of the London
and North-Western Railway consists of pigs, of which they delivered
54,700 in London, principally Irish; while the Great Eastern brought up
27,500 of the same animal, partly foreign.

While the cattle-plague had the effect of greatly reducing the number of
live stock brought into London yearly, it gave a considerable impetus to
the Fresh Meat traffic. Thus, in addition to the above large numbers of
cattle and sheep delivered in London in 1867, the railways brought 76,175
tons of meat, which--taking the meat of an average beast at 800 lbs., and
of an average sheep at 64 lbs.--would be equivalent to about 112,000 more
cattle, and 1,267,500 more sheep. The Great Northern brought the largest
quantity; next the London and North-Western;--these two Companies having
brought up between them, from distances as remote as Aberdeen and
Inverness, about 42,000 tons of fresh meat in 1867, at an average freight
of about 0.5d. a lb.

Again as regards Fish, of which six-tenths of the whole quantity consumed
in London is now brought by rail. The Great Eastern and the Great
Northern are by far the largest importers of this article, and justify
their claim to be regarded as the great food lines of London. Of the
61,358 tons of fish brought by railway in 1867, not less than 24,500 tons
were delivered by the former, and 22,000 tons, brought from much longer
distances, by the latter Company. The London and North-Western brought
about 6000 tons, the principal part of which was salmon from Scotland and
Ireland. The Great Western also brought about 4000 tons, partly salmon,
but the greater part mackerel from the south-west coast. During the
mackerel season, as much as a hundred tons at a time are brought into the
Paddington Station by express fish-train from Cornwall.

The Great Eastern and Great Northern Companies are also the principal
carriers of turkeys, geese, fowls, and game; the quantity delivered in
London by the former Company having been 5042 tons. In Christmas week no
fewer than 30,000 turkeys and geese were delivered at the Bishopsgate
Station, besides about 300 tons of poultry, 10,000 barrels of beer, and
immense quantities of fish, oysters, and other kinds of food. As much as
1600 tons of poultry and game were brought last year by the South-Western
Railway; 600 tons by the Great Northern Railway; and 130 tons of turkeys,
geese, and fowls, by the London, Chatham and Dover line, principally from
France.

Of