In their opinion the result of the evidence was, that if
the Companies were to be considered as having been on their trial, _they
were entitled_ _to a verdict of acquittal_, and that no case had been
made out for the reversal of railway policy which their colleagues
advocated. They added that it would hardly be disputed that the Railways
had on the whole conferred great benefits upon Ireland.
On the question of reductions in rates (reductions which the Majority
Report strongly urged as necessary), they did not think that reductions
were more likely to occur under public than under private ownership. They
suggested, further, that the official statistics of various countries
showed that the fall in the average rate had been much greater on the
privately owned railways of France and the United States than on the
State-owned railways of Prussia, which were universally accepted as the
most favourable example of State managed railways in the world. They
came to the conclusion, after hearing all the evidence, that the
management of the principal Irish Companies was not inferior to that of
similar companies in England and Scotland.
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