and we shall only say, that he is of opi- nion that by eschewing the orna- mental, and improving on the Ame- rican system, we might effect an extensive railway developement in India, at a much less cost, and bet- ter adapted to the rough work it would be subjected to, than of transporting a ‘Birmingham, or a * Great Western,” with all its gram- deur and complicated arrangement, into Hindostan. In that there is much wisdom. “In his book altogether, there is much information, and whoever is interested in the subject of railways in India should consult it.” From “THE EconoMIST,” Decem- ber 13th, 1851. “We see with some satisfaction, that the views propounded as to forming railways in India, by Mr. W. P. Andrew, under the cognomen of an ‘Old Indian Postmaster,’ and which were long ago recommended in our journal, find favour in India, and are likely to be adopted.” From the “OBSERVER,” February 13th, 1848. “The third edition of a work on Railways is a fact in literature, al- most unprecedented, and one which speakstrumpet-tongued for the value of the publication. - “The Old Indian Postmaster has added an immense mass of informa- tion to this edition of his book; which, now that it may be said to be as complete as human hands can make it, is of inestimable account, in reference to the great subject of Indian Railways. The author de- votes some space at the commence- ment of the work to defend his opinions; but that they needed no defence, is proved by the exhaustion of two editions of his work. “Their truth is the best defence they can have ; and that is so ob- vious that ‘ those who run may read.” In fact there has not been such a valuable contribution to the civilization of India, as this work on Indian Railways, since the era of its absorption into the dominions of her Majesty. Every one interested in Indian railways will, of course, possess it; while every general reader should, as a matter of information, make himself master of its contents.” From the “OBSERVER,” November 23rd, 1851. Indian Railways. “It is not a little remarkable, on reviewing the past and present posi- tion of Indian railways, to perceive that the views of a private individual have prevailed against, and finally overthrown, the plans of the Indian Railway Commission, (composed of a civil engineer, sent at a great ex- pense 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 Cammon-row authorities, and applauded by the press. When we had occasion to review Mr. W. P. Andrew’s various publications on Indian railways, as they issued from the press, we were amongst the first to call public at- tention to the originality and sound- ness of the views communicated, and it now appears that the result will prove a signal vindication of the correctness of those impressions. “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 pre- dicted 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 lime in India which, in his opinion, would prove com- mercially remunerative.” “Of the Railway Commission, Mr. Andrew in 1846, wrote thus:— ‘It might have been hoped that the Railway Commissioners would have cleared the way to a satisfactory de- cision on this subject (the introduc- tion of the railway system into India), with an authority derivable from the soundness of the views enunciated, the variety of new and interesting data, the prestige of office, and ac- knowledged ability. But their re- port, beyond giving an official sanc- tion to railroads in general, sheds no new light on the question at issue. Instructed to suggest some feasible line of moderate compass, the prºn- cipal portion of their report is de- voted to recommending the adop- tion of a railroad of four hundred and fifty miles in length, through the most difficult, most unproduc- tive, and most desolate portion of a country, elsewhere easy, fertile, and densely peopled. “‘That plan of commencing im- proved 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 Rajmahal is clearly the one that should be adopted; from this pointriver steam- ers to Allahabad, at the confluence of the Jumna and Ganges, where deep water ceases, and a railroad from Allahabad to Delhi and the Sutlej.’ “The arrival of the last mail from India brought the following infor- mation on the subject:-‘The How- rah terminus indicated by Mr. An- drew, to save bridging the Hooghly, had been adopted, and a section of the line as far as Pandooah is either in progress or under contract. The Railway Company have advertised for contracts for a further section, viz., from Pandooah to Raneegunge. “There cannot-now be a reason- able doubt that the line will be carried ultimately to Rajmahal. “Had the plans of the Railway Commissioners been adhered to, the East India Railway Company would now be bridging the Hooghly, with its banks ever trembling or in loco- motion, or building a bridge over the Soane as great in all its dimen- sions as the Blackwall Railway, after searching diligently for its founda- tions ‘below an unknown depth of sand. “The Government and people of India are therefore indebted to the “Old Indian Postmaster,’ who has thus saved them from prosecuting a design that could only have led to disastrous and humiliating results, which would have been felt both in India and this country.” From the “INDIAN NEws,” February 22nd, 1848. “The best testimony of the sound- ness 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 au- thority. We know of no work on the subject which can be compared with it whether as regards the local knowledge possessed by the writer— the judicious application of that knowledge, or as an exposition of the advantages which must result from improved modes of transit in the East, both to native industry and the requirements of British commerce.” From the “INDIAN NEws,” 22nd May, 1850. “The sum guaranteed, viz., £1,000,000 is not sufficient for the construction of a line that will yield any return. The line from Calcutta to Mirzapore, the proposed termi- nus of the East Indian line is 450 miles, the estimated cost of which is £16,000 per mile, i.e., 7,000,000. “Besides, it is a fact which can- not be refuted, that a line com- mencing at Calcutta must debouche on the Ganges, before any benefit can accrue, either to the Govern- ment, the commerce of India, or to the people. “These facts, as clear as they are indisputable, were promulgatcd four years ago, in a work on Indian Railways, by Mr. Andrew, and re- iterated in a letter addressed by him to Sir J. Law Lushington, in 1848. Subsequent experience proves their correctness.” From the “MoRNING CHRONICLE,” May 21st, 1850. “The opinion in Calcutta appears to be, that it is useless to attempt any experiment unless a capital of £2,000,000 is subscribed, as no rail- way in Lower India can possibly be made to pay that does not debouche on the Ganges. The rail must be carried, in the first place, to Raj- mahal, which is 200 miles from Cal- cutta. This was clearly explained by Mr. W. P. Andrew five years ago in his work on Indian railways; and the opinions of the old post- master appear now to be fully con- firmed by the experience of those on the spot.” From the “MoRNING CHRONICLE,” November 20th, 1851. “Indian railways.--Wehave more than once predicted that the views propounded, several years ago, by Mr. W. P. Andrew, would be those that the Indian authorities would finally adopt, in preference to the plan recommended by the Indian Railway Commission. Mr.Andrew's project was to connect Calcutta (or, rather, Howrah) on the opposite bank of the Hooghley, with the main Ganges at Rajmahal, the lowest practical point. “This railway would be about 200 miles in length, and would save, for eight months in the year, 530 miles of dangerous and difficult navigation through the Soonderbunds. “The plan of the Railway Com- mission was to connect Calcutta with Mirzapore, on the main Ganges. This would be 450 miles of railway through a difficult country, and de- bouching on the Ganges at a point where the commerce was neither so great nor so impeded as lower down. By recent accounts from India, we observe that the Howrah terminus, indicated by Mr. Andrew to save bridging the Hooghly, had been adopted, and that section of the line as far as Padooah, was either in pro- gress, or under contract; and by the last mail, we observe that the rail- way company have advertized for contracts for a further section, viz., from Pandooah to Raneegunge. There cannot now be a reasonable doubt but that the line will be car- ried ultimately to Rajmahal.” From the “BRITANNIA,” December 13th, 1851. “It is announced, we see, by the * Friend of India,” received by the last mail, ‘That the Court of Direc- tors had decided for the adoption of the line proposed by Major Kennedy from the collieries to Rajmahal, and thence up the valley of the Ganges,' which is exactly the scheme origi- nally propounded and advocated by the ‘old Indian postmaster, Mr. W. P. Andrew) in 1846, some two or three years before Major Kennedy went to India, and to whom exclu- sively the merit is due of having pointed out the erroneous views of the East Indian Railway Company, and adopted by the India Govern- ment Railway Commission. Had the authorities acted upon Mr. Andrew's views, a large and useless expendi- ture of time and money would have been saved; and it is admitted on all hands, that this gentleman ‘has saved railway enterprise in India from a great and lamentable failure,’ which would have reduced India to a state of more hopeless apathy and irretrievable desolation than ever; famine and pestilence would have resumed their periodic reign, the happiness and prosperity of the people would have been retarded for ages, and England's independence of # America for the supply of raw mate. rial for the greatest of her staple manufactures, been more remote than ever.” Is India to have Railways 8 Or, Fallacies of an East Indian Mer- chant Exposed in a Letter to Lieut.-General Sir J. L. LUSH- INGTON, G.C.B., Chairman of the Hon East India Company, by An East India Officer. W. H. Allen and Co., Leaden- hall Street, 1848. From the “OBSERVER,” November 17th, 1848. “This is a bold and able expo- sure of the system of Indian Rail- ways, as proposed to the public in this country, and an unanswerable vindication of the good faith of the India House authorities. “The writer is a man evidently well versed on his subject, which he treats in a manner that exhausts the whole question, and leaves nothing to be desired. ~ “The India Company owe him much as a volunteer champion in a matter wherein their integrity was more than suspected : he has cer- tainly carried them through trium- phantly. This pamphlet will be perused with deep interest. From “ALLEN's INDIAN MAIL,” January 5th, 1849. “This pamphlet, which is a most unmerciful exposure of the proceed- ings of the Directors of the East India Railway Company, inflicts a lacerating castigation upon their advocate, “An East India Merchant,’ whose ‘Letter to Lord John Russell,’ noticed in the ‘Mail’ of Nov. 2nd, the ‘East India Officer’ considers as ‘the semi-official manifesto’ of the East Indian Railway Company, on behalf of the Directors and em- ployés. “It is lamentable to find that an undertaking, which, under proper management, might have been made one of the pioneers of great local improvement in India, has been so misconducted; and the public owe thanks to the “East India Officer’” who has exposed the real causes of so miserable a failure.” Railways in Bengal; being the Substance of a Report addressed to Sir A. GALLow AY, K.C.B., by W. P. ANDREw, Esq. From the “Colon LAL AND ASIATIC REVIEw,” July 1852. “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 Company in 1849, and for- warded by him to the Board of Con- trol, who considered it sufficiently important to retain posssesion 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 Commissioners, the docu- ment comes before the public at this moment invested with additional in- terest and authority.” RAILWAYS IN BENGAL; (BEING THE SUBSTANCE OF A REPORT ADDRESSED TO THE CHAIRMAN OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY IN 1849.) .2%. By wºw E S Q. Author of “Indian Railways; By an Old Indian Postmaster.” &c. &c. &c. WITH INTRoDUCTORY REMARKs, BY THE EDITOR OF THE ARTIZAN, (REPRINTED FROM THE ARTIZAN, OF JUNE, 1851.) A MAP AND APPENDIx. “The line (in Bengal) seems to have been adopted, which was originally recommended by Mr. W. P. Andrew.”