Page:EB1911 - Volume 27.djvu/627

Gold.

	1890.	1895.	1900.	1905.	1909.
	£	£	£	£	£
From British possessions.	5,368,424	17,618,466	11,350,591	38,567,895	40,464,212
South Africa...	1,876,677	8,353,913	378,626	21,286,374	32,912,428
India.....	443,079	1,929,590	3,637,978	6,850,360	2,170,957
Australia....	1,398,627	5,324,498	6,182,718	3,440,037	2,613,002
Foreign countries.	18,199,625	18,390,863	14,840,282	4,949,335	14,227,617
Total....	23,508,049	36,009,329	20,190,873	43,517,230	54,691,829

Silver.

	1890.	1895.	1900.	1905.	1909.
	£	£	£	£	£
From British possessions..	350,094	282,269	264,676	412,756	667,619
Foreign countries..	10,035,565	10,384,063	13,057,624	12,579,258	11,147,270
United States of America	4,057,709	8,032,925	11,459,612	9,784,828	9,971,396
Total....	10,385,659	10,666,332	13,322,300	12,992,014	11,814,889

The number and gross tonnage of the registered sailing and steam vessels belonging to the United Kingdom were as follows at the end of each of the years named:—

Year.	Sailing Vessels.		Steam Vessels.
	Number.	Gross Tonnage.	Number.	Gross Tonnage.
1890	14,181	3,055,136	7,410	8,095,370
1895	12,617	3,040,194	8,386	9,952,211
1900	10,773	2,247,228	9,209	11,816,224
1905	10,059	1,796,826	10,552	14,883,594
1909	9,392	1,407,469	11,797	16,994,732

These figures show not only that steamers have been rapidly taking the place of sailing vessels, but also that large steamers are preferred to small, their average tonnage having increased from 1092 tons in 1895 to 1440 in 1909.

			1890.	1895.	1900.	1905.	1909.
			Tons.	Tons.	Tons.	Tons.	Tons.
London	${\Big \{}$	Entered	7,708,705	8,435,676	9,580,854	10,814,115	11,605,698
		Cleared	5,772,062	6,110,325	7,479,008	7,913,115	8,622,316
Liverpool and Birkenhead	${\Big \{}$	Entered	5,782,351	5,598,341	6,001,563	7,806,844	7,747,994
		Cleared	5,159,450	4,883,199	5,778,114	6,932,687	6,593,094
Cardiff	${\Big \{}$	Entered	3,173,699	3,739,856	5,132,523	4,337,720	5,771,476
		Cleared	5,641,511	6,500,510	7,636,717	7,476,879	8,888,756
Tyne Ports[1] & [2]	${\Big \{}$	Entered	3,401,216	3,292,624	3,897,142	4,058,618	5,700,405
		Cleared	5,010,098	4,822,648	4,894,157	5,158,899	6,899,023
Southampton	${\Big \{}$	Entered	888,352	1,420,531	1,613,913	2,087,277	4,279,052
		Cleared	813,133	1,328,393	1,395,486	1,888,030	4,108,063
Hull	${\Big \{}$	Entered	1,997,138	2,150,654	2,666,598	2,546,064	3,517,953
		Cleared	1,655,996	1,612,385	2,274,137	2,102,160	3,164,156
Glasgow	${\Big \{}$	Entered	1,121,700	1,184,537	1,454,860	1,635,609	1,917,144
		Cleared	1,697,662	1,911,739	2,229,574	2,836,462	3,160,916
Newport	${\Big \{}$	Entered	920,560	871,886	1,092,068	1,250,192	1,548,258
		Cleared	1,316,430	1,374,237	1,511,383	1,773,161	2,105,509
Dover	${\Big \{}$	Entered	789,846	742,940	973,074	2,928,741	1,636,530
		Cleared	767,724	734,334	964,476	2,944,774	1,631,751
Middlesbrough	${\Big \{}$	Entered	833,562	953,985	1,096,130	1,227,017	1,728,385
		Cleared	623,967	875,059	882,156	1,092,958	1,586,148
Blyth[2]	${\Big \{}$	Entered	—	—	974,285	1,094,168	1,292,353
		Cleared	—	—	1,525,727	1,623,003	1,836,503
Sunderland	${\Big \{}$	Entered	725,859	730,396	800,027	981,606	1,357,201
		Cleared	956,266	1,002,552	1,163,310	1,344,999	1,676,777
Swansea[3]	${\Big \{}$	Entered	565,644	580,481	1,018,148	635,458	1,020,480
		Cleared	858,215	931,588	1,427,903	1,335,134	1,719,654
Leith	${\Big \{}$	Entered	706,491	887,842	1,055,291	1,124,281	1,344,898
		Cleared	626,573	750,257	982,309	1,085,734	1,314,361
Grimsby	${\Big \{}$	Entered	663,513	763,892	931,238	1,094,531	1,289,476
		Cleared	689,165	829,837	960,236	1,074,495	1,334,566
Manchester	${\Big \{}$	Entered	—	317,625	787,497	1,133,003	1,275,937
		Cleared	—	288,001	595,757	970,620	1,067,835

