way in 1867, not less than 24,500 tons were delivered by the former, and 22,000 tons, brought from much longer distances, by the latter company. The London and Northwestern brought about 6000 tons last year, the principal part of which was salmon from Scotland and Ireland. The Great Western also brought about 4000 tons, partly salmon, but the greater part mackerel from the southwest coast. During the mackerel season, as much as a hundred tons at a time are brought into the Paddington Station by express fish-train from Cornwall.

The Great Eastern and Great Northern Companies are also the principal carriers of turkeys, geese, fowls, and game, the quantity delivered in London last year by the former company having been 5042 tons. In Christmas week no fewer than 30,000 turkeys and geese were delivered at the Bishopsgate Station, besides about 300 tons of poultry, 10,000 barrels of beer, and immense quantities of fish, oysters, and other kinds of food. As much as 1600 tons of poultry and game were brought last year by the Southwestern Railway; 600 tons by the Great Northern Railway; and 130 tons of turkeys, geese, and fowls by the London, Chatham and Dover line, principally from France.

Of miscellaneous articles, the Great Northern and Midland each brought about 3000 tons of cheese, the Southwestern 2600 tons, and the London and Northwestern 10,034 cheeses in number; while the Southwestern and Brighton lines brought a splendid contribution to the London breakfast-table in the shape of 11,259 tons of French eggs; these two companies delivering between them an average of more than three millions of eggs a week all the year round! The same companies last year delivered in London 14,819 tons of butter, for the most part the produce of the farms of Normandy, the greater cleanness and neatness with which the Normandy butter is prepared for market rendering it a favorite both with dealers and consumers of late years compared with Irish butter. The London, Chatham and Dover Company also brought from Calais 96 tons of eggs.

Next, as to the potatoes, vegetables, and fruit brought by rail. Forty years since, the inhabitants of London relied for their supply of vegetables on the garden-grounds in the immediate neighborhood of the metropolis, and the consequence was that they were both very dear and limited in quantity. But railways, while they have extended the grazing-grounds of London as far as the Highlands, have at the same time extended the gardengrounds of London into all the adjoining counties-into East Kent, Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, the vale of Gloucester, and even as far as Penzance in Cornwall. The London, Chatham and Dover, one of the youngest of our main lines, brought up from East Kent last year 5279 tons of potatoes, 1046 tons of vegetables, and 5386 tons of fruit, besides 542 tons of vegetables from France. The Southeastern brought 25,163 tons of the same produce. The Great Eastern. brought from the eastern counties 21,315 tons of potatoes, and 3596 tons of vegetables and fruit; while the Great Northern brought no less than 78,505 tons of potatoes-a large part of them from the east of Scotland -and 3768 tons of vegetables and fruit. About 6000 tons of early potatoes were last year brought from Cornwall, with about 5000 tons of brocoli, and the quantities are steadily increasing. "Truly London hath a large belly," said old Fuller two hundred years since. But how much more capacious is it now!

One of the most striking illustrations of the utility of railways in contributing to the supply of wholesome articles of food to the population of large cities is to be found in the rapid growth of the traffic in Milk. Readers of newspapers may remember the descriptions published some years since of the horrid dens in which London cows are penned, and of the odious compound sold by the name of milk, of which the least deleterious ingredient in it was supplied by the "cow with the iron tail." That state of affairs is now completely changed. What with the greatly improved state of the London dairies and the better quality of the milk supplied by them, together with the large

quantities brought by railway from a range of a hundred miles and more all round London, even the poorest classes in the metropolis are now enabled to obtain as wholesome a supply of the article as the inhabitants of most country towns.

