The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, JULY 15, 1884. Railway Returns

Feilding Star, Volume VI, Issue 15, 15 July 1884, Page 2

The Feilding Star. TUESDAY, JULY 15, 1884. Railway Returns

We gather from the annual report on the working railways the following particulars regarding the several stations on the Wanganui Section, which will prove interesting to our readers : — The three greatest feeders to the total revenue of £44,247 15s 2d collected on the line are — Feilding, £7,4G0 10s 2d; Palmerston, £4,506 18b; andHalcombe, £3,808 lid. Wan-H ganui heads the list with £11,817 9s 2d ( and Foxton follows with £6,377 14s Bd, but they cannot properly be called feeders, as they simply collect from all the other stations on the line. Feilding is the first, and Palmerston the second in point of actual revenue, but in the number of tickets sold Palmerston gives 19,398, Feilding 11,058, Foxton 21,912, and Wanganui 29,110. In tonnage Feilding forwarded 13,280 and received 1,898, Palmerston forwarded 5,905 and received 6,303, and Halcombe forwarded 7616 and received 878. It thus appears that Feilding forwarded as much as Halcombe and Palmerstou put together. The total expenditure of Feilding, with three hands employed, was £404 19s 8d ; of Palmerston, with five hands, £649 15s 9d ; Halcombe, with four hands, £416 19s 7d. These figures go to prove that the Feilding station contributes more revenue, at a less expenditure in proportion, than any other on the line. The total number of hands employed at the stations on the line is 51, who cost in wages £7,418 16s 3d for the year. The total number of tickets issued is 127,820. Parcels, 19,579 ; horses, 692 ; carriages, 87 ; dogs, 1,654; drays, 56; cattle, 408; calves, 32 ; sheep, 7,185 ; pigs, 4,061 ; goods and timber, 47,859 tons. The General Manager says that this section of the railway has been extended during the year to Manutahi, 16 miles 46 chains. The traffic has been indifferent and the revenue slightly below that of the previous year. The expenditure has been swelled by £1,999 — the charge for reconstructing the Bangitikei Bridge — and while an additional mileage has been worked, there has not been a corresponding increase of traffic. As, since the date of the report, an increase on the whole line of nearly £1000 per month has obtained — partly by the increase of the tariff and partly by the increase of passenger traffic and haulage, the returns for the current year must show a majked improvement. When the line is opened to New Plymouth both sections will no doubt find the advantage.