—Times, 19th Nov., 1851. LONDON : WM. H. ALLEN, & CO. 7, LEADENHALL STREET, 1853. fransportation Library }} E 32?? ..B. k'ſ *-** *—º-i-A-ºn—º- w. LEwis AND son, PRINTERS, 21, FINCH LANE, Cornhill. * , ºr £º º-'t y (f RAILWAYS IN BENGAL. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 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 presented themselves be- fore the public for favourable acceptation. 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 objects by con- necting Calcutta with Rajmahal, a town lying on the main stream of the Ganges, at the head of the Delta, one hundred and eighty miles from Cal- cutta, and below which the chief difficulties in the navigation of the river are found to exist; and, as 4 that part of the Ganges lying between Mirzapore and Rajmahal and Calcutta, and in which the water is split up into many streams, would be super- seded by the proposed railway, an efficient system of communication with the interior would, it was contended, be obtained by the proposed rail- way at a comparatively small expense. The line between Calcutta and Mirzapore was the line pro- posed by the East Indian Railway Company, of which Mr. Macdonald Stephenson was the origina- tor, and Sir George Larpent, and subsequently Mr. Aglionby, was chairman, and was also the line recommended by Mr. Simms and the Indian Railway Commission. The line between Calcutta and Raj- mahal was the line advocated by the Great Western of Bengal Railway Company, of which General Macleod was chairman, but which was first brought prominently into notice by the “Old Indian Post- master,” Mr. W. P. Andrew, who obtained for it, by his writings, the recognition of the authorities. The advocates of the East Indian Railway maintain- ed 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 connecting the interior with the coast. It was also contended that the transhipment of merchan- dise at Rajmahal would be attended with loss and inconvenience. Mr. Andrew contended, on the 5 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 Hooghly at Sooksauger, and that over the Soane (the ab- surdity 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 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 Rajmahal, however, the river happens to run in a rocky bed, and there are no great rivers lying between that point and Cal- cutta; 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 Rajmahal line, and the opinions we have on former 6 occasions expressed respecting it we still entertain. But when the East Indian Railway Company, find- ing their undertaking 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 obvi- ous to us that the alternative lay between making the Rajmahal line, and having no railway at all in Bengal. Accordingly we find the East Indian Railway Company at length abandoning its frag- ments, and proposing 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 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 be aban- doned in favour of another measure, formerly the object of reprobation. Surely the reflection is not irrelevant, that infinite mortification 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 reflections, which cannot recal the past, though with this past before them our readers may, perhaps, acquire more confidence 7 in any prognostications of the future which we may hereafter put forth. On the present occasion, how- ever, we shall content ourselves with laying before our readers a valuable report, by Mr. Andrew, the consistent advocate of the Rajmahal line, giving a condensed view of his published opinions, illustra- tive 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 railway to which this report refers is one which is actually proposed to be constructed, the document will have peculiar interest for our readers. There is only one reflection which we would wish to interpose before entering upon Mr. Andrew's report, though it is so obvious a one that it will occur to most minds without remark from us. It is this. If the railway is to be carried from Cal- cutta to Rajmahal, then as Rajmahal is a place of no importance in itself, but derives all its conse- Quence from the juxtaposition of the Ganges, and as the Ganges and its confluent waters must bring to Rajmahal all that the railway carries from thence, it is highly important to the success of the railway that the navigation of the Ganges and its tributaries, converging at Rajmahal, should be improved as 8 much as possible; and the traffic of the railway will swell in the proportion in which its feeders are opened up. In this view Mr. Bourne's project for improving the navigation of the Ganges, by the introduction of a more effectual class of steamers, assumes an attitude of much importance to the Rail- way Company, and to the Government also. For if the railway when opened is not successful, the undertaking is not likely to be carried further, or may die out, and Government will be burdened with a demand of £50,000 a-year for fifty years, to pay a 5 per cent. interest upon the one million of capital, upon which an interest is guaranteed. Unless the river communication between Rajmahal and the north-west be materially accelerated, the journey from Calcutta to Mirzapore or Benares, by way of Rajmahal, will be longer in point of time, even after the railway is opened, than the present dawk journey by the road; and it appears to be quite indispensable, therefore, to the success of the rail- way, and to the extinction of the risk the Govern- ment incurs, that an improvement in the naviga- tion of all that part of the river above Rajmahal should simultaneously take place. This improve- ment we consider can only be effectually accom- plished by Mr. Bourne's steam trains, for all the existing steam vessels draw too much water to be compatible with speed, and possess also too little power. To multiply vessels of this description 9 would therefore be unavailing, and Mr. Bourne's proposal comes in with happy aptitude to dispel the difficulty consequent upon the inefficient character of the steamers which at present ply above Rajma- hal, and to enable Mr. Andrew's line to be carried into effect with better prospects of success than it before possessed. Not that we consider India can remain content with river navigation as a substi- tute for railways, for we believe railways will even- tually supersede the rivers, as effectually as they have superseded the mail-coach system in this country. But at the outset of the career of im- provement, the rivers should, we consider, be availed of as much as possible; and when, by their aid, a district has been nursed into importance, and cultivation and irrigation have been largely ex- tended, 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 introduction 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 be 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 irri- 1 O gation, and this, we are persuaded, is their ultimate destiny. The railway and the river navigation sys- tems, 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 irrigation is extended, so will the importance of the rivers for all purposes of communication gradually decline, leav- ing to the railways the inheritance of the traffic and prosperity they have created. With these cursory remarks we introduce Mr. Andrew to our readers, omitting such portions of his report as we deem less essential on the present occasion. REPORT. To MAJoR GENERAL SIR ARCHIBALD, GALLowAY K.C.B. &c. &c. &c. London, May, 1849. The East Indian Railway Company having been ex- clusively identified in the public mind with a direct lime from Calcutta to Mirzapore, a gigantic, difficult, and costly undertaking, mainly for political purposes, was necessarily, in a great measure, dependent for success upon the 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 unprecedented, and now admitted, fact, that no beneficial result could be ob- tained 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 popula- * 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 Bhagarutty, which flows into the Hooghly, on the left bank of which stands Calcutta: this is the track of commerce; a continuous water com- munication, in the form of a bow or arc, connecting Calcutta with 12 tion in 250 miles of the regions to be traversed by the pro- posed railway—the difficulty (in seed time and harvest, the impossibility) of 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 superin- tendents 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 attempts of adja- cent 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 difficulty, requiring, at the most moderate computation, from fifteen to twenty years for its comple- tion, 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 Mirzapore, and all emergent movements of troops Mirzapore. Look now at the course of the proposed railway to Mirzapore, and you will see that it is the string to the bow 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 rail- way from Calcutta touches the Ganges at Mirzapore. * 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. 13 and stores take place more to the north-west, or in advance of Mirzapore. But in a commercial point of view it is physically and geographically impossible that it could ever 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 populous 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 for- gets to overflow its banks and ceases to be navigable, choosing rather to scale or tunnel the desolate and im- penetrable mountain-ranges running parallel to its course. The export trade being mostly of heavy goods, could not be expected to ascend the river to the terminus at Mirza- pore against the stream, or ascend to the railway by branches, contending the whole way (the one proposed to Patna, for instance, being eighty miles in length) against the natural inclination of the country. It is evi- dent, 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 be 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 doubt- less 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 such moment; and it is under this impression, and being aware 14 that the best mode of granting relief to the vast and im- peded 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 explained and understood, to fluctuate in public estimation according to the exact ratio of prestige or credit attachable 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, superseding 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 MPLeod 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 Rajmahal, from which point the river is continu- ously 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 contrary to settled opinions derived from personal knowledge of the country. I beg now, however, again to state, that I am still convinced that this project, strictly in accordance with the views originally *. 