“No doubt,” says the Report, “this result (_i. e._ high rate of charge on railways) is attributable partly to the necessity for running certain mail trains at hours unsuitable for passenger traffic; but even when the Post Office uses the ordinary trains established by the companies for their own purposes, the rate of charge, especially considering the regularity and extent of custom, is almost always higher, than that made to the public for like services.” What are the “like services” rendered to the public? The public are conveyed as the mails are conveyed; but do the public take the control of the trains into their own hands, choosing where they will stop, and when they will go on, and preventing alteration of times? The public accommodate themselves to the regulations of the railways; but the Post Office takes its own time, and interferes in any way it pleases with the conveyance of the public and their goods. What are the charges made for conveying mails by “the ordinary trains established by the companies for their own purposes?” The Post Office has not furnished a list of these charges; but it appears from the table, which I have before quoted, that there are trains which carry mails in England at as low a rate as one farthing per mile. These are, no doubt, “ordinary trains established by the companies for their own purposes,” and if that charge is “almost always higher than the charge made to the public for the like service,” all I can say is, that I can hardly conceive how a smaller coin could be substituted for such a service. “It fortunately happens,” says the Report, “that Mr. Stephenson furnishes, in his address, the data for checking his own accuracy on this particular point. He says, that the locomotive expenses on railways do not, on an average, exceed 9½d. per mile, and that the cost of running a train may be assumed, in most cases, to be about 15d. per mile. Compare this with some of the rates actually paid by the Post Office to different companies at various periods within the last few years, amounting, in one instance, to the enormous price of 4s. 6d. per single mile.” This is not a correct deduction from my observation. Although locomotive expenses do not, on an average, exceed 9½d. per mile, and although the current expenses of running a train may he assumed, in most cases, to be about 15d. per mile, you are all aware that “locomotive expenses” and “the cost of running a train” are not to be taken as representing the cost of supplying the service required by the Post Office. These charges were estimated for different purposes. They are the bare cost of power, &c. They do not include any calculation for establishment charges, wear and tear of road, interest on capital, or payment of expenses of station officers and porters. Of course the estimate does not include any compensation for extra services, such as are required by the Post Office, nor any allowance of any sort for profit.