Greymouth Evening Star, AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1901. OUR RAILWAY RETURNS.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 15 January 1901, Page 2

Greymouth Evening Star, AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1901. OUR RAILWAY RETURNS.

The traffic returns of the railways for the four weeks ended Bth December are published in the Gazette issued on Friday. The total revenue of the New Zealand Government Railways for the thirty-six weeks ended Bth December amounted to £1,118,277, as compared with £1,051,387 for the corresponding period of the previous year, the increase being £66,890, or slightly more than 6 per cent. The revenue of the North Island railways for the peri, d under review totalled £108,938, against £378,945, an increase of £29,993, or a little more than 7 per cent. The receipts from the South Island railways amounted to £709,339 against £672 442, a gain of £36,897, or slightly more than 5 per cent. The total expenditure amounted £770,002, against £716,871, an increase of £53,131, or over 7 per cent. The working expenditure of the North Island railways increased by £21,247, and on the South Island lines by £31,844. The excess of receipts over expenditure f.r the period totalled L 348,275, as against L 334 516 for the corresponding period of the previous year, showing an actual >gain of L 13.759 in the nine months of the working year. In the estimates a decrease of L 61.613 in the railway revenue was anticipated, and instead of this being realised, there is an actual increase of L 18,759 in nine months as shown above.

MINERS' RESIDENCE SITES. In the course of the proceedings at the Paeroa Warden's Court, Mr. Bush drew the attention of all interested, and a great many West Coast miners are interested, to section 121, subsection (2), of " The Mining Act, 1898," which provides that excepting

with the consent of che Warden, no person can hold more than ono residence site at one tit. e ; and ho also said that he would p obably refuse to allow the registration of a transfer of a residence site to a person who already had one. It was pointed out by Mr. Kenrick that as transfers under such circumstances had commonly been made out, up to the present, he thought notice of the Warden's intention should be given to the public, and thus avoid any trouble or complications. The Warden held, however, that it was not his duty to make public comments and explanations on every or any clause of the Act until it was rendered necessary by reason of the matter coming before him for adjudication. As the residence site question has frequently caused a great deal of trouble on the West Coast, our mining readers will do well to bear Mr. Bush's ruling in mind.