15 entertained by the Honourable Court, in sanctioning Colonel Forbes's projected canal for establishing a direct permanent water communication between the Ganges at Rajmahal and the Hooghly 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 Rajmahal line, and who is now in London, plans and sections in detail of the line from Howrah, opposite to Calcutta, to Rajmahal, 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 con- struction and working, combined with an existing traffic so large and so susceptible of being augmented; t and I would respectfully beg leave to refer the Honourable Court * Vide—accompanying Extracts of Report of Canal Committee, —Appendix A. # It is apparent, from the statistical tables attached to the first report of the East Indian Railway Company, that the traffic which they claim for the Mirzapore line belongs in reality to the Rajma- hal line, for it will be seen that nearly all the traffic which is appropriated to the former, is taken at two points, namely, Cal- cutta and the Bhagarutty 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 pass over the Rajmahal, or some such line, to reach the Calcutta and Mirza- pore 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 Bhagarutty. The 16 to that high authority in engineering projects, Colonel Forbes, in confirmation of these views. The upper terminus of the proposed railway at Rajma- hal would necessarily become the steam port of Calcutta, and the grand depot of all the valuable commodities con- stituting 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 econo- mise and expedite in an extraordinary degree the trans- actions of the external commerce of India. By connecting in this manner the two great channels of commerce, the Hooghly and Ganges, five hundred and twenty-eight miles of a circuitous route, large portions 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 commerce, and annu- ally 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. tolls on the other two rivers, tributaries to the Hooghly, 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 Indian Railway Company nor the line which I advocate can lay claim. 17 After having thus endeavoured to supply what has long been considered by the Honourable Court and the Govern- ment 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 undertaking, we should then have no difficulty in making another line or section, recommencing where the navigation again becomes de- fective, 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 portion of a complete trunk line of railway communication between Calcutta and the north-western frontier; pursuing along the entire route the beaten track of commerce 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 control; together with the abundant supply of food and all other requisites.t * Vide—Extracts from Reports accompanying this Letter— Appendix A. & B. # Another reason, according to papers recently received from C 18 The comparative merits of the two modes of connecting 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 Rajmahal, Bhagulpore, Monghir, Patna, Benares, and Mirzapore, to Delhi. By the latter, the actual or lineal distance would not be 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 gra- dients, requiring assistant power, so that the question India, for the construction of this line (Calcutta to Rajmahal), is, that the largest river connecting the Ganges with the Hooghly 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 Rajmahal) 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 Rajmahal, or it may be obtained in the district itself. “The country through which the line would pass is populous, and the people aut 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 lime is neither 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.” 19 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. 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 in 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 Rajmahal on the Ganges, and Mirzapore on the Hooghly, was undertaken by one of the Honourable 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 slighest doubt that that project was merely postponed with the view of ascertaining whether the more expeditious mode of internal transit, by means 20 of a railroad, might not be substituted 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 Raj- mahal 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, embracing 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 practic- able project, that I would again earnestly press upon your consideration: trusting that the direct communication being once established between Rajmahal and Calcutta, 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 Indian Railway Company (from Calcutta to Mirzapore) exceedingly proble- matical as a financial undertaking. I would also recal to the recollection of the Honourable Court, that the paramount importance of commencing the railroad sys- tem 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 * Vide—Extracts from Railway Reports from India, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 15th February, 1847. Appendix B. 2] months from the time it was gathered until it was ex- ported. 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 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 first railway in India. The momentous results involyed in the solution of this question must plead my apology for having ventured to extend this letter to such an unusual length. 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 extract 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 turn- pike 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.” 22 “Statistical Papers,” printed for the Court of Directors of the East India Company in 1853, are still more ex- plicit as to the partial adoption of my views. “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 Rail- way Company, was signed in August, 1849. The expen- diture of £1,000,000 was sanctioned for the first section, viz., from Hourah, opposite Calcutta, to Raneegunge, viá Pandooah and Burdwan. * “The line is to be continued from Burdwan, in a northerly direction, to Rajmahal, and thence probably along the right bank of the Ganges to Patna, Mirzapore and Allahabad. A further sum of £1,000,000 has been sanctioned, for the purpose * continuing the extended line to Rajmahal, the whole expense not having yet been estimated. 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 recommended, in a recent despatch, that the Rajmahal line should be carried up the valley of the Ganges to Allahabad. 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 govern- ment, should be kept in view. Some such limitation, the official paper just quoted from, appears to indicate while the “Friend of India,” and other leading journals, adduce weighty and practical reasons for confining the opera- * Wide Appendix C. 23 tions 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 experiment 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 rail- road 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 eaſperiment of one mile would have sufficed as well as one hundred. The completion of the Calcutta and Rajmahal 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 shewing 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 Rajmahal line must inevitably result in disappointment. In the first * Wide Appendix D. 24 edition of my work on “Indian Railways,” the follow- ing passage occurs:—“On the whole, then, it is our conviction that the Great Western of Bengal (from Calcutta to Rajmahal), and the line from Allahabad to Delhi, co- operating with fleets of river steamers, from Rajmahl 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 intro- ducing the railway system into India.” Two years after- wards, in the preface to the third edition of “Indian Rail- ways,” 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 gua- ranteed, is declared inadequate for these purposes, the impolicy is apparent of burthening the, certain to be pro- ductive upper section with a fragment of a section in Lower India leading, comparatively speaking, to 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 Mirzapore on the Hooghly, 120 miles in length, and which is the eacact line of Colonel Forbes’ 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 an- 25 swered 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 necessity 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 alternative of either subdividing their freights amongst a number of small frail craft to pass the Nuddea rivers, or to go by the Sunder- bunds an extra distance of 320 miles. Rajmahl would thus become the head-quarters of the inland trade, and a rail- way from it to Calcutta would, by bringing the vast descending trade of the Ganges into contact with the ships of all nations anchored 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—by connecting Calcutta with Rajmahl by means of a railway—a new impetus would be given to the commercial prosperity of India.” + * “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 Rajmahal, will not answer the purpose for which it is undertaken, till it is complete, so as to connect the termini with one another; for both these pro- jects contemplate as their main objects the conveyance of mer- chandize from the river Ganges, at the points of their northern termini, to Calcutta.” Wide Minute, by the Hon. Sir T. Herbert Maddock, ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 15th February, 1847. To the Editor of the Artizan. LoNDoN, 20th June, 1851. SIR, IN your last number I have perused with much interest and satisfaction the observations which you prefix 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 Rajmahal line is concerned, I cannot but appreciate the candfd spirit which pervades your remarks, 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 opinions and state- ments, 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. Ihave ever contemplated the one in relation to the other, thinking it reasonable and desirable to aid the river navi- gation, where it was defective, by the removal of natural obstacles, or by surmounting them by means of steam vessels of improved construction, and co-operating with this improved river navigation by means of a railway, where the traffic was great and the rivers cease to be mavigable, and where the absence of physical and other obstacles would render the construction of a railway com- paratively of easy attainment. 27 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 con- veyance than to transit by railway, unless some great ad- vantage had to be gained, and that more affecting safety than speed. The Rajmahal line, for instance, would give 180 miles of railway instead of, for eight months in the year, 528 miles of dangerous navigation by the Sunder- bunds, and for the remaining four months in the year supersede the tortuous and uncertain Nuddea rivers, which flow from the Ganges to the Hooghly. I also considered that it was of the utmost consequence, in introducing so great an innovation as the railway mode of transit must of necessity be in such a country as India, to select, in the first instance, some line of moderate ex- tent, yet having “a great and defined object,” that would yield a good return on capital spent on its construction, that would disturb the existing interests 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 commerce has got into a certain channel, although it may be neither the most proper nor the most commodious one, it requires long time, and con- siderable 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 teaching 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 28 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 for- bear 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 Rajmahal; 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 be nearly one thousand miles of rail- road, exclusive of branches, traversing the easiest, the richest and most densely peopled portions of our dominions, where the river transit is either dangerous or tedious, as by the Nuddea 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 of twelve miles per diem. No Utopian ideas of a railroad system starting at once into complete perfectibilty should divert enterprise and capital from so fair and inviting a field, with such feeble rivals, as the carts and boats of the countryk to compete with the river steamers which accom- plish fifty miles per diem, and which will soon nearly double that rate, when a railroad relieves them from the NoTE.