and faithful copies, with a track-chart of
the winds experienced on the outward and homeward voyage, in addition
to the usual information. Steam-vessels are to keep a record of the
quantity of coal on board at noon each day--of the time it is
estimated to last--and of the number of miles steamed in the previous
twenty-four hours.

Railways, too, exhibit signs of progress. The gross proceeds of the
traffic for the first seven months of 1851 amounted to L.8,254,303,
while for the same portion of the present year the sum is L.8,504,002;
a result the more striking when it is remembered that last year we had
the Exhibition. The new lines opened in 1851 comprised not more than
269 miles--the smallest amount in any year since 1848--so that, at the
end of December, we had 6890 miles of railway actually opened, and
5101 miles authorised and still to be made. It is clear that the
greater portion of the latter will never be attempted, seeing that
people have really found out that railways are not exempt from the
operation of the great natural laws of supply and demand. Some of the
facts of last year's traffic are astounding: the total number of
passengers conveyed was 85,391,095--twelve millions more than in the
preceding year; and the aggregate returns amounted to L.14,997,459.
What a difference when compared with the sum paid for travel and
transport twenty years ago! In the United States, the number of miles
of railway actually open is 13,200, which, by the end of 1855, it is
expected will be increased to 18,000 or 20,000. There are 27,000 miles
of electric telegraphs, but in this estimate the five or six lines
between any two places are all counted. On one of the lines from New
York to Washington, 253,857 messages were sent in the year ending last
July, the toll for which amounted to 103,232 dollars--over L.20,000.

Notwithstanding all this material development, in some respects there
is no advance--except it be of fares, which on some lines running out
of London have been increased in accordance with 'arrangements'
between companies who seem desirous of substituting wholesale monopoly
for wholesome competition. Murmurs on every side already attest the
effects of such a change of system, and it is to be hoped that
imperative means will be found of insuring more attention than at
present to the comfort and safety of passengers. No one out of the
position of a director or shareholder can see any good reason why
English railwa