In Darkest England and The Way Out [133]
is #30, so that there would be a clear profit to the company of nearly #12 on the haulage, towards the payment of interest on the capital, wear and tear of line, &c. But I reckon, at a very moderate computation, that two hundred thousand persons would travel to and fro every season. An addition of #10,000 to the exchequer of a railway company is not to be despised and this would be a mere bagatelle to the indirect profits which would follow the establishment of a settlement which must in due course necessarily become very speedily a large and active community.
This it would be necessary to bring home to the railway companies, and for the execution of this part of my Scheme I must wait till I get some manager sufficiently public-spirited to try the experiment. When such a man is found, I purpose to set at once about my Sea-Side Establishment. This will present the following special advantages, which I am quite certain will be duly appreciated by the very poorest of the London population: --
An estate of some three hundred acres would be purchased on which buildings would be erected, calculated to meet the wants of this class of excursionists.
Refreshments would be provided at rates very similar to those charged at our London Food Depots. There would, of course, be greater facilities in the way of rooms and accommodation generally.
Lodgings for invalids, children, and those requiring to make a short stay in the place would be supplied at the lowest prices. Beds for single men and single women could be charged at the low rate of sixpence a night, and children in proportion, while accommodation of a suitable character, on very moderate terms, could be arranged for married people.
No public-houses would be allowed within the precincts of the settlement.
A park, playground, music, boats, covered conveniences for bathing, without the expense of hiring a machine, and other arrangements for the comfort and enjoyment of the people would be provided.
The estate would form one of the Colonies of the general enterprise, and on it would be grown fruit, vegetables, flowers, and other produce for the use of the visitors, and sold at the lowest remunerative rates. One of the first provisions for the comfort of the excursionists would be the erection of a large hall, affording ample shelter in case of unfavourable weather, and in this and other parts of the place there would be the fullest opportunity for ministers of all denominations to hold religious services in connection with any excursionists they might bring with them.
There would be shops for tradesmen, houses for residets, a museum with a panorama and stuffed whale; boats would be let out at moderate prices, and a steamer to carry people so many miles out to sea, and so many miles back for a penny, with a possible bout of sickness, for which no extra charge would be made.
In fact the railway fares and refreshment arrangements would be on such a scale, that a husband and wife could have a 70-mile ride through the green fields, the new-mown hay, the waving grain or fruit laden orchards; could wander for hours on the seashore, have comforting and nourishing refreshment, and be landed back at home sober, cheered and invigorated for the small sum of 3s. A couple of children under 12 might be added at 1s. 6d.--nay, a whole family, husband, wife and four children, supposing one is in arms, could have a day at the seaside, without obligation or charity, for 5s.
The gaunt, hungry inhabitants of the Slums would save up their halfpence, and come by thousands; clergymen would find it possible to bring half the poor and needy occupants of their parishes; schools, mothers' meetings, and philanthropic societies of all descriptions would come down wholesale; in short, what Brighton is to the West End and middle classes, this place would be to the East End poor, nay, to the poor of the Metropolis generally, a Whitechapel-by-the-Sea.
Now this ought to be done apart from my Scheme altogether. The rich corporations which have the charge of the affairs of this great
This it would be necessary to bring home to the railway companies, and for the execution of this part of my Scheme I must wait till I get some manager sufficiently public-spirited to try the experiment. When such a man is found, I purpose to set at once about my Sea-Side Establishment. This will present the following special advantages, which I am quite certain will be duly appreciated by the very poorest of the London population: --
An estate of some three hundred acres would be purchased on which buildings would be erected, calculated to meet the wants of this class of excursionists.
Refreshments would be provided at rates very similar to those charged at our London Food Depots. There would, of course, be greater facilities in the way of rooms and accommodation generally.
Lodgings for invalids, children, and those requiring to make a short stay in the place would be supplied at the lowest prices. Beds for single men and single women could be charged at the low rate of sixpence a night, and children in proportion, while accommodation of a suitable character, on very moderate terms, could be arranged for married people.
No public-houses would be allowed within the precincts of the settlement.
A park, playground, music, boats, covered conveniences for bathing, without the expense of hiring a machine, and other arrangements for the comfort and enjoyment of the people would be provided.
The estate would form one of the Colonies of the general enterprise, and on it would be grown fruit, vegetables, flowers, and other produce for the use of the visitors, and sold at the lowest remunerative rates. One of the first provisions for the comfort of the excursionists would be the erection of a large hall, affording ample shelter in case of unfavourable weather, and in this and other parts of the place there would be the fullest opportunity for ministers of all denominations to hold religious services in connection with any excursionists they might bring with them.
There would be shops for tradesmen, houses for residets, a museum with a panorama and stuffed whale; boats would be let out at moderate prices, and a steamer to carry people so many miles out to sea, and so many miles back for a penny, with a possible bout of sickness, for which no extra charge would be made.
In fact the railway fares and refreshment arrangements would be on such a scale, that a husband and wife could have a 70-mile ride through the green fields, the new-mown hay, the waving grain or fruit laden orchards; could wander for hours on the seashore, have comforting and nourishing refreshment, and be landed back at home sober, cheered and invigorated for the small sum of 3s. A couple of children under 12 might be added at 1s. 6d.--nay, a whole family, husband, wife and four children, supposing one is in arms, could have a day at the seaside, without obligation or charity, for 5s.
The gaunt, hungry inhabitants of the Slums would save up their halfpence, and come by thousands; clergymen would find it possible to bring half the poor and needy occupants of their parishes; schools, mothers' meetings, and philanthropic societies of all descriptions would come down wholesale; in short, what Brighton is to the West End and middle classes, this place would be to the East End poor, nay, to the poor of the Metropolis generally, a Whitechapel-by-the-Sea.
Now this ought to be done apart from my Scheme altogether. The rich corporations which have the charge of the affairs of this great