Untitled

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5347, 17 May 1878, Page 2

The traffic returns of the New Zealand Railways for the t four weeks ended on the 6th April last, together with those of the corresponding period of 1877, are published in another portion of our columns from yesterday’s “Gazette.” The returns are very satisfactory, showing, in almost all cases, an increase of .revenue, during the time specified of this year, as compared with the corresponding period of the previous twelve months. ' It will be seen from the returns quoted that on the Auckland and Waikato line the ;total revenue for the month ended on the 6th April, 1877, was £1725 Bs. 6d. At that time the line was only opened some 37 miles ; now it is completed for a distance of 94 miles, and the traffic returns for the month ended on the 6th April this year are set down at £3410 4s. 2d. This is a remarkable increase. On the Napier section the railway, which is now open to Kopua in the Seventy-mile Bush, a distance of, 65. miles from the terminus at the Spit, produced an income of £2726 Os. lid. for the month ended on the 6th April this year, being an excess of £7OO over the income for the like period of 1877. On the Wellington and Masterton line, which has been opened as far as Kaitoke since the last returns were published (being an extension of seven miles from the previous terminus at the Upper Hutt), the returns for the periods referred to are respectively £l4Bl Os. 4d. and £914 12s. 2d. On the Foxton section there is a small decrease, the returns being £643 12s. 2d. and 674 18s. sd. respectively. The Christchurch returns show a very large increase, the figures being £32,452 9s. sd. for April this year, and £27,386 6s. Id. for the like period last wear. On the Dunedin section the returns are £9744 7s. 2d. and £7823 Bs. sd. respectively. The rest of the returns are given in detail elsewhere, and they certainly furnish a strong argument in support of the theory advanced by the supporters of the Public Works policy, who contended that the extension of the railway system throughout' the country would be met with a corresponding-in-crease of revenue, and that apart from the indirect benefits which railways must necessarily confer ,in promoting settlement, they would be in themselves reproductive works. The returns referred to speak for themselves, and afford a most encouraging answer to those prophets of evil who predicted ruin and disaster as the result of the prosecution of these undertakings in Now Zealand,