of a state guarantee of 4 francs per cent, interest, with 65 centimes additional for a sinking fund, on the capital expended for their construction.
The French railways at present are almost entirely—the exception being to the amount of less than 200 miles—in the hands of six great companies. The length of lines held by each of these companies on January 1, 1869, was as follows:—Paris, Lyons, and Mediterranean, 3,921 kilomètres; Eastern of France, 2,656; Orleans, 3,361; Western of France, 2,104; Northern of France, 1,474; and Southern of France, 1,708 kilomètres. The six systems combined had thus, in 1869, an aggregate of 15,224 kilomètres, or 9,515 English miles in operation. The produce per kilomètre of the lines of the six great companies was in 1868 as follows in the order of their earnings:—Old network, Lyons, 82,034f.; Northern, 77,489; Western, 65,980f.; Eastern, 62,882f.; Southern, 45,449f.; and Orleans, 41,623f. There was an increase of earnings, in 1868 over the year 1867, on the Southern of 1,040f. per kilomètre; but the Western showed a diminution of 4,505f.; Orleans, of 3,460f.; Northern, of 3,416f.; Lyons, of 1,508f.; and the Eastern, of 715f. per kilomètre. The order in which the lines of the New network stood in the amount of their produce per kilomètre in 1868 was as follows:—Eastern, 62,798f.; Lyons, 26,737f.; Northern, 22,749f.; Western, 8,659f.; Orleans, 16,459f.; Rhone to Mont Cenis, 1,974f.; Southern, 12,013f. Those which showed an improvement in 1868 over 1867 were the Southern, 2,065f.; Western, 590f.; Eastern, 381f. On the others there was a falling off—the Northern, 775f.; Lyons, 745f.; and Orleans, 568f. per kilomètre. The receipts on the various small companies ranged from 46,444f., on the line from Somain to Auzin and the Belgian frontier, down to 4,669f. only on that from Vitré to Fougères, Brittany.
At the end of 1868 there were 36,800 kilomètres of lines of telegraphs in France. The number of telegraphic despatches sent during the year 1868 was, in round numbers, 4,000,000, of which one-fourth were international messages, and three-fourths for the interior. The total receipts amounted to 9,000,000 francs, or 360,000 £, the average produce being 1 franc, or l0 d., for every home, and 3 francs, or 2 s. 6 d., for every international message.
The number of letters forwarded by the French post-office in the year 1868 was 360,000,000, and they produced a revenue of 72,567,000 francs, or 2,922,680 £. The post-office besides forwarded printed matter and parcels to the number of 325,000,000 at a revenue of 8,263,000 francs, or 330,520 £, and issued money orders to the number of 5,320,000, and the value of 157,000,000 francs, or 6,280,000 £ for France, and to the number of 139,400,000, and the value of 6,600,000 francs, or 264,000 £ for foreign countries.