—The charge by the former is 4d. per ton per mile—by pack bullocks, camels, and ponies, it is more expensive-native goats are cheap but slow and precarious. 29 Nuddea rivers and Sunderbunds. If such a rail be esta- blished, the steamers, instead of starting from Calcutta, will start from its northern terminus, which will thus be- come, 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.” + If it were thought, at the period referred to, that co- operation might be established between the steamers navigating the Ganges and the railway, how greatly enhanced is the probability of such beneficial co-operation by the substitution of Mr. Bourne's steam train, or some such contrivance, in lieu of the existing private steamers, whose construction does not appear adapted to the pecu- liarities of the navigation they have to encounter, if one may judge from the numerous accidents which have recently occurred. 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 in- vested, 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. By means of a railroad to Rajmahal, and some such improved appli- * See 2nd edit. Indian Railways. By an Old Indian Post- master. p. 116. 30 ance as Mr. Bourne suggests from thence to Benares, the passenger might be taken from Calcutta to Benares and back again in one-third of the time, and for less than one- half of the money. 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 Rajmahal 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 Rajmahal and the north-west be materially accelerated, the journey from Calcutta to Mirzapore and Benares, by way of Rajmahal, 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, 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 Rajmahal line, by relieving the 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 31 in a long journey, and I think you will admit that the Rajmahal line, aided by steam boats of an improved com- struction, 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 £6 to £10. On the other hand, an European, or a wealthy native, going by dak (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 banghy 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 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 dak 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 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 32 moment, I hope you will pardom 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 meighbourhood 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 P Three l—And as the journey took sixteen days, travelling night and day, few arrived before 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- * About 1400 men were required to carry each officer, at a charge of £120 for the entire journey. 33 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 of the men, the loss of time, and the risk of loss of life and property.” I do think that the above extract meets the question 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 essential ingredient, the power of conveying at an improved speed large numbers of persons with safety and certainty, and at a moderate rate of charge; and this the Rajmahal line coupled with steamers of greater power and lighter draught of water would easily accomplish. Mr. Bourne, for instance, esti- mates, I think, that by means of a steamer of three hundred and fifty horse power, he could convey a regiment of a thousand strong, with their arms, accoutrements, and D 34 baggage from Calcutta to Delhi in fourteen days, the distance between the two capitals by land being nine hundred miles, and by water, to vessels of shallow draught about one thousand four hundred miles. I have so often expressed my sense of the difficulties attending the construction of the Mirzapore line, that I will not now occupy your pages with any enumeration of them; and indeed the formidable character of the physical impediments to be encountered upon that line are at length universally admitted. Nor will it now suffice to multiply finely-coloured drawings to show how easily those im- pediments may be surmounted. What do these ingenious gentlemen, its advocates now say to bridging the Hooghly at Souksauger, with its banks ever trembling or in locomotion; and over the Soane, “to build a bridge as great in all its dimensions as the Black- wall Railway, and the foundations below an unknown depth of sand P’” After having advocated 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 Go- vernment of India, so that the views I so long ago put forth are now apparently about to prevail. But although the line from Howrah to Rajmahal was the one I have suggessed, I never gave it my advocacy under such circum- stances as now surround the proposed undertaking; but however much I might be disposed to assist the railway, my tendering advice might only render me liable to mis- construction, and I therefore surrender the task of monitor to time. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, W. P. ANDREW. 35 APPENDIX A. Eatracts from the Report of the Rajmahal Canal, by General M*Leod, late Chief Engineer in Bengal, and Colonel W. N. Forbes. Calcutta, 15th February, 1841. “BEARING in mind that the Ganges receives in its course through twelve hundred miles of the central and improv- able plaims 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 Rajmahal, its dis- tance from Calcutta does not exceed two hundred 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 five hundred and twenty-eight miles, this chiefly through the perilous labyrinth of creeks and wood-encumbered straits, forming the wilderness called the Soonderbunds, it will readily be acknowledged that amongst the good effects of opening a direct line of permanent navigation between deep water in the Hooghly above Calcutta and the great river at Rajmahal, there would be the highly important one of its affording the means of conveying safely, cheaply, and speedily to the ocean outlet increased quantities, and ultimately improved qualities, of the agricultural and mineral produce of the entire region traversed; nor this alone, as, by inevitable commercial reciprocation, the same line would immediately serve for supplying those regions with augmented amounts of sea-borne products or manu- factures of other countries.” The report goes on to state that, by means of a canal during that portion of the year when the rivers are full 36 most of the time lost in contending with the rapid and ever-tortuous Bhagurruttee would be avoided, as also the risk in the latter annually leading to numerous wrecks and total losses of property. Regarding the traffic, after having adverted to circum- stances 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 Nuddea rivers were only passable for dingies, (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 collection in the form of toll, at the rate of one rupee per one hun- dred maunds on the total tonnage passing through these channels amounted to one hundred and fifty thousand rupees, assuredly proves that if the comparatively safe and 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 averaging six hundred maunds burden) 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 thou- sand 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 ex- perimentally brought in use) which the canal would either intersect or closely approach.” 37 APPENDIX B. Eatracts from Railway Reports from India, ordered by the House of Commons, to be Presented, 15th February, 1847. “THE railway (if constructed by Ranaghat and Nuddea) 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. “In furtherance of this object, we extended our exami- nation in November last, to the country north of Kish- nagur, through Berhampore and Moorshedabad to Bhag- wangola, with a view to a branch railway from Kishnagur to those places; and although the country is highly favour- able for such a project, yet the great mart at Bhag- wangola is of so unfixed a character, from the extensive and continued changing of the bed of the Ganges, that unless its continuation northward and eastward be con- sidered desirable, it would appear that a branch to Bhag- wangola, 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, eacists at or near Rajmahal, which might be suitable to neceive 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 38 like manner as the proposed canal of Lieutenant-colonel Forbes would certainly have done, if that important work had been carried into eacecution. Such a branch railway would in no point be removed very far to the westward of the projected line of the canal in question.” “The first branch should be from a point near Burdwan to Rajmahal, aloug the district of country selected many years ago by Lieutenant-colonel Forbes, for the Rajmahal Canal: such a railway will, in future, supersede the neces- sity 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 inter- communication. “Besides the accommodation of the trade of the Ganges, it will give accommodation to Purmeah, Malda, Dinage- pore, Rungpore, and the country in that direction through which it may possibly hereafter be found desirable to ex- tend this refined mode of transit. “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.” It is worthy of remark, that although the Rajmahl line is treated, by Messrs. Simms, Boileau and Western, in the above 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. “ Captain Western, of the Bengal Engineers, and a member of the Railway Commission, in his ‘Peport on the application of Railway Communication in India, published 39 in the Calcutta papers, in speaking of the Rajmahl line, says, “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 superintendence 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 of 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 railroad.’” + * “Indian Railways,” by an Old Indian Postmaster: Second Edition, 1846. 40 APPENDIX C. Friend of India, March 31st 1853. “If we have recently omitted to notice the progress of railway operations so frequently as heretofore, it has arisen from no diminution in the interest with which we regard the undertaking, but from a desire to furnish our readers with some definite information as to the amount of work already completed, and the chances of any one in the pre- sent generation travelling in Bengal by locomotive. With this view, we have collected from observation and inquiry a multitude of facts, which will give our readers some idea of the extent of a work, the first section of which is as large as the Great Western, and the position of which is not, we fear, even now thoroughly understood. Notwithstanding the sarcasms of the Calcutta press, something has been done during the last two years, besides jobbing in appoint- ments, and we are, perhaps, at this moment nearer the completion of our hopes, than we have been at any time in the eight years during which the railway has been a sub- ject of newspaper discussion.* “Despite many obstacles, some of the smallest of which are the deficiency of labour during the last twelve months, the nature of a country which may be described as a con- tinuous chairi of tanks and creeks, and the occasional defi- ciencies of the instruments employed, we are enabled to assert unconditionally, that the first section will be open, *“A queer speech, good Friend;—almost tantamount to saying that a man is perhaps nearer to the end of his life at the present moment than he has been during all the years of his previous existence l’—Calcutta Englishman, April 1st, 1853. 