It was this: the Great Southern and Western
Railway of Ireland was one of the many the completion of which was
arrested by want of funds, yet a portion of it was open for traffic. He
compared it with a well known English railway. The Irish one, he said,
had cost in its construction L15,000 per mile; the English, upwards of
L26,000 per mile; the weekly traffic on the two railways, allowing for
some difference in their extent, was about the same on both, varying in
amount from L1,000 to L1,300 per week; yet the unfinished British
railway was at L40 premium in the market,--the unfinished Irish one at
L2 discount.
1. Lord George's railway bill was simple and comprehensive. In order to
encourage the making of railways in Ireland, he proposed for every L100
properly expended on such railways, L200 should be lent by the
Government, at the very lowest interest at which, on the credit of the
Government, that amount could be raised. He undertook to prove "that the
State shall not lose one single farthing by the proposition." The
current interest was L3 6s. 8d. per cent., but he would assume it to be
3-1/2 per cent., and that the Government was to lend it at that rate,
and take the whole security of the railway for the loan; consequently, a
line paying L7 upon L300 expended would afford ample security for the
L200 lent by the State, at L3 10s.
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