the first to see and proclaim the necessity for a Clearing House. Be
that as it may, the Railway Clearing House, as a practical entity, came
into being in 1842. In the beginning it only embraced nine companies,
and six people were enough to do its work. The companies were:--

London and Birmingham, Midland Counties, Birmingham and Derby, North
Midland, Leeds and Selby, York and North Midland, Hull and Selby,
Great North of England, Manchester and Leeds.

Not one of these has preserved its original name. All have been merged
in either the London and North-Western, the North-Eastern, the Midland or
the Lancashire and Yorkshire.

At the present day the Clearing House consists of practically the whole
of the railway companies in the United Kingdom, though some of the small
and unimportant lines are outside its sphere. Ireland has a Railway
Clearing House of its own--established in the year 1848--to which
practically all Irish railway companies, and they are numerous, belong;
and the six principal Irish railways are members of the London Clearing
House.

The English house, situated in Seymour Street, Euston Square, is an
extensive establishment, and accommodates 2,500 clerks. As I write, the
number under its roof is, by war conditions, reduced to about 900.
Serving with His Majesty's Forces are nearly 1,200, and about 400 have
been temporarily transferred to the railway companies, to the Government
service and to munition factories.

In 1842, when the Clearing House first began, the staff, as I have said,
numbered six, and the companies nine. Fifty-eight railway companies now