“ It also distributes the money paid by the post-office to the railways on account of the conveyance of parcel-post traffic, and through its lost luggage department many thousands of articles left in railway carriages are every year returned to their owners. Its situation in London further renders it a convenient meeting-place for several “Clearing-House Conferences” of railway officials, as of the general managers, the goods managers, and the superintendents of the line, held four times a year for the consideration of questions in which all the companies are interested. ”

“ To avoid the inconvenience of a change of train at points where the lines of different companies meet, passengers are often, and goods and minerals generally, carried in through vehicles from their starting-point to their destination. ”

“ The amount of business transacted at the Clearing-House varies very much with the seasons of the year, the busiest time being when dividends are paid and stock exchange settlements are made, but the volume of transactions averages roughly from 200 to 300 millions sterling a week, and the yearly clearances amount to something like £12,000,000,000. There are provincial clearing-houses at Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Leeds, Sheffield, Leicester and Bristol. There are also clearing-houses in most of the large towns of Scotland and Ireland. ”

“ In consequence, vehicles belonging to one company are constantly forming part of trains that belong to, and run over the lines of, other companies, which thus have the temporary use of rolling stock that does not belong to them. ”

“ When passengers or goods are booked through between stations belonging to different railway companies at an inclusive charge for the whole journey, it distributes the money received in due proportions between the companies concerned in rendering the service. ”

“ The payment of the balance settled the transaction, but the arrangements were afterwards so perfected that the balance is now settled by means of transfers made at the Bank of England between the Clearing-House account and those of the various banks, the Clearing-House, as well as each banker using it, having an account at the Bank of England. ”