raphic signals and auxiliaries. Those signals have to be raised
and lowered 10,000 times in the twenty-four hours. There are on our
line 1700 pairs of points, which have to be opened and shut, to be
cleaned, oiled, and attended to, above 5000 times in the day. In
addition to all this there are the operations of shunting,
carriage-examining, greasing, and other things in connexion with trains
which involve operations amounting to nearly 6000 in number. So that--
apart from repairs to the line and to vehicles--there are above 30,000
individual operations which have to be performed every twenty-four hours
in the conduct of this enormous passenger traffic.

"All this information I have obtained from our able and excellent
passenger-superintendent, than whom there is not a more important
officer in the Company's service, unless, indeed," (here the chairman
turned with a smile and a slight bow to the gentlemen who sat on his
right hand) "I may except the general manager and secretary.

"Well, now, gentlemen, I put it to you, is it surprising that the 6000
men who have to perform these 30,000 operations in the day--amounting to
the vast total of ten millions of operations in the year--is it
surprising, I say, that these 6000 men should now and then fall into
some error of judgment, or make some mistake, or even be guilty of some
negligence? Is it not, on the contrary, most surprising that accidents
are not far more numerous; and does it not seem almost miraculous that
where duties are so severe, the demands made by the public so great--
speed, punctuality, numberless trains by day and night--there should be
only one accident to report this half-year, while last half-year there
were no accidents at all? And does it not seem hard that the public
should insist that we shall be absolutely infallible, and, when the
slightest mistake occurs, should haul us into court and punish us with
demands for compensation for accidents which no human ingenuity or
foresight could prevent?

"Before leaving this subject allow me to direct your attention to the
fogs which occurred this half-year. There were thirty days in which
during a part, if not the whole, of the twenty-four hours we had out our
fog-signal men; that is to say, an additional staff of 300 men, each
with his flag and detonating signals, placed within sight, or within
sound of one another, to assist the ordinary signalmen in the safe
conduct of the traffic. During these f