t>.—2

XIV

The expenditure on the electric block working, telegraph and telephone facilities, and electric lighting for the year was, — New works — £ „. ,1. Electric tablet working .. .. .. .. .. 7,198 0 9 Electric lock and block .. .. .. 3,867 12 10 Telegraph and telephone lines .. . . . . 2.329 13 9 Electric light .. ..' .. .. .. .. 700 6 8 £14,095 14 0 Maintenance— Electric block working and telegraph anil telephone lines .. 7,266 16 8 Lines maintained by Post and Telegraph Department .. .. 3,143 5 6 Electric light .. .. .. .. .. 1,405 12 0 £11,815 14 2 Public telephone-exchange connections .. .. .. .. £2,321 13 I Traitu . Mr. If. Buxton. Chief Traffic .Manager, reports as follows: Kawakaiva Section. Revenue. £2,834 ; decrease, £98. Passengers, parcels, grain, and merchandise show increases, but there are decreases in chaff, &c, firewood, timber, and minerals. Whangarei Section. Revenue, £29,393 ; increase. £1,007. The bulk of the increase is in passengers. The principal variations in tonnage wen- an increase of 12,300 tons of minerals and a decrease of 6,5(HI tons of timber. Kaihu Section. Revenue, 1M,117 ; decrease, L232. The decrease is in passenger traffic due to a movement of population from the gUDlfields. Goods traffic improved slightly. Oisborne Section. Revenue, £14,191 ; increase, £1,235. Then- was a slight decrease iii the number of passengers and in the number of sheep, but goods I raffle generally increased. North Inland Main Line unit Branches. Revenue, £1,742,243 ; increase, £175,992. The principal items of traffic were : — Number. Number. Passengers .. 5,675,271 ; increase. 90,621 Season tickets . . .. .. .. 135,082 ; „ 18,523 Parcels, &c . . .. .. .. .. 526,479 : ., 11,509 Live-stock .. .. .. .. .. 3,142,180; 537,186 Tons. Tons. Goods .. .. .. .. .. 1,612,054; „ 217,859 The revenue per mile of railway rose, from £1,472 0s. lOd. last year to £1.614 18s. lOd. this year (an increase of £142 18s.), and per train-mile from 7s. 6d. to 7s. UJd. The variations of traffic in the different districts were approximately as follows :—