RAILWAY CAPITAL AND REVENUES.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.'] SIR,—I read with pleasure the paragraph in last week's Spectator- on the enlargement of railway-stations, but do you not couple " enlargement " and " rebuilding " too absolutely ? You say, "For example, the enlargement and rebuilding of stations on an old line should certainly, we think, be undertaken out of revenue, and not be effected out of capital, since it is not a certain and dis- tinct source of more revenue, but only at most a precaution against , the loss of some." In rebuilding an old station because it is dilapidated, this principle is pretty generally followed by the great Companies, at any rate in this country, but some of the smaller ones ought to attend to it much more than they do.
With regard to "enlargement," however, the case is quite different. Often the enlargement of a station is "a certain and distinct source of more revenue," as when it is necessitated by the opening of new liner. These lines may be several miles distant from the station into which they discharge their traffic, and may even belong to another company, but the extra traffic may none the less require extra-terminal accommodation.
There are also the cases in which the need for enlargement arises from the gradual extension of railways in the neighbour- hood, and from the increase of population and manufactures. In all thriving places, a time comes when the capacities of old stations are taxed to the utmost, and it is then the duty of directors to provide for the increase of business that may reasonably be expected to accrue in a moderate number of years. Constant alterations, are expensive, land and works tend to become more costly, and working expenses are always lowest in goods and passenger stations constructed on one comprehensive plan. The same principle applies to the increase of rolling stock and the doubling of lines. None of these improvements can be said to be in themselves" certain and distinct sources of more revenue," but they are all much more than "mere precautions against the loss of it." When such improvements become desirable, in the opinion of competent judges, they seem to be fair occasions for capital expenditure ; and of course, when a station becomes un- necessary, as by the closing of a colliery, its full value ought to
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