THE INDIAN RAILWAY SYSTEM.

New Zealand Times, Volume XLVIII, Issue 8006, 10 February 1887, Page 4

THE INDIAN RAILWAY SYSTEM.

Some idea of, the value and importance of the Indian railway sysVem, with its connected steamer services/may be gathered from the fact that the capital sunk in these undertakings is estimated at £151,917,860. Of this large sum the Government have spent - directly £82,255,391. The capital outlay of guaranteed companies stands at £71,032,838, and that of the ‘assisted ’ companies at £3,808,232. Native States—the principal in this respect being Mysoia and Hyderabad—are responsible for an outlay of £4.821,379 oh lines within their territories. When the construction of railways in India was first mboted 'there were some who warned the projectors-that caste prejudices would prevent the natives from using them ; but it is an astonishing fact-that last year Indian railways carried no fewer than 80,834,779 passengers, who paid for their fares £5.538,126. In 1884 the number of passengers was 73,815,110, and their freight wae valued at £5,070,754. - The chief income of most railways, however, is derived from its goods traffic, and in this respect the Indian lines yield more than double the receipts obtained from passengers. No less than 18,925,385 lons of goods were carried, the receipts from which amounted to £11,915,375. Both the tonnage transported and the return show an increase over the figures of the previous year’, which was credited with a goods traffic of 16,663,007 tons, and receipts therefrom amounting to L 10,566,041> —Colonics and India.