——_ Presented by the Worshipful Company Goldsmiths, 1903.THE ADVENTURES £.1000 NOTE; RAILWAY RUIN REVIEWED. BY THE HONOURABLE EDMUND PHIPPS. © Each substance of a grief hath twenty shadows,"—Richard ZZ. London : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. MDOCCXLVHLPREFACE. Are Railways the chief cause of the present crisis, or are they only the principal sufferers from it ? Do they convert floating into fixed capital, or only present to it those means of profitable investment without which floating capital possesses no value? Is the interruption of works upon profitable rail- ways, already commenced, the proper remedy for present embarrassments, or will it be the means of aggravating them to an unheard-of extent ? Mendicity Societies and Fever Hospitals are announcing to the public exhausted funds and a double increase of applicants. Workhouses are crowded with sturdy labourers, highway robberies by armed bodies have begun, and the public re- venue is diminished: we see saving banks parting with their deposits, trade stagnant, and mills work- ing short time: credit is shaken, and enterprise dead. Does overwhelming necessity require us in such times to discourage vather than promote labout