A second illustration may be given. About twenty-five years ago a branch railway of 6 miles in length was promoted and sanctioned by Parliament as part of a line to compete with an existing railway. The original cost was estimated at £42,000, and the total amount of capital authorised was £60,000. Not until 20 years after the Act was obtained was the line opened for traffic. During this period no fewer than eleven applications for increased capital or other powers were made to Parliament; and three schemes of arrangement were entered into with creditors and confirmed by the Chancery Court. The total capital expended has been upwards of £157,000, of which 44 per cent. has been raised by loans, 46 per cent. by preference shares, and 10 per cent. only by ordinary stock. What need there was of the line may be inferred from the fact that, although it has now been open for some five years, the gross receipts are not sufficient even to pay the locomotive expenses. One more case may be mentioned. An application was made to Parliament for powers to construct a line about 7 miles in length, which was estimated to cost not far short of £120,000. After four years a further application was made for extension of time and for power to raise more than half the share capital by the issue of preference stock and to pay interest out of capital. It was then given in evidence that upwards of one-fourth of the estimated cost of the line had already been expended, although no works had been constructed, and only £1,000 paid towards the acquisition of land. In such cases the diversion of traffic from existing railways usefully serving the public, the loss of interest on the outlay if the line is in the end purchased by them, and the expense of working it, are so much dead weight which the railway system has to bear. Thus the companies are so much less able to reduce rates.