In 1865 the total number of passengers carried (exclusive of 97,147 residential ticket holders) was 251,862,715, thus composed—first class, 29,663,205; second class, 70,783,241; third class, 151,416,269. But to the total number have to he added the journeys taken by the periodical ticket holders. If 100 journeys be allowed for each such holder (a number much below reality), it adds 9,717,400 to the gross amount, of which two-thirds should be attributed to first class, and one-third to second. _Per contra_, a deduction of about 5,000,000 must be made for passengers “booked through”—that is, passengers conveyed in a single journey over the lines of two or more companies. For instance, a passenger booked from London to Limerick, is carried, independent of his water conveyance, over the lines of four railway companies, and in the returns to the Board of Trade he is included as a passenger upon each of those lines as if he had taken a ticket upon it, yet, in reality, he takes but one journey, although it is a long one, 464 miles. Deducting say 5,000,000 on this account, it makes the total number of paying railway passengers about 256,500,000. In twenty-eight years, population and land-conveyed passengers have completely reversed their positions. In 1837 population was eight times as many as passengers, and in 1865 passengers were more than eight times as many as population. As to the speed at which railway passengers are conveyed, we shall speak when referring to what our railways have done for postal service. “Forty shillings a ton for goods between Liverpool and Manchester.” Yes; that was the price paid just a hundred years ago, and nobody could reckon upon having them in less than a week from the time of consignment. But the opening of the Duke of Bridgewater’s Canal diminished the price to six shillings a ton, and the time to three days. Now-a-days, the cotton spinner of Manchester would “spin a yarn” of formidable dimensions to a goods manager of a railway that dared to keep his goods more than a couple of hours on the road, with four or five hours more added for loading, unloading, and delivery. Not forty years ago, the charge was 1s. 1d. a ton a mile for goods, no matter of what kind or quality, conveyed by waggon. Thus, if any were weak enough to send a ton of goods from London to Manchester, the tariff rate would be £5. 1s. 4d., although probably the carrier, as an act of amiable condescension towards his customer, and in hopes of future favours, might take off the odd shilling and the level fourpence, and be content to carry for an even “fiver.” He would proceed at the top-gallant speed of fifteen knots a day, and he would reach his port, if all were well, in eighteen to twenty days from the time of his heaving anchor.