1 appears in the report, it cannot, so far as it shows, be classified with any of the expenses contemplated by the statute. There are two other items that seem out of place in the report accompanying the return. Stoughton Branch.—This is a new road run by the Boston and Providence. Its return contains no items of cost and no characteristics of the road, and is more deficient than the return of any other corporation. Hartford and New Haven.-The return from this corporation is also very defective, and refers, for many items, to a former report. The committee have searched the reports made under the law of 1846 without being able to find much of the information required. West Stockbridge. This report is likewise deficient in answers to the greatest portion of the questions. It also refers to a former report for the year 1846, but that does not give the particulars required by law. Vermont and Massachusetts.-This return cannot be expected to embrace all the items required. It is finished only in part, and is run by the Fitchburg Railroad Company, to whose return it refers for expenditures, income, &c. It is irregular in not appropriately specifying the salaries of its officers, law expenses, &c. Such items of expense should not be charged to "engineering and other expenses." The committee have felt it their duty to call the attention of the Legislature to the defective state of the above specified returns, in order that such a correction may be applied as shall be judged necessary to enforce a compliance with the law. The most of the deficiencies are evidently the result of carelessness. The accounts of the first two mentioned roads may have been so kept that a specification of the items, in accordance with the law of 1846, cannot be made. And if it should so appear in subsequent returns, it would be in the power of the Legislature to remedy the evil, by authorizing an apportionment of the whole expense, to be made to the several heads enumerated in the act of 1846. The returns which present a substantial compliance with the law are marked A, in the index. The figure 1 is annexed to such as the committee deem, in point of form, worthy of imitation. By the report of the commissioners of the sinking fund of the Western Railroad, it appears that the amount of the fund on the 31st day of December, 1847, as per commissioners' report of that date, was And there was received, during the year 1848, in interest and dividends, Of Western Railroad Corpora tion, 1 per cent. on $4,000,000, $409,592 71 $23,839 98 40,000 00 63,839 98 $473,432 69 Showing an increase of Amount of fund, December 31, 1848, . The report of the commissioners admits of no remark, save that it is correctly cast. The committee have prepared and placed in an appendix a list of the acts of incorporation, now in force, from which no returns have been received. In a large portion of these, no attempt at an organization has been made; some of the charters have been extended the present session. But what portion of these roads will be constructed, the committee are without the means to determine. Their aggregate capitals amount to $11,262,000. The appendix marked B, contains a list of the railroad charters granted from 1825 to 1848, both inclusive, with a succinct account of the legislation in regard to each. The whole number is one hundred and one. The necessity of a frequent recurrence to the practice of the Legislature, in regard to railroad corporations, has induced the committee to present this information in the annual report, as affording a more convenient reference than the special laws. The necessity of some examination and analysis of the returns is apparent to the committee, for various reasons, one of which is the carelessness of some of the returning officers in making the same. It is of great importance, in the opinion of the committee, that a compliance with the law, in this particular, should be enforced, which will not be done unless the deficiencies are pointed out. It is evident that the returns of the several companies, while they may satisfy the scientific inquirer, demand, for their understanding, too much labor from the more general reader. Collating the returns, and collecting the more useful statistics into a general table, will somewhat remedy this evil. If this duty shall be annually performed, the committee indulge the hope that these returns will ultimately present a body of useful and reliable railroad statistics. All which is respectfully submitted. TAPPAN WENTWORTH, Chairman. ABSTRACT FROM THE SEVERAL RETURNS, SHOWING THE LEADING STATISTICS OF THE RAILROADS. Fitchburg and Worcester, 500,000 00 52,184 00 Unfinished, and not in operation. Stoughton Branch, 300,000 00 Taunton Branch, 90,000 00 250,000 00 Vermont and Massachusetts, Worcester and Nashua, 135,935 00 255,748 71 11.50 Road opened Jan. 1, 1849. Run by Old Colony. 246,659 76 13.16 Leased to Nashua and Lowell Railroad. 11.00 58.75 2.75 117.804 39.02 954.346 0.568 24.00 15.00 17,619 13 90,485 30 6,080 58 17,615 88 Not stated. 1,903 15 679,711 18 None. None. 4,270 00 20,000 00 Not stated. 573,058 70 4 killed. 23,699 71 108,101 18 63,000 00 Not stated. 1,963 33 60 18 1,332,068 29 652,357 11 16,855 66 14,465 61 6,067,154 02 3,284,933 38 2,716,920 30 2,074,147 50 12,420,201 19 1,349,230 08 56 killed and 65 injured. 1 killed and 2 injured. Deficient. 1 killed. Deficient. 366,000 00 5,319,520 00 233,133 18 10 killed and 4 injured. Deficient. |