RAILWAY REVENUE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1262, 7 May 1896, Page 27

RAILWAY REVENUE.

Tho railway returns for the year ended 31st March last have boon completed, and show an extremely satisfactory state of affairs. The revenue totals £1,183,010, and the expenditure £751,307, the not profit therefore being £l-51,073. The cost of the 2011 miles of opened lines is given at ,£15,352,613, and the profit therefore amounts to £2 13s 9d per cent. This is in round numbers £1(>,000 better than the estimate, and £13,000 better than last year.

On the North Island section, where thcro are 775 miles open for traffic, the revenue for the year amounted to £l-35,810, and tho expenditure to .£283,550. On the Wellington section the number of miles open for traffic is 01, the revenue was ,£85,773, and the expenditure .£51,369. '1 he Napier-Taranaki section has 332 miles open for traffic, the revenue was .£207,107. and the expenditure .£133,889.

On tho Middle Island section there are 1239 miles open for traffic, and the revenue amounted to ,£711.100, against an expenditure of .£107.817. In the corresponding jicriod of last year, when there were 700 miles open for traffic in the North Island, the revenue was J} 121,111. and tho expenditure

was .£275,501. In the Middle Island section for the same period there wero 1233 miles open for traffic, the revenue was .£720.730, and the expenditure totalled

£ 150,500. Tho traffic returns show that a total of 1,102,120 passengers were carried cm all tions during the year, as against 3,905,578 in 1805, and 30,233 season tickets were issued, an increase of 7010 over tlio numbers for tho previous twelve months. 'lho parcels, horses, carriages and dogs carried totalled 180,803, against 180,133 in 1805, and tho number of drays, Ac, cattle, calves, sheep and pigs carried was 1,933,-]-02, an increase of 328,591 over the figures be- 1895. Of chaff, lime, Ac., 53,200 tons were carried; wool, 00,303 tons; firewood, 78,801 tons; timber, 213,132 tons; grain, 371,001) tons; merchandise, 389,880 tons ; minerals, 878,058 tons; being a total of 2,0a7.708 tons. The total of these figures for the previous year was 2,018,501 tons, the increase thus being 30, 107 tons.