Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JULY 11, 1881.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 163, 11 July 1881, Page 2

Nelson Evening Mail. MONDAY, JULY 11, 1881.

The railway traffic returns for the four weekß ending May 28th are published, and compare very favorably with those of the corresponding period of last year. For the mi nth of May 1881, the receipts were £71,144, and tbe expsnditure was 40,037, leaving a balance to credit of .£31,107. For the same period of 1880, the receipts were £67,740, or £3423 less, while the expenditure was £42,741, or £2904 more, thus showing that a stricter eccnomy is being esercbed in the management. There is & great falling offi though in the receipts oi May as compared with those of April. In the former, as stated above, they were £71,144; in the latter they were £90,051. The Nelson line appears to be subject to strange fluctuations. In April the receipts were over £1000 ; in May tbey have fallen to £553, and, what is worse, they show a decrease, as compared with the corresponding period of last year, of about £70. Ths number of passengers had fallen from 4851 to 4394, and the freight from 828 to 718 tons. With the exception of the Auckland section, which shows a slight falling eff, every other line hag increased its receipts; notably the Picton, and Westport lines, tbe former of which has sprung up from £325 to £550, and the latter from £132 to £503. The great southern line carried during the month of May 136,000 passenger*, 96,143 tons of goods, and 32,948 live stock, the receipt! for the period being £54,429, and tbe expenditure £38,878. For the eight weeks of the financial year ending May 28, the total receipts from all railways in the colony were £161,196, the total expenditure being £79,992, or 49 58 per cent.