Upon the Irish railway companies, for the present position of affairs no
responsibility, therefore, rests. Again I say, the course which the
Government adopted was, perhaps, inevitable. They had to win the war.
Labour was clamorous and insistent, and serious trouble threatened. High
reasons of State may be presumed to have dictated the Government policy.
Anyhow the thing is done, and the hard fact remains that the Irish
railways have been brought to such a financial condition that, if they
were handed back to the companies, many of them not only could not pay
any dividends but would be unable to meet their fixed charges whilst some
would not be able to even pay their working expenses.
In England the opinion is held that a proper balance between receipts and
expenditure can be restored by increased charges and reduced expenditure.
This may be so in England, with its teeming population and its almost
illimitable industrial resources. As to that I venture no opinion, but
Ireland is very differently situated. It is mainly an agricultural
country, and for most of its railways no such promising prospect can, it
seems to me, be discerned.
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