The Directors of the Midland Railway, who were the first
to carry third-class passengers by all trains, have found that experi- ment partially successful. The increase in the receipts from third-class passengers has been very great, they having risen from £566,914, in 1870, to £983,856 in 1873. On the other hand, the second-class receipts have fallen from £336,051 in 1871, to £189,436 in 1873, and there has been considerable increase in the cost of " haulage." The Directors have therefore deter- mined to abolish the second class, to reduce the first-class charge to 10. a mile, and to discontinue return-tickets. There is every probability, as we have tried to show elsewhere, that the experiment will succeed financially, but a cer- tainty that it will greatly diminish the comfort of first-class passengers. It is believed that the other great Railway Companies, which must follow suit, will not try the same experiment, but will retain three classes, reducing the price of the second. They hope thus, without incommoding first-class traffic, to fill the second-class carriages; in fact, to tempt part of the third-class passengers to pay a higher fare. It remains to be seen which is the better plan, but the latter is the more comfortable one.
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