The Royal Mail! What scenes and memories are conjured up by these words! In the olden days, the Royal Mail coaches—in these modern days, the well-known scarlet Mail carts and motor vans arriving at all the larger railway stations from which the mail trains, always the fastest, convey the mails to every quarter of the United Kingdom, and over the whole world.

It is now a commonplace to post in the nearest pillar-box a batch of letters, some to addresses in the same town, others to provincial towns and villages, to Scotland, Ireland and far distant Colonies, each of them being conveyed to their destination, near or far, for the modest sum of one penny, by the speediest mode of locomotion that steam and electricity can provide. In order that travellers may have the advantage of that speed and regularity which is a feature of the Royal Mail, passengers and goods have always been carried by the Mail—formerly by the coach, now by the train. But whereas the mails are carried at the same price for any distance, the charges for passengers, and for goods which exceed the regulation size and weight permitted for the “Parcels Post,” vary according to the distance travelled, and as to goods also according to their nature or quality, with the result that for the greater part of our population long journeys are luxuries which can only be undertaken in cases of life and death, and not always then; the rates for carriage of goods by fast train are mostly prohibitive, and even by goods train for long distances are so great as to seriously restrict the traffic.

If mail trains can carry mails, with parcels up to 7 lbs. in weight at the same price for any distance, why cannot all trains carry passengers and goods of any size and weight at the same price for any distance? The answer is that they can, and it is the object of this pamphlet to prove not only that it is possible financially, but that, with the small uniform fares and rates indicated on the title page, sufficient revenue can be obtained to pay working expenses, and provide the sum required to purchase the whole of the existing railway undertakings at their full market price, or such a price as willing vendors would be ready to accept.

This, then, is “A Business Proposition” for all concerned; in other words, the magnificent net-work of railways in the United Kingdom, with all that is included in their undertakings, may be acquired by the nation at such a price as will make it worth the while of the present Companies and their shareholders to sell, and as the result to give the nation the benefit of speedy and efficient transport at the nominal fares and rates mentioned. It will, indeed, be a “Revolution,” but one of the most beneficial that can befall a nation.

The Royal Mail is an institution of which the nation is justly proud. How much more will it be so of an institution which will include the Royal Mail, namely, Royal Railways.