INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
91
The total number of vessels that entered coastwise in 1897 was 329,817, of 56,518,753 tons; and cleared, 294,662 vessels, of 49,417,222 tons. The total number of vessels that entered the ports of the Kingdom in 1897 was 394,464, of 101,442,082 tons; and cleared, 359,440 of 94,692,756 tons.
Internal Communications. I. Railways.
The following table shows the total length of the railways of the United Kingdom open at the end of the years given, and the average yearly increase in miles : —
Year
Line Open
Av. Yearly Increase
Year
Line Open
Av. Yearly Increase
1850 1860 1870
Miles
6,621
10,433
15,537
Miles 265 381 510
1880 1890 1897
Miles 17,933 20,073 21,433
Miles 240 214 194
Of the total length of lines open January 1, 1898, there belonged to England and Wales 14,818 miles, to Scotland 3,447 miles, and to Ireland 3,168 miles.
The following table gives the length of lines open, the capital paid up, the number of passengers conveyed, and the traffic receipts of all the railways of the United Kingdom in 1878, and each of the last five years : —
I Length of lines
Year ^P^" *^ ^®*^l the end I
of each
year
Total Capital
paid up
(shares and
loans) at the
end of each
year
Miles 1878 17,333 I 698,545,154 1893120,646 971,323,353
1894 20,908 1 985,387,355
1895 21,174 |],001, 110,221
Number of Passengers
conveyed (ex- clusive of
season-ticket holders)
No. 565,024,455 873,177,052
Receipts
From Passengers
911,412,926 36,495,488 929,770,909 37,361,162 980,339,433 39,120,865 1897 21,43311,089,765,095,1,030,420,201 40,518,064
1896 21,277 !l,029,475,335i
£
26,889,614 35,849,449
From (Joods Traffic
33,564,761 |40,994,637 '43,379,078 44,034,885
- 46,175,335
47,857,172
Total, includ- ing Miscella- neous
62,862,674 80,631,892 84,310,831 85,922,702 90,119,122 93,737,054
Of the total capital at the end of 1897 the English railways had 896,411,043^., Scottish 153,887,595/., and Irish 39,466,457/. In the division of tlie receipts of 1897, England and Wales took 79,759,776/., Scotland 10,438,957/., and Ireland 3,538,321/. The