The milk traffic has in some cases been rapid, almost sudden, in its growth. Though the Great Western is at present the greatest of the milk lines, it brought very little into London prior to the year 1865. In the month of August in that year it brought 23,474 gallons, and in the month of October following the quantity had increased to 103,214 gallons. Last year the total quantity delivered in London by this single railway was 1,514,836 gallons, or an average of 30,000 gallons a week. The largest proportion of this milk was brought from beyond Swindon in Wiltshire, about 100 miles from London; but considerable quantities were also brought from the vale of Gloucester and from Somerset. The London and Southwestern also is a great milk-carrying line, having brought as much as 1,480,272 gallons to London last year, or an average of 28,000 gallons a week. The Great Eastern brought nearly the same quantity, 1,822,429 gallons, or an average of about 25,400 gallons a week. The London and Northwestern ranks next, having brought 643,432 gallons in 1867; then the Great Northern, 455,916 gallons; the Southeastern, 435,668 gallons; and the Brighton, 419,254 gallons. The total quantity of milk delivered in London by railway last year was 6,309,446 gallons, or above 120,000 gallons a week. Yet this traffic, large though it may appear, is as yet but in its infancy, and in the course of a few more years it will be found very largely increased, according as facilities are provided for its accommodation and transit.

These great streams of food, which we have thus so summarily described, flow into London so continuously and uninterruptedly, that comparatively few persons are aware of the magnitude and importance of the process thus daily going forward. Though gathered from an immense extent of country-embracing En

gland, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland-the influx is so unintermitted that it is relied upon with as much certainty as if it only came from the counties immediately adjoining London. The express meat-train from Aberdeen arrives in town as punctually as the Clapham omnibus, and the express milk-train from Aylesbury is as regular in its delivery as the penny post. Indeed, London now depends so much upon railways for its subsistence, that it may be said to be fed by them from day to day, having never more than a few days' food in stock. And the supply is so regular and continuous, that the possibility of its being interrupted never for a moment occurs to any one. Yet, in these days of strikes among workmen, such a contingency is quite within the limits of possibility. Another contingency, arising in a state of war, is probably still more remote. But, were it possible for a war to occur between England and a combination of foreign powers possessed of stronger iron-clads than ours, and that they were able to ram our ships back into port and land an enemy of overpowering force on the Essex coast, it would be sufficient for them to occupy or cut the railways leading from the north, to starve London into submission in less than a fortnight.

Besides supplying London with food, railways have also been instrumental in insuring the more regular and economical supply of fuel-a matter of almost as vital importance to the population in a climate such as that of England. So long as the market was supplied with coal brought by sea in sailing ships, fuel in winter often rose to a famine price, especially during long-continued easterly winds. But, now that railways are in full work, the price is almost as steady in winter as in summer, and the supply is more regular at all seasons. The following statement of the coals brought into London by sea and by railway, at decennial periods since 1827, as supplied by Mr. J. R. Scott, Registrar of the Coal Exchange, shows the effect of railways in increasing the supply of fuel, at the same time that they have lowered the price to the consumer:

Thus the price of coal has been reduced 78. 10d. a ton since 1827, while the quantity delivered has been enormously increased, the total saving on the quantity consumed in the metropolis in 1867, compared with 1827, being equal to £2,388,000.

But the carriage of food and fuel to London forms but a small part of the merchandise traffic carried by railway. Above 600,000 tons of goods of various kinds yearly pass through one station only, that of the London and Northwestern Company, at Camden Town; and sometimes as many as 20,000 parcels daily. Every other metropolitan station is similarly alive with traffic inward and outward, London having since the introduction of railways become more than ever a great distributive centre, to which merchandise of all kinds converges, and from which it is distributed to all parts of the country. Mr. Bazley, M.P., stated at a late public meeting at Manchester that it would probably require ten millions of horses to convey by road the merchandise traffic which is now annually carried by railway.

Railways have also proved of great value in connection with the Cheap Postage system. By their means it has become possible to carry letters, newspapers, books, and post parcels in any quantity, expeditiously and cheaply. The Liverpool and Manchester line was no sooner opened in 1830 than the Post-office authorities recognized its utility, and used it for carrying the mails between the two towns. When the London and Birmingham line was opened eight years later, mail trains were at once put on, the directors undertaking to perform the distance of 113 miles within 5 hours by day and 5 hours by night. As additional lines were opened, the old four-horse mail-coaches were gradually discontinued, until, in 1858, the last of them, the "Der