41 and in full operation by the cold weather of 1854. This first section from Howrah to the Collieries at Rameegunge, a distance of 121 miles, runs by Serampore, Chanderna- gore, Hooghly, Pundooah and Burdwan, and at the 121st mile is connected with the grand trunk by a branch road. Old Indian residents, whose ideas of a rail are as indistinct, as ideas derived solely from books generally are, will not, however, be compelled to postpone so long their desire for “a ride on the rail.” Fifteen miles of the permanent way have been already completed, and by the cold weather of the present year, the first twenty-five miles from Howrah to Serampore, Chandermagore, Chinsurah, Hooghly, and Bandel will be opened for passengers. Five passenger engines, and five goods engines have been ordered from England, and some of them are on their way out, together with the iron work for carriages, vans and trucks, all which it is intended to put together in Calcutta. The difficulty of obtaining freight from Europe at almost any price has seriously delayed this portion of the preparations, but the evil is one for which the Company is in no degree respon- sible, as it has been created entirely by the diversion of trade towards Australia, and the subsequent locking of whole fleets in the ports of the southern continent. The annexed details, which may, we believe, be relied upon, will give such of our readers, as are not frightened by a few technical terms, some idea of the magnitude of the opera- tions necessary to secure this result. We must remark, also, that accustomed as we are in India to enormous distances we may perhaps be a little unjust in our estima- tion of engineering difficulties, and apt to forget that in England, a line of seventy miles is a great undertaking, and that throughout Great Britain there is scarcely a single line longer than the one from Calcutta to Raneegunge. It 42 is true that labour is cheaper, that we have few obstacles either from landholders or the Government, and that the Company is not compelled to build magnificent viaducts over pathways “crossed by a single milkmaid once a year,” but we have still to contend with an alluvial soil, with a country pierced in every direction by creeks, ponds, and rivulets, and a deficiency of labour, particularly in the building department, which is said to have given some of the native sub-contractors an excuse for enlisting into their service, workmen who would be more in their places in the stable, than handling trowel and plumb-line. “The line to Raneegunge was allotted to five separate contractors, who obtained lengths of five, six, ten, thirty- six, and sixty miles respectively. Of these only one has failed to fulfil his engagements, and his division has been completed by the Company themselves under the imme- diate direction of their own agents. The remainder are steadily progressing, though they have been in some degree delayed by a very general adoption of brick as the more durable material for viaducts, and similar works, instead of timber which it was at first intended to employ. The advantage or otherwise of the change is the old question, so frequently argued in America, between speed of con- struction with facility of repair, and permanent durability. The earthworks have been exposed in almost all cases to the action of two rainy seasons, before the ballasting was laid, and it has been found from experience that the slope at the sides of the embankment is sufficient to preclude the possibility of accidents from the slipping of the material, or the action of water on the line. Indeed, it may be ques- tioned, whether the pitch or angle of incline might not be reduced with advantage to the pockets of the Company. The entire extent of these earthworks between Howrah 43 and Rameegunge will amount to about 289 millions of cubic feet, constructed at a total cost of 11,68,000 rupees, or about 4,0,9 the thousand feet. The ballasting consists in this instance chiefly of burnt clay, laid on the top of the earthworks to the depth of about two feet, in which the wood or iron sleepers will be imbedded. The gross amount of this work, which is more expensive than the actual em- bankment, is about twenty-one and a quarter millions of cubic feet, at an aggregate cost of thirteen lahks and seventy-five thousand rupees. “Although the absurd restrictions in force in England have not been so peremptorily insisted upon in Bengal, the number of bridges and waterways appear sufficient to meet any possible contingency, and is perhaps a little in excess of the actual acquirements of the line. The num- ber has been increased in the course of the works, but in addition to two grand bridges at Balee, and Bydubatee, and two heavy viaducts over the Mugra and Surasuttee creeks the number of openings was intended to be as follows:— 50 openings of 2 feet 64 29 3 feet 47 55 4 feet 14 33 5 feet 49 JJ 6 feet 23 35 8 feet 53 53 9 feet 255 33 10 feet I385 25 12 feet 5 35 18 feet 11 }} 24 feet over the Tumlah. 4. 33 30 feet over the Bankah. 24, 35 12 feet 2 over the Singharoon 5 53 24 feet : River. 44 “The brickwork for all these bridges and waterways, amounts to about seven and a quarter millions of cubic feet, constructed or to be completed at a total cost of about sixteen lakhs of rupees. In all cases these prices include a stipulation on the part of the Company, that the con- tractors are to keep the line in repair for twelve months after its completion. “The ironwork for the single line, which from the inade- quate resources of the country in this respect, is perhaps the most expensive portion of the work, includes eighteen tons of rails at a cost of eleven lakhs of rupees. It was decided early in the history of the line, that these rails should be of a weight of 48 (96?) pounds to the yard, the heaviest of any yet employed in England. They will be of wrought iron in lengths of 14 to 20 feet, with an allow- ance of one-tenth for sidings or passing places, and station rails. The weight of the chairs amounts to about 4,000 tons, one-eighth of which was supplied by the Porto Novo iron works at rupees 60 a ton, and the total cost was about rupees 1,90,000. The keys of compressed wood by which the chairs are fastened to the rails, and the pins by which they are secured to the wooden sleepers, numbered about one million and a quarter, and cost some sixty thousand rupees. Moreover, in the Raneegunge district, there are twenty miles, which it is intended to lay entirely with iron sleepers and chairs combined, and for this work 2,750 tons of cast iron will be required at an expense of rupees 2,28,000 and 577 tons of wrought iron at an expense of rupees 60,000. The completion of the operation by laying the permanent way for 121 miles, with twelve of sidings, and the station rails, will cost about rupees 6,50,000, but this includes the transport of the materials from the ship's side by the contractor to any place at which they may be 45 required. The cost of clearing away jungle, and excavating the roots of trees was about rupees 82,000, an expense which is to be attributed to the necessity of effectually preventing the roots of peepul and othertrees from dislo- cating the brickwork, or disturbing the embankment, an evil which will be estimated at once, by any Indian resi- dent, who has ever enjoyed the luxury of seeing a peepul spread itself through the wall of his house, with the cer- tainty that it must ultimately bring it down. Finally, the stations, together with such apparatus as “turn-tables,” “ water cranes,” “switches,” &c., will cost about six lakhs of rupees, there are about 140,000 cubic feet of teak, saul, and other timber, costing rupees 3,85,000, about rupees 25,000 of miscellaneous ironwork, rupees 32,000 for metal- ling ordinary roads, and rupees 23,000 for gates at level crossings. The Electric Telegraph, moreover, for the use of the line, will cost about rupees 6,000, and the expense of fencing, which has been allowed to stand over for the pre- sent, is estimated at three lakhs of rupees. We have been thus minute in supplying details, much of which will, we are aware, be highly uninteresting to the majority of our readers, partly because we wish to give them a definite idea of the magnitude of the work, and partly for future reference. For their further convenience, however, we place all these items together in a table — IDistance 121 miles. Rupees. Earthworks, 289 millions of cubic feet . . 11,68,000 Ballasting, 21% millions of cubic feet . . 13,75,000 Brickwork, 73 millions of cubic feet ſº . 16,00,000 Rails, 18,000 tons tº ge e º . 11,00,000 Chairs, 4,000 tons wº ſº e e . 1,90,000 Keys, 1,20,000 . ſe tº ſº º 60,000 Cast-iron for Rameegunge district, 2,750 tons. 2,28,000 46 Wrought iron for ditto, 577 tons . e © 60,000 Laying down rails Q tº e tº . 6,50,000 Clearing jungle . g tº gº e e 82,000 Station and station apparatus © g . 6,00,000 Timber . tº te & * ſº Q . 3,85,000 Miscellaneous iron-work sº e (s ſe 25,000 Metalling roads and gates . © ge gº 58,000 Fencing e © e ſº Ç * . 3,00,000 78,81,000 It is evident that, notwithstanding the enormous in- crease in the price of iron, caused chiefly by a sudden ex- pansion of the American demand, and the rise in freight since the discovery of gold in Australia, the estimated cost of these works was above the real expenditure. The cost of the first section will not eacceed rupees 73,000 a mile, which, with the addition of rupees 16,000 for surveying, engineering and management, makes a total earpenditure of rupees 90,000, £9,000 a mile. This includes locomotive engines, carriages, waggons, and other rolling stock, sufficient for one opening of the line, and certainly represents a result as gratifying as it was uneaſpected, and one which will go far to secure the early eatension of railway communication throughout the east. Meanwhile, though the works of this great section have been steadily advancing, the trunk rail has not been neglected. The engineering staff has been actively en- gaged in examining and taking the levels of a line from a point about mine miles above Burdwan, direct to Patna, and another direct to Bhagulpore to ascertain whether any advantages would be derived by adopting either of these routes in preference to the line to Rajmahal. They have also taken the levels of the entire line by Rajmahal, Bha- 47 gulpore, Patna, Benares, Chunar, Mirzapore, and Allaha- bad. Upon the whole, however, it appears that the gra- dients upon the Rajmahal route are so much easier than upon any of the other lines, that that route has been finally preferred.” APPENDIX ID. Friend of India, August 19th, 1852. “THE three presidencies of Bengal, Madras, and Bombay have now obtained the grant of railways from the Govern- ment of India. The rail at each of them is constructed under different agencies, and controlled by different autho- rities, and we are certain that this arrangement will even- tually be found more beneficial to the undertaking than if one great and unwieldy body had been created for the purpose of supporting the whole system of rails through- out the East Indies, though a thousand miles apart. There now remains the wants of only one presidency to be pro- vided for, we mean that of the north-west provinces, and we cannot suppose that after the Court of Directors have manifested so much liberality in reference to the other portions of this empire, they will hesitate to bestow this boom on the remaining division, where it is so greatly needed, and will give so extraordinary and immediate an impulse to trade and industry. “For the purposes of the railway, the Bengal presidency ‘may be considered as eactending from the great port of 48 Calcutta to the great mart of the west, Mirzapore. Such appears also to be the decision of the Court of Directors, who, in their recent orders for the survey of the line by the engineer officers of the “ East India Railway Company,” fixed Mirzapore as the limit of their labours. The Agra Presidency Railway would, therefore, extend from Mirza- pore to Delhi, or as much beyond that city as might be deemed advisable. The distance from Calcutta to Mirza- pore by the river route, which has now been adopted was calculated by Mr. Simms, the consulting engineer of Government, at five hundred and thirty-seven miles; the distance from Mirzapore to Delhi, at four hundred and eighteen. The longer section of the line would thus be- long to the Bengal railway, the shorter to the Agra rail. We