Railways.—The first ordinary roads deserving the name of highways were made about 1660, and canal-building began in the middle of the following century; but though roads and canals aided materially in raising the commercial and industrial activity of the nation, their fostering agency was very slight compared with that of railways, of which England is the birthplace. The first line of railway for regular passenger service, that from Stockton to Darlington, 14 m. in length, was opened on the 27th of September 1825. The first really important railway was the line from Manchester to Liverpool, opened on the 5th of September 1830, when William Huskisson, M.P., was accidentally killed. It took three years to get the bill for the London-Birmingham railway, which was passed at last in the session of 1833, obtaining the royal assent on the 8th of May. The first sod of the great line was cut at Chalk Farm, London, on the 1st of June 1834. Enormous engineering difficulties had to be overcome, originating not so much from the nature of the ground as from intense public prejudice against the new mode of locomotion. It took over four years to construct the railway from London to Birmingham, at a cost exceeding £4,000,000. Even friends of the railway presaged that such outlay could not by any possibility be remunerative; but the contrary became evident from the moment the line was opened on the 17th of September 1838. All the great railway systems of England sprang into existence within less than ten years after the opening of the London-Birmingham line. Out of this railway grew one of the largest companies, the London & North-Western; while the most extensive system as regards mileage, the Great Western, originated in a line from Paddington, London, to Bristol, for which an act of parliament was obtained in 1835, and which was opened in 1841. In 1836 a bill passed the legislature erecting the “Great North of England” Railway Company, from which developed the North-Eastern system. A few years later other acts were passed, sanctioning the “Midland Counties” and the “North Midland” lines, from which the present Midland system grew.

The total length of railways conveying passengers in the United Kingdom at the end of the year 1825 was 40 m., constructed at a cost of £120,000. Five years later, at the end of 1830, there were not more than 95 m., built at a cost of £849,925, but at the end of 1835 there were 293 m., costing £5,648,531. Thus, in the first five years of railway construction, from 1825 to 1830, the mileage doubled; while in the second five years, from 1830 to 1835, it trebled. It quintupled in the next five-yearly period. till the end of 1840, when the total length of miles of railway in the kingdom had come to be 1435, built at a cost of £41,391,634, as represented by the paid-up capital of the various companies. The next five years saw nearly another doubling of length of lines, for at the end of 1845 there were 2441 m. of railway created by a paid-up capital of £88,481,376. Not far from a fresh trebling took place in the course of the next quinquennial period, and at the end of 1850 there were 6621 m. of railways, constructed at the cost of £240,270,745.

1. Newcastle, North Shields, South Shields.
2. Blyth was included with North Shields till 1897.
3. Swansea included Port Talbot till 1904.