OUR RAILWAYS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume X, Issue 49, 25 July 1885, Page 2

OUR RAILWAYS.

I? A' Wellington paper : says :^-The -re-* Jjturns of railway revenue for the twelve* ijweeks which ended on the 30th .altimd" >are of a raostdi^qnieting character. The , gross receipts for.Hß7 .uiiles. of : railway amounted only to £259,685, as against £273,086 for 148 tniles m the corrcs^ popding period of last year-— a decrease, of ,Wer £43,000--although the length of linteß.flßen bag> increased b j : .- 79* .miles^ Thißjpdeed is a poor lpok ? out for.. the., current" year's" revenue. B'et-'. there is\ woVSe tb cdtiie, for . while the ■ receip'tshaye sbalaririingly'dimihislieU : .t^ewp)llcV; lag expenses KaVe largely 'increased' —namely, from £154,780, to £161,147,---their Tatio.to receipts h'eiqg;62 per .cent. ■ as; against 56 per. cent.. last yearj a. most : serious' a^van'ce/io'.the relative costliness of workiri^, manifestly due to- the -irrh-( tional reduction of rates, which resnlts iiii 8b mucJi more work having to be dofte lip earn so much less money. The net profits for the twelve weeks have diminished from £118,297 in 1884 to £98.538 this year, a decroase of', nearly £20,000, ) invoivine a falHng-bfii'at the: rate, of some i-86,000 ti year; The fallarijr-off on the HurnnUi-Biufl: line isconsiderably greater than thi«, 'being »V the rate of (just- about £100,000 per ahnliiiiv but this is to some small extent lessened . by the increase on the other sectidnsi/auch as I the Wellington and Auckland lines, leaving the net loss 'asT above stated. Thepe fignreß - ..dfcma'iid;the"p«vej^} l .atVen- s lion of everyone interested m the. welfare of the Colony. • • ••' '[■ "-. »"' \