are full aware that, at one time, before we had any experience of railways in India, or of the mode in which they were to be constructed, or the time they would occupy, or the various physical impediments which were required to be overcome; it was contemplated that the north-west line and that of Bengal should be constructed under the same system of agency. It was proposed that the rail should commence at Howrah, and proceed in un- broken succession to the extreme limits of the north-west provinces; but we are very much mistaken if the earperi- ence of the last two years has not tended to modify this opinion, and to enforce the conclusion that the Agra rail should be considered as distinct from that of Bengal as that of Bombay is, and that it should be carried on under a different and independent instrumentality. The con- struction of the railway is found to involve so much more labour, toil and responsibility than was at first eaſpected, that the allotment of more than a manageable line to a single company appears to be unadvisable. If the line to 49 Mirzapore be left in the hands of the “East India Rail- way Company,” it will be quite as much as they can man- age with convenience to themselves, and advantage to the interest of the country. The road from Howrah to the collieries, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles, will probably be finished by the end of next year. Some are so sanguine as to fix an earlier period, and we sin- cerely hope their expectations will not be disappointed. But our calculation may be correct, and in that case it will be apparent to all, that, if a line of one hundred and twenty miles requires three years, the line to Mirzapore will not be finished, at the same rate of progression, under thirteen years. It would be preposterous, however, to keep the north-west provinees out of their rail during this long period, while the Bengal rail was slowly and delibe- rately progressing up towards its frontier. It would be far more advisable to consider the interests of the Agra Rail- way apart, and to provide at once for its construction, in- dependent of the Bengal line. “The Agra Railway, if it extended no farther than Delhi, would comprise, as we have stated, four hundred and eigh- teen miles, of which fifty-two miles are below Allahabad, and three hundred and sixty-six above it. The country above Allahabad is perhaps better adapted for the rail than any other part of India. This line, which would run through the Dooab, presents almost a perfect level, and fewest engineering difficulties to be met with in any part of India. It seems to have been especially formed by the hand of nature for railway operations; and the impedi- ments to be overcome are so few, that the work might be completed within a very short period, and at a compara- tively small cost. It is probable that £7,000 a mile would cover every item of expense, and the whole would, there- fore, not require a larger capital than £3,000,000 sterling.” E 30 Mittan a Puttum W. ſºas i - N . º º i- - - - Mangalore - OF Peshawer. 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A Cannano *\@ - * …nº | cº-eſº- sº N …N -- º º º sº ſº " - - - - - | - - º º and other CALIºlº' º - tº . . * º RAILWAYS. Ponianº º o º º . Trielli. º, \{ £c APATAM ---------. * - º º º ſº - 2 º Exp LAN AT 10 N. | ` Že ºzzer/ºa Zºzº, Zeroposed’ cºnsºonºſº -------------- Zºorºon of 4e 6aºzes narzzazed. 4. º ºzezwº ºozzy --~~- Zeaſººys ºn Zºroaress Zazºº/s zrºyected ------------- - ------------------------- - ºwbrºok - - THE UPPER INDIA RAILWAY COMPANY. OFFICES, 2, MOORGATE STREET. (PROVISIONALLY REGISTERED.) To be incorporated by Royal Charter or Act of Parliament, limiting the liability of the Shareholders to the amount of their Shares. CAPITAL £4,000,000, IN 200,000 SHARES OF £20 EACH, .* DEPOSIT TWO SHILLINGS PER SHARE, Chairman. The LORD WISCOUNT JOCELYN, M.P. p 3.Bcputp=6|Chairman. SIR JOHN CAMPBELL, K.C.H., H.E.I.C.S., 10, Harley Street. 3Bírectorg. JOHN LAWICOUNT ANDERDON, Esq., New Bank Buildings. W. P. ANDREW, Esq., H.E.I.C.S., Liddard House, Notting Hill. HARRY BORRADAILE, Esq., late H.E.I.C. Civil Service, and late Chairman Great North of India Railway Company, Coulsdon Court, Croydon. GEORGE LATIIOM BROWNE, Esq., late Director of the Great North of India Railway Company, Torrington Square. MAJOR GLASFURD, Bengal Engineers, late Executive Engineer, Furruckabad and Bareilly Division. Captain the Hon. G. F. HOTHAM, R.N., Director of the Brighton Railway Company. WILLIAM LOWNDES, Esq., Lowndes’ Square, and the Bury, Chesham. S. MORTON PETO, Esq., M.P., Somerleyton Hall, Suffolk. f WADHAM LOCKE SUTTON, Esq., Hamilton Terrace, St. John’s Wood. THOMAS WILLIAMS, Esq., Director of the Great Western Railway Company. (With power to add to their Number.) ſºlamaging ſpirettor. W. P. ANDREW, Esq. Żułſitorg. BENJAMIN, BURT, Esq., H.E.I.C.S., late Managing Director, in India, of the Great North of India Railway Company. BEAUMONT HANKEY, Esq., (Messrs. Thompson Hankey and Co.) G. GORDON MACPHERSON, Esq., H.E.I.C.S., Director of the Agra Bank, late Director of the Great North of India Railway Company. 36amkers. Messrs. SMITH, PAYNE & SMITHS. Messrs. BOUWERIE, MURDOCH & Co. QEngineers. G. P. BIDDER, Esq., and M. A. BORTHWICK, Esq. $olicitorg. Messrs. IIODGSON, CONCAN EN & NOYES, 5, Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields. Messrs. SUTTON, OMMANNEY & PRUDENCE, Basinghall Street. 3ãarliamentarp Agents. Messrs. DEANS & ROGERS, Fluyder Street, Westminster. Calcutta Committee of ſalamagentent. CHARLES R. PRINSEP, Esq., Advocate-General to the Government of India. DANIEL MACKINLAY, Esq., (Messrs. Gillanders, Arbuthnot and Co.) JAMES JOSEPH MACKENZIE, Esq., (Messrs. Mackillop, Stewart and Co.,) and JAMES FORLONG, Esq., of the firm of Messrs. Tulloh, Seal and Co. $oliciturg. ºr Messrs. DENMAN & ABBOTT. Agents in HEmbia. Messrs, JOHN BORRADAILE & Co., Calcutta. THE UPPER INDIA RAILWAY COMPANY. THIs Company is established to introduce railways into Upper India. The Grand Trunk Line, about 400 miles in length, commencing at Allahabad, at the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna, and passing through a rich, level, and populous country, connecting, en route, many civil and military stations, commercial towns and villages, will terminate at the Imperial City of Delhi. The route consists of component parts, each.complete in itself, possessing a local as well as a through traffic, with an important town at either terminus. The chief divisions of the Line are— First—From Allahabad to Cawnpore, about 130 miles in length. Allahabad is an ancient and populous city, of great fame and importance in the East. Crowds of pilgrims resort to its sacred shrines and temples; it is the entrepot for the traffic by the steamers and the larger country craft, and a principal civil and military station. Cawnpore is one of the largest military stations in India. 3 Second—About 80 miles in length, to Furruckabad, a most important emporium, for the valuable products of the fertile province of Rohilcund. Third—About 90 miles in length, to Agra, once the capital of India, and now the seat of the Government of Upper India, or the Agra Presidency. Agra is besides an opulent and commercial city. Fourth—This section, about 100 miles in length, will terminate at the Imperial city of Delhi, connecting by means of the railway the ancient metropolis of India with permanently deep water in the Lower Ganges. Future sections will carry the Line on to Lahore and the Indus. & There is, both by steamers and country craft, a continu- ous permanent water-communication between Calcutta and Allahabad. The yearly tonnage of the Lower Ganges is 1,500,000 by the country craft alone. The number of pas- sengers is also very great. Deep water ceases at Allahabad, and, consequently, it is at this important city that the real difficulty and expense of transit begin. The sandbanks of the Upper Ganges, and the sharp ledges of rock of the Jumna, rendering the navigation by even the smaller country craft slow and precarious. The insurance of merchandize and property from Agra to Allahabad, by the river route, in consequence of the danger and difficulty of the navigation, is as high as from Calcutta to England, the distance in the one case being 300 in the latter 15,000 miles. Above Allahabad, notwithstanding the defective river navigation, and the rude and expensive land carriage, which 4 costs from 4d. to 8d. per ton per mile, moving at the slow rate of ten miles in twenty-four hours, there is an officially ascertained traffic of above 1,000,000 tons, and a land pas- senger traffic, by various conveyances, exceeding 100,000 per annum, besides passengers by boats, and about 300,000 travellers on foot. Having a great and navigable river connecting Calcutta and Allahabad, a railroad would, by beginning at the latter city, and proceeding by Agra and Delhi to Lahore, estab- lish a steam communication from Calcutta through the fertile and populous Dooab, in the North-West Provinces, “Occupying the great line of Indian traffic with Central and Upper Asia.” This is the great line of military as well as of commercial intercourse, more than three-fourths of the Bengal army being cantoned above Allahabad, and almost all emergent movements of troops and stores taking place to the north-west, or in advance of that town. One of the Directors of this Company, so far back as 1846, in a work of his on Indian railways (“Indian Rail- ways,” by an Old Indian Postmaster), stated that he had seem “no large portion of territory present the like faci- lities for the introduction of a railway, as from Allahabad to Delhi. “This line would have no rival, for the river steamers, instead of competing with it, would form a powerful basis, and keep up a continuous communication between the Railway and Calcutta, and our great military stations and magazines at Allahabad, Cawnpore, Agra and Delhi, would all be in close communication with each other, and, by means of the steamers, have a free and rapid access to Calcutta.” 5 Subsequently, the Indian Railway Commission confirmed, from actual survey, the accuracy of this opinion, pointing out the peculiar eligibility of the first section of the pro- posed line in the following terms:—“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;” and still more recently, Major J. P. Kennedy, late Director of the Railway Depart- ment to the Government of India, in his Report to the Marquis of Dalhousie, Governor-General, expressed himself as follows: — “Between Allahabad and Delhi there is no engineering question of difficulty whatever, as the beautiful flat bed (extending for several hun- dred miles in the direction of the line, in the Dooab, be- tween the rivers Ganges and Jumna), with its numerous commercial towns, offers, perhaps, the most singularly in- viting district for laying down a railway that can be found in the world; free as it is from inundation, from hills, from river-crossings, and road-crossings, in short, from any im- pediment, and almost every ordinary source of expenditure in Railway construction.” It is the intention of this Company either to proceed in a gradual manner, open- ing short sections, having an important town at either terminus, or, at the option of the Authorities, to com- mence operations on several sections simultaneously, so as to complete with as little delay as possible the line from Allahabad to Delhi. The present Capital of the Company has been fixed at four millions; this sum their Engineers assure the Direc- tors is fully adequate to construct the whole line, and 6 such short branches as may be necessary, as well as to provide the requisite plant, and leave a sufficient margin for contingencies. * * The Directors have much satisfaction in announcing that Mr. Robert Stephenson has assured to the under- taking his active support, with advice and assistance whenever required. From the paramount and acknowledged importance of this railway to the good government and prosperity of India, the Directors have every hope of obtaining from the Hon. East India Company the same terms and con- ditions as have been already accorded to similar under- takings, the existing traffic securing a return on the capital invested far beyond the amount of any guarantee that could be required. The Directors are hereby empowered to treat for making such arrangements with the Court of Directors and the Board of Control, as to them may seem beneficial to the Company, as well for securing a guaranteed dividend from the East India Company, as in regard to territorial concessions. The Deposit to be paid on the allotment of Shares will be Two Shillings per Share, being after the rate of ten shillings per cent., the amount prescribed by the Act 7 and 8 Vict., c. 110. A deed, embodying the provisions required by that Act, and such as the Directors may consider proper for the regulation of the Company, and for carrying out the ob- jects in view, will be prepared; and if any Shareholder should fail to execute the same for one month after the 7 publication of a motice in the “Times” newspaper, calling on the Proprietors so to do, his Shares, with the Deposits paid thereon, will become forfeited to the use of the Com- pany. Application will be made for a Charter of Incorporation or an Act of Parliament, limiting the liability of the Share- holders to the amount of their subscriptions. ~” OPINIONS OF THE PRESS ON THE U PPER IN DIA. R. A.II, W A Y. MoRNING HERALD, Sept. 14th, 1852.