From that it would seem that postal revenues would diminish considerably as a result of railway development, especially in a country where railway fares are extremely low; nothing of the kind has happened, and although the principal towns of Belgium have been provided with this sort of rapid communication, at the same time postal revenue has not stopped rising . . . far from slowing up, it has quadrupled in the space of three years. The fact is that the social intercourse established by this immense movement of men has been maintained by letters.

. . . [Among] the results produced by the influence of the Belgian railways, we ought to indicate its prodigious effects on the machine industry and commerce in general [and] the rapid growth in the revenues of the towns which it connects; for example, we could take the customs receipts of Antwerp which amounted to only 4,338,800 francs in 1829, a period which has always been given as the high peak of Belgian industry, and which rose in 1838 to 6,238,800 francs; but these figures are complicated by several factors, which are easily identifiable but the relative importance of which is not known.

Several other facts should be noticed because they are certain to be repeated in all those countries which engage seriously in material improvements. We refer to the increase in the price of land at the side of the railway; the cost of labor, the price of iron and the wood which is needed for sleepers. . . .

The value of land crossed by the railways has risen by a third; labour has risen in the same proportion; the rails which cost only 37 fr. 93 c. for every 100 kilograms in 1834 had risen to 42 francs by the end of 1837; indeed, for a time, as a result of increased costs, it became necessary to suspend the laying of a second line between Brussels and Antwerp. After this period competition in the development of coke and iron production led to a reduction in price. At the last adjudication, which took place on 5 September 1838, the supply of rails for the section from Ghent to Deynze-Petegem was settled at 34 francs per 100 kilograms.

Several have been the general consequences of the establishment of railways in Belgium. Our experience is still incomplete, the track is not yet finished, the goods service is unorganized and the future will doubtless reveal new information among which the effects on the transit trade will not be the least interesting. Already in 1835 the export and import merchandise carried through Belgium had risen to nearly 23 millions. . . .