The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-29 00:00:00

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Hunt to compare with it/ Even the Vngi,Trorik7l 4:1?
of Canada could not CMpare with it a 5...,
progress, or length aline. The completionAgiLT ' thil
works at the Delhi ad of the line, had been iz
peded by e. 'dertions as to route, and in respect
of the point of juction with the Punjaub line. The
original coursof the line had been altered by the
Government, ad it was now to go through the
centre of the jeab between two rivers in the direc-
tion of Dell. The Punjaub line had also been
altered so tht both lines should enter Delhi. Thom)
alteratiorieg route had caused great delay in finish..
ing the thxd great bridge, involving considerable
expense tribe company. The works on the Jub•
bui:;ore lie vc,;'t e Proceeding very satisfzetorily, and
there wasvery reason to b;AievethrAt ti-.e line would
be complted by the contract time in 186. From
informatlm the:, had reCeiVid, there was iv) doubt
the wor)i would be completed on the Jcbbulpote
lino to pitineion with th;...l.lerebayltulway at Job-
bulpori and he rewly for exetv".egint; trzift,
Great, Peninsula wthen
nevi their lire

lie then c!..,,ver

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tne verking of the line dthieg the pat ycw.r,. and
thou/it the result was very aatisfectory. Tee grass
remits of the two lines in the upper and lower
prov tees amounted far the 3 car 1863 to e. 990,000,
beini at the rate of £2O les 8d per mile per week.
The net receipts, after deducting wcrking (=-
petits amounted to £439,464, or an average of £9
2s. d. per mile per week, lie then drew atten-
tier to the effect of filling up the link between
Allhabad and Beuares. Ile had frequently stated
thaewhen the railway was opened throughout their
retens would show a large increaee. The average
fotehe whole year of the gross receipts of the Ben-
gaidivision was £23 7s 9d per mile per week.
wet. Since the Ist of January last the returns -
shoeed that for the week ending the 10th of
.4:eery the average receipt per mile was £29 8s;
enling the 17th of January, £3O 16s 4d per mile ;
enciag the 24th of January, £22 11s 4:1 par mile;
and for the wcelz ending the 31st of January, £34
1081 d per mile. This was one of the immediate
effects of opening the line throughout, raising the
average receipts per mile from £23 7s 9d for 1863
to £34 lOs ld for the last week in January. On
their other line, in the North-West Provinces, the
average receipt per mile per week was £l5 is 5d
during 1863, and for this line they had the returns
a month later. The receipts per mile per week for
the four weeks in February last were at the rate of
£2O 2s 113, £2l 103 Id, £24, and £26 19s 4d re-
spectively, showing a similar result in the upper
provinces. So far he thought he might congratu-
late the shareholders on the opening of the line
throughout. He believed the present tragic was an
earnest of what they should have eventually. With
the increase of traffic it was very desirable they
should have economy of working. The cost of car-
rying the traffic had considerably increased ; it