-City Article. The “Upper India Railway Company,” the prospectus of which has been published in the “Herald,” may be regarded as one of the most important undertakings of the day, and will probably command a large share of public interest. Its peculiar merits will best commend themselves to attention by a perusal and study of the prospectus itself, with its citations of high authorities, extensive, rich, and populous territories, and all the appliances of a large and highly remunerative traffic, as ascertained from the most qualified quarters in its support. EconoMIST, Sept. 18th, 1852. A railway company, called the Upper India, makes its appear- ance this week, to construct railways in that part of our dominions. The plan is to commence at Allahabad, where the navigation of the Ganges for steamers terminates, and to carry an iron road in 8 time to Lahore and the Indus. The country is favourable for the project, being generally flat. In the first instance the railway will only be constructed to Cawnpore, the largest military stationin India, with which there is a great deal of communication. It will be afterwards extended. The project seems feasible; and our empire in India will be more securely preserved by carrying thither all the advantages of our civilization than by other means, Private enterprise cannot do much there, however, unless backed by the Indian Government, and this plan seems deserving of its support, and is likely, we are informed, to receive it.—Economist, 18th Sept. 1852. HERAPATH's Journal, Sept. 18, 1852. The district of country which this Railway Company is formed to occupy is nearly a dead level, admirably adapted for the con- struction of a railway, and abounds in traffic. The first section of the line is to run from Allahabad to Cawn- pore, a distance of one hundred and thirty miles. Hereafter it is intended to carry the line on from Cawnpore to Agra, Delhi, La- hore, and the Indus; but this extension is nothing to the present purpose, which is simply to make a line from Allahabad to Cawn pore. The two important facts of the extremely favourable character of the country through which the line will pass (Allahabad to Cawnpore), and the large amount of traffic that now passes in that route, appear to be so well ascertained and authenticated that we shall not now stop to inquire as to the authorities. We shall, therefore, proceed at once to deal with the results obtained. Owing to the unusual levelness of the country, and the absence of all engineering difficulties whatever, the cost of the line, unfur- nished with working stock, is estimated at £3000 per mile Another £2000 a-mile covers the cost of the working stock, &c.; so that for £5000 the line will be completely made and stocked. This is on the American scale of cheapness. In America rail- ways are excellent properties, not because they have large streams of traffic, but because their capital cost is light. 9 But the “Upper India Railway” is not only to be made as cheaply as the cheapest of the American railways, but its traffic is enormous. The existing traffic passing over every mile of the line is “officially ascertained” to be one million tons of goods per annum, and one hundred thousand passengers per annum, besides some other traffic.* What amount of revenue per mile per annum will this traffic produce? It is stated that the toll now paid for goods is from 4.d. to 8d. per ton per mile. Assume that the Railway Company —carrying in half an hour what now takes a whole day—had the lower tariff, namely 4d. per mile. The gross revenue from goods alone would then be as much as 16,500l. per mile per annum. At fifty per cent. for working expenses, the profit would be 8250l. per mile per annum, the capital cost being 5000l. per mile. As this exhibits a dividend of above one hundred and fifty per cent. per annum, from goods' traffic alone, we might very well be excused from proceeding farther in the inquiry; for surely anything like a profit of this amount is quite ample. But it is as well to carry the inquiry out, and see what the passenger part of the traffic would also produce. The passengers are stated to number at least one hundred thousand passing over every mile of the line; the fare they pay is not officially stated, but we under- stand it averages more than 3d. per passenger per mile. The Europeans gladly pay almost any amount that is charged, even up to 2s. 6d. per mile per passenger; and from them alone there is a large traffic. The natives pay much less, except those of them— a numerous class of travellers, who-are Mogul merchants and gentlemen; these pay fares most extravagant in comparison with ours in England: 3d. per mile per passenger is, we are assured, a low average. Here is a gross revenue of 1250l., per mile per annum, and a profit (at fifty per cent. working expenses) of 625 l. per mile per annum, equal to a dividend on the capital of more than twelve per cent. per annum from the passenger traffic alone, in addition to that named from goods’ traffic. * The traffic being “through” it of course comes to the same thing whether we deal with it per mile, or for the whole length. It is more convenient to deal with the mileage. 10 But let us assume that instead of 4d. per ton per mile, and 8d. per passenger per mile, the railway charges should be as low as 1d. for both descriptions of traffic. We are not aware that charges so low as 1d. would be imposed on the railway company. Our only reason for assuming Id. instead of 4d. and 8d. is merely to see what position the company would in that event be. Per annum * per mile. The goods' traffic at 1d. per ton per mile would yield .. 264,125 Passenger, ld, per mile, about. . . . . . . . . . . • * * * * * * * * * * 400 f4,525 Working expenses at 50 per cent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,263 Profit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282,262 2,262l. per mile per ammum profit on a capital cost of 5,000l. per mile is equal to a dividend of about 50 per cent. per annum. So that we see, at this low capital cost the existing traffic would yield, taken at rates much lower than now charged—namely at ld. per mile per ton and per passenger, magnificent dividends. We do not enter into these calculations to induce the Share- holders of the “Upper India Railway” to reckon on dividends of 100 per cent. per annum, and more, but to show, what in truth we fully believe, that if a railway were laid down in this part of the country at the capital cost stated, or double as much, that it would pay highly remunerative dividends. Major Kennedy, late director of the railway department to the Government of India, said in his report to Lord Dalhousie that this part of the country offers “the most singularly inviting district for laying down a railway that can be found in the world.” Our readers are, of course, aware of the existence of the “East India Railway Company,” a company guaranteed by the Government a minimum dividend of five per cent. per annum, whose line is in course of formation, and destined, we believe to be of great service to the country. Their line runs from Calcutta to Rajmahal (or Rajmahl), Rajmahl being 11 a town at the head of the Delta of the Ganges. Originally that line was to have taken another route, namely, from Calcutta to Mirzapore. There is very little doubt that it was a wise deter- mination to deviate its original route, going to Rajmahal in place of Mirzapore, since to get to Mirzapore in a direct line across the country, as was intended, a vast dictrict of almost barren and yet most difficult country would have to be traversed, incurring enormous capital cost, and carrying the line for hundreds of miles completely out of the way of traffic. In taking the Rajmahal route the “East India Railway Com- pany” adopted, it appears, the line which Mr. W. P. Andrew, the Managing Director of the “Upper India Railway Company,’ projected or suggested. Mr. W. P. Andrew is well known as the author of a work which, in its day, acquired great celebrity, entitled, “Indian Railways, by an Old Indian Postmaster.” That work was published in the year 1846. At pages 122 and 123 of the second edition), we find Mr. Andrew writing thus— “The East Indian (from Calcutta to Mirzapore) declining all co- operation with the river would do this (i.e. connect Calcutta with the north-west) 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 Rajmahal), and the line from Allahabad to Delhi, passing many towns and villages, and taking advantage of the river navigation where it is available (instead of superseding, would stimulate corresponding improvements in the river), they would, at half the cost, and in one quarter of the time, supply this new indispensable desideratum. By adopting the river from Rajmahal 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 included in the general estimate for a complete communica- tion 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 Rajmahal), and the line from Allahabad to Delhi, co-operating with fleets of river steamers, from Rajmahal to Allahabad, would at Once be not only the most judicious, the easiest and 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.” 12 Our readers will understand that at the time Mr. Andrew then wrote (in 1846), the “East Indian Railway Company’s” line was to go, as he in the above quotation mentions, from Calcutta to Mirzapore. It was against this plan that he wrote, suggesting the better one of running from Calcutta to Rajmahal, taking ad- vantage of the good river navigation from Rajmahal to Allahabad and then constructing a line from Allahabad to Delhi via Cawn- pore, Agra, &c. His route is the very one now taken in part by the “East Indian Railway Company,” and proposed to be completed by the “Upper India Railway Company.” “The East India Railway” is being constructed as a line from Calcutta to Rajmahal; at Raj- mahal there are steamers carrying traffic to Allahabad, where deep water ceases; and Mr. Andrew and his party, to be incor- porated or chartered under the title of the “Upper India Railway Company,” now come forward to construct the remaining portion of the line he projected—namely, from Allahabad to Cawnpore, hereafter to be extended to Delhi and beyond. We should say that not only is the first section of the “Upper India Railway”—namely, from Allahabad to Cawnpore, free from engineering difficulties, but the country is of the same highly favourable character all the way to Delhi. BAILWAY TIMEs, Sept. 25, 1852. “The scheme (of the Upper India Railway Company) is not new; it is in fact only a modification of a more extended plan brought forward in 1846 by Mr. Andrew, a well-known officer of the Honourable Company's service ; but it would appear that the East Indian, a most respectable undertaking in its own place, and one already furnished with quite enough of work to keep itself within its own doors for a good many years to come, has suddenly bethought itself of some unacknowledged birthright by which it claims the whole of Hindostan as a possession. What would have been thought of the Liverpool and Manchester, even in its days of comparative magnitude and original ad- venture, with its prize for the invention of locomotives to boot, 13 had it declared, sometime or other before half its ground was cleared, that no one had a right to imagine another line for any other part of Britain—nay, we may say Europe—that from Liverpool alone, not towards it, should schemes emanate and undertakings be brought to fruition; that with its original capital, and “extensions” the whole of England should, at its con- venience, be brought into working communication with “the parent line 2° Something of this sort, in the year 1852, is actually urged against new or independent companies in India, and in favour of the East Indian,—a line not altogether re- markable either for solidity or progress—as the leading influence in the peninsula from which extensions should emanate. The ahsurdity of the claim has effected no little good. It has attracted public attention; and public opinion in condemning the claim, has naturally been drawn to the merits of the scheme thus attempted to be snubbed or cajoled out of its position. It is one of the advantages of the Upper India that its councils are kept within the bounds of moderation by the practical know- ledge of several of its more active members. Mr. Andrew, for instance, is as fully acquainted with the district between Allahabad and Cawnpore as he is with Leadenhall-street, and quite as compe- tent to give information or to correct misapprehension in London as if the inquirer were himself at the locality in question. The face of the country, the people, their trade, and social habits and wants, have been apparently well considered, and instructive authorities brought to bear upon the merits of the project, even to a minutiae not frequently vouchsafed by engineers or traffic-takers in this country. For instance, we find among the independent testimonials in favour of the scheme, the following narrative by Major. Kennedy, lately of the “Railway Department” of the Indian Government, as embodied in a report to the Governor General. (See Prospectus.) Such being the country, and its readiness for railway works, it is befitting that the existing traffic of the district, as well as its capacity for extension and development, should be brought under public notice. This we find to be amply elucidated in the pro- 14 spectus—not as it may be conjectured, but as it has been proved to exist. With the usual incongruity of the Saxon character, it happens that not a few of the more inquiring of our generation really know more of India than of England, and therefore the statements given are as open to challenge as if they related to the traffic of Fleet-street or London-bridge. So that this data can be relied on, there is not the slightest danger of this extension of the railway system in Upper India failing to be profitable as useful, and adding one of England's mightier victories of peace to the conquest of a country rich alike in “the spoils of time,” the abundance of natural productions, the elements of wealth, and the strength and solidity of a stirring, active, and comfortable population. FRIEND OF INDIA, August, 1852. For the purposes of the railway, the Bengal presidency may be considered as eatending from the great port of Calcutta to the great mart of the west, Mirzapore. Such appears also to be the decision of the Court of Directors, who, in their recent orders for the survey of the line by the engineer officers of the “East India Railway Company,” fived Mirzapore as the limit of their labours. The Agra Presidency Railway would, therefore, ex- tend from Mirzapore to Delhi, or as much beyond that city as might be deemed advisable. The distance from Calcutta to Mirzapore by the river route, which has now been adopted was calculated by Mr. Simms, the consulting engineer of Govern- ment, at five hundred and thirty-seven miles; the distance from Mirzapore to Delhi, at four hundred and eighteen. The longer section of the line would thus belong to the Bengal railway, the shorter to the Agra rail. We are fully aware that, at one time, before we had any experience of railways in India, or of the mode in which they had to be constructed, or the time they would occupy, or the various physical impediments which were required to be overcome ; it was contemplated that the north- west line and that of Bengal should be constructed under the 15 same system of agency. It was proposed that the rail should commence at Howrah, and proceed in unbroken succession to the extreme limits of the north-west provinces; but we are very much mistaken if the eaſperience of the last two years has not tended to modify this opinion, and to enforce the conclusion that the Agra rail should be considered as distinct from that of Bengal as that of Bombay is, and that it should be carried on under a different and independent instrumentality. The construction of the railway is found to involve so much more labour, toil, and responsibility than was at first eaſpected, that the allotment of more than a manageable line to a single company appears to be wnadvisable. If the line to Mirzapore be left in the hands of the “ East India Railway Company,” it will be quite as much as they can manage with convenience to themselves, and ad- vantage to the interest of the country. The road from Howrah to the collieries, a distance of one hundred and twenty miles, will probably be finished by the end of the next year. Some are so sanguine as to fix an earlier period, and we sincerely hope their expectations will not be disappointed. But our calculation may be correct, and in that case it will be apparent to all, that, if a line of one hundred and twenty miles requires three years, the line to Mirzapore will not be finished, at the same rate of pro- gression, under thirteen years. It would be preposterous, how- ever, to keep the north-west provinces out of their rail during this long period, while the Bengal rail was slowly and deliberately progressing up towards the frontier. It would be far more advis- able to consider the interests of the Agra railway apart, and to provide at once for its construction, independent of the Bengal line. “The Agra railway, if it extended no farther than Delhi, would comprise, as we have stated, four hundred and eighteen miles, of which fifty-two miles are below Allahabad, and three hundred and sixty-six above it. The country above Allahabad is perhaps better adapted for the rail than any other part of India. This line, which would run through the Dooab, presents almost F 16 a perfect level, and the fewest engineering difficulties to be met with in any part of India. It seems to have been especially formed by the hand of nature for railway operations; and the impediments to be overcome are so few, that the work might be completed within a very short period, alud at a comparatively small cost. It is probable that £7,000 a-mile would cover every item of expense, and the whole line would, therefore, not require a larger capital than £3,000,000 sterling. The Court of Directors have now discovered that money may be readily obtained in London, on the guarantee of the revenues of India, at, the rate of four per cent. (43%) The risk to Government in the construction of a line from Mirzapore to Delhi, would not, therefore, in the whole exceed £120,000 a-year. This risk, however, would be more nominal than real; the immense traffic of those opulent provinces, and the constant intercourse which is kept up among their in- habitants, enables us to affirm, without hesitation, that the returns from the rail, in the very first year of its operations, would com- pletely cover this sum, and leave Government free from all loss.” DELHI GAZETTE, Saturday, November 6th, 1852. “Having often urged the importance of a Railway through the Dooab, and expressed our conviction that the first experimental Indian line should have started from Allahabad, we are much gratified to learn that a Company has been formed in England for the purpose of carrying out this important undertaking. The “Upper India Railway Company,’ whose Prospectus we find in Allen's Indian Mail, proposes to commence with a railway from Allahabad to Cawnpore, and subsequently to carry on the line to Agra, Delhi, Lahore, and the Indus, or in other words to occupy the ground which was abandoned by the now defunct Great North of India Company. “The list of names includes that of the public's old friend An Old Indian Postmaster,’ and this is something at least, towards assuring the public confidence. We shall return to the subject in our next. 17 DELHI GAZETTE, Wednesday, 10th November, 1852. “As we have announced already, a Company has been formed at home for the construction of a railway north-west from Alla- habad. In its prospectus we see several good names, and there is this in favour of the project, that it has been started at a time when there is no railway mania, or mania for any other kind of speculation. Few people who are acquainted with the Dooab can doubt that it was at Allahabad that the experiment should have been first commenced. In treating of such subjects it is very unsafe to go by statistics. The Prospectus of the new Com- pany announces, for instance, that the passenger traffic between Allahabad and Cawnpore amounts to 300,000 per annum. If we are not mistaken, this was the truth six or seven years ago, when the facts on which this prospectus is framed were gathered and published in this paper. Since then the traffic has enormously increased. The various bullock trains are rapidly converting even the poorer natives into a travelling people. To say nothing of the fatigue which they save the traveller, they have given him a security of person and property, which was never dreamt of before. We have a strong impression that if Mr. Raikes, the energetic collector of Mympoorie, were to extend his statistical inquiries so that they should embrace “passenger traffic,” and also we may add, the estimated weight of goods passing to and fro, the Upper India Railway would be provided with data far more promising even than those on which they have founded their plans. The question to be considered is not so much the traffic which really exists as the traffic which may be created by improved means of communication, and hence it is im- portant to compare what existed before bullock trains became general with the present state of things. “We need give no apology for making a rather long extract from the Prospectus of the new Company. (The ea tract from the Prospectus is here omitted.) “Every one who has travelled over the ground will admit that the absence of engineering difficulties, which is here (i. e. in 18 the Prospectus) so much dwelt upon, is not overrated. Hardly a bridge worthy the name would be required from Allahabad to within twenty miles of Delhi, nor would a single brick have to be burnt for “ballasting,” as kunkur is to be found almost any- where by the roadside. Indeed, the Grand Trunk Road, widened a little, would afford ample room for a single line of rail, and a single line, supplied with an electric telegraph, is all that for the present there is any occasion for. “We heartily welcome the present scheme, wishing it every success and speedy extension to our imperial city.”