FOREIGN RAELwAys.—The first continental country that availed itself of railway loco motion was the small kingdom of Belgium, where a number of lines in connection with each other were constructed between and 1836, and in about ten years afterward the group was nearly completed in a well-devised and comprehensive scheme. From Belgium railways spread to France, where they were laid down on a plan prescribed by the government, which offered special encouragement to capitalists. The method adopted was to give the land and make the bridges; but, besides these heavy items of i expenditure, the government was in a number of instances at the cost of the entire per manent way. So far favored, the promoters, who formed a company, had only to find capital to work and maintain the line. The government, however, relinquished the property only on the footing of a lease for such a number of years as a company was dis posed to be satisfied with. Tenders were ordinarily taken from competing bodies of promoter's; in this manner the concession, or right of tenancy, has been adjusted at from 50 to 99 years; at the end of the preScribed periods the lines will fall into the hands of the government. Latterly, the French system has outgrown this kind of tutelage; and there is a disposition in companies to act on an independent footing; the state, how ever, has secured a very general right of property in the existing lines, whether by the method of assistance originally fallen upon, or by giving large subventions of money, on the plan of receiving a share of profits after a certain dividend has been reached. means of these subventions, as well as a species of guaranteed monopoly of traffic, the profits to shareholders in some French lines reach from 10 to 12 per cent. Within 99 years from 1852, a large proportion of the French railways will lapse into possession of the state. On one or other of the various plans of government helping companies. and preventing ruinous competition. nearly the whole railway system of continental Europe, Asia, and Africa established; and in a large number of the foreign railway undertakings everywhere much British capital is invested. The principal continental railways, particularly in France and Belgium, are double lines, and under good manage ment; bpt the rate of transit is generally slower than in England, and the formalities as to taking tickets and being allowed to enter the trains are exceedingly troublesome.
Various continental lines have been constructed by English contractors. who employed English navvies for the purpose. In Italy: however, as lately as 1862, we observed that the work of construction was performed in a tedious and laborious man ner by women and girls, who carried the earth in baskets on their heads, under the superintendence of task-masters with whips—a sorrowful spectacle, and the more stir prisina. as being in a country noted for its advancement in practical engineering.
In'Canada,'IsTova and Australia, railways have been successfully established; but in no British dependency has the railway system been latterly pushed forward with such activity or likelihood of advantage as in India, where, at the end of 1874, 6,273 m. were open for traffic; and at the beginning of 1878, 7,324 miles. The undertakings have been materially assisted by government, by giving the land to the companies, by subven tions in proportion to the actual outlay, and in some instances by guaranties of a mini mum dividend of 5 per cent to shareholders. Railways have likewise been introduced into China and Japan. A line from Shanghai to Woosung, in China, was opened in 1876 (unhappily closed again); and Japan, iu 1878, possessed 661 m. of railway, with 142 m. in construction, and 455 in. sanctioned by government.
Hallways in the United States date from 1830, when a short line was made in Massa chusetts. All the American lines arc constructed and worked by private companies, but in other respects they differ materially from similar undertakings in England. A few peculiarities of the American routine may be noted. The cost of procuring legislative authority to make the lines has usually been very small; the lines are mostly single, and the land for them has often been either given for nothing, or for a comparatively trifling consideration; the lines have generally no fences, and they go through populous towns along the open streets without restriction or fear of the consequences; the only care taken against accidents is for the driver to ring a bell, and it is usual to put up boards with the inscription: "Look out for the locomotive when the bell rings." Tickets are sold by the guard or at offices throughout a town without fixing a date, fa=t as ordinary articles are sold at a shop; the waiting-rooms are generally of a poor description; as regards passengers, nearly all varieties travel in one class of carriage; and lastly, there is a marked deficiency of porters, station-keepers, and other officials, either to give information or render assistance to passengers. We may add that the trains proceed at a comparatively slow rate. The whole. organization and management is, in fact, on a loose footing, though perhaps well adapted to the raw condition of a large part of the country. The seats in the " cars," as they are termed, are arranged in rows, with a passage up the middle for the conductor, who, by means of a small platform at each end. can step from carriage to carriage, and perambulate the train at pleasure, which he is constantly doing in the performance of his tieket-selling and ticket-taking duty. The wheels being attached to a swivel or bogie framework, the cars can turn round corners with ease, notwithstanding their great length. Altogether, the railway system of the United States edit in no shape be brought into comparison with that of the United King dom, for the two things are constituted on very different principles. The chief desire in America has been to open up time country at all hazards to railway communication, leaving improvements to be effected afterward by the wealth which that communication is almost certain to creme. On the contrary, in Great Britain and Ireland, there has been no pervading aim of this kind; every railway scheme has been legislated for and leaded with expenses as if it were a matter of indifference to the nation whether such projects should be carried out or not; and, as is well known, the comfort and conve nience of passengers has, on the whole, at whatever cost, been a matter of primary con cern to the companies.
The following particulars, which are almost entirely taken from the Statesman's Year Book, may be found interesting. They show the mileage of railways open for traffic, and the proportion existing between that mileage and the area of the principal countries of the world: There are several newspapers devoted to railway subjects, issued weekly in Loudon, the oldest of which is that known as Ilerapath's Raibray Journal. We cannot close this notice without adverting to the important service rendered to the traveling community in the United Kingdom by Braddum's Rahway and Stearn-Navigation Guide, so well known to the public for its comprehensive and carefully constructed timetables (q.v.). In France, Germany, the United States, and other countries, railway timetables are now issued, weekly or monthly, on the plan so successfully established by Mr. Brad shaw, whose Guide, however, is not excelled for accuracy, cheapness, or the extent of its information.