y, that in regard
to goods, statements of through-traffic _despatched_ are sent daily from
thousands of stations to the Clearing-House, also separate statements of
through-traffic _received_. These are compared. Of those that are
found to agree, each company is debited or credited, as the case may be,
with the proportion due to or by it. Where discrepancies occur,
correspondence ensues until the thing is cleared up, and then the
distribution to the accounts of the several companies takes place. As
discrepancies are numerous and constant, correspondence is necessarily
great. So minutely correct and particular are they at the
Clearing-House, that a shilling is sometimes divided between four
companies. Even a penny is deemed worthy of being debited to one
company and credited to another!

As it is with goods, so is it with passengers. Through-tickets are sent
from all the stations to the Clearing-House, where they are examined and
compared with the returns of the tickets issued, and then sent back to
their respective companies. As these tickets amount to many thousands a
day, some idea may be formed of the amount of labour bestowed on the
examination of them. The proportions of each ticket due to each company
are then credited, and statements of the same made out and forwarded to
the several companies daily. From the two sets of returns forwarded to
the Clearing-House, statements of the debit and credit balances are made
out weekly.

Parcels are treated much in the same way as the goods.

"Mileage" is a branch of the service which requires a separate staff of
men. There are hundreds of thousands of waggons, loaded and empty,
constantly running to and fro, day and night, on various lines, to which
they do not belong. Each individual waggon must be traced and accounted
for to the Clearing-House, from its start to its arrival and back again;
and not only waggons, but even the individual tarpaulins that cover them
are watched and noted in this way, in order that the various companies
over whose lines they pass may get their due, and that the companies
owning them may get their demurrage if they be improperly detained on
the way. For this purpose, at every point where separate railways join,
there are stationed men in the pay of the Clearing-House, whose duty it
is to take the numbers of all passenger carriages and goods, waggons and
tarpaulins, and make a _daily_ statement of the same to the
Clearing-House.