belonging to different railway companies at an
inclusive charge for the whole journey, it distributes the money
received in due proportions between the companies concerned in rendering
the service. To this end it receives, in the case of passenger traffic,
a monthly return of the tickets issued at each station to stations on
other lines, and, in the case of goods traffic, it is supplied by both
the sending and receiving stations (when these are on different
companies' systems) with abstracts showing the character, weight, &c.,
of the goods that have travelled between them. By the aid of these
particulars it allocates the proper share of the receipts to each
company, having due regard to the distance over which the traffic has
been carried on each line, to the terminal services rendered by each
company, to any incidental expenses to which it may have been put, and
to the existence of any special agreements for the division of traffic.
(2) To avoid the inconvenience of a change of train at points where the
lines of different companies meet, passengers are often, and goods and
minerals generally, carried in through vehicles from their
starting-point to their destination. In consequence, vehicles belonging
to one company are constantly forming part of trains that belong to, and
run over the lines of, other companies, which thus have the temporary
use of rolling stock that does not belong to them. By the aid of a large
staff of "number takers" who are stationed at junctions all over the
country, and whose business is to record particulars of the vehicles
which pass through those junctions, the Clearing-House follows the
movements of vehicles which have left their owners' line, ascertains how
far they have run on the lines of other companies, and debits each of
the latter with the amount it has to pay for their use. This charge is
known as "mileage"; another charge which is also determined by the
Clearing-House is "demurrage," that is, the amount exacted from the
detaining company if a vehicle is not returned to its owners within a
prescribed time. By the exercise of these functions the Clearing-House
accumulates a long series of credits to, and debits against, each
company; these are periodically added up and set against each other,
with the result that the accounts between it and the companies are
finally settled by the transfer of comparatively small balances. It also
distributes the money paid by the post-office to the rai