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THE RELATION OF THE STATE TO RAILWAYS.
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the rate of 4 per cent., would receive eight millions of Government bonds.
The following calculation is only an approximate one, but it will afford some indication of the probable financial result of an operation of this kind, supposing it to have been undertaken at the close of the year 1886.[1]
| The total amount of capital (including both share and loan) invested in the railways of the United Kingdom was in December, 1886 | £828,344,254 |
| The gross revenue earned in the year 1886 was ; | £69,591,953 |
| At the present time the capital is earning dividend at various rates, from nothing at all up to 12 per cent.; but the bulk is earning from 3 to 5 per cent., and the amount thus distributed to the shareholders in the year 1886 was | £33,073,706 |
| (The average for the three years 1884, 1885 and 1886 was almost identical.) | |
| The capital invested in railways constructed but paying no dividend is £55,810,316, upon one-half of which, say £27,905,108, the Government would pay 2½ per cent | 697,627 |
| The capital of railways under construction on which no dividend is paid |
- ↑ The Board of Trade returns for the year 1887 are not completed at the time of writing.
