on to all this, the company providing its carriages or
waggons is entitled to "demurrage" for every day beyond a certain time
that these are detained by the companies to which they do not belong.

Now, if all this be unavoidable even in the case of a single fare, or a
small parcel, it must be self-evident that in lines where the
interchange of through-traffic is great and constant, it would have been
all but impossible for the railway companies to manage their business,
and the system would have given rise to endless disputes.

In order to settle accounts of this description, it was soon seen to be
absolutely necessary that some sort of arrangement must be come to, and,
accordingly, the idea of a central office was conceived, and a system
established without delay, which, for minute detail and comprehensive
grasp, is unrivalled by any other institution. At first only a few of
the railway companies united in establishing the Clearing-House in 1842,
but by degrees, as its immense value became known, other companies
joined, and it now embraces all the leading companies in the kingdom.
It is said to be not inferior to the War Office, Colonial Office, and
Admiralty in regard to the amount of work it gets through in a year!
Its accounts amount to some twelve millions sterling, yet they always
must, and do, balance to a fraction of a farthing. There must never be
a surplus, and never a deficiency, in its funds, for it can make no
profits, being simply a thoroughly honest and disinterested and
perfectly correct go-between, which adjusts the mutual obligations of
railways in a quick and economical manner. Its accounts are balanced
every month, and every pound, shilling, and penny can be accounted for.
It annually receives and dispenses a revenue greater than that of many
European kingdoms. In 1847 its gross receipts were only 793,701 pounds.
In 1868 they had risen to above eleven millions.

Each line connected with the Clearing-House has a representative on the
committee to look after its interests, and bears its proportion of the
expenses of the establishment.

Before showing the manner in which the work is performed for the railway
companies, it may be well to premise that one great good which the
Clearing-House system does to the public, is to enable them to travel
everywhere with as much facility as if there were only one railway and
one company in the kingdom.

To avoid going too much into detail, we may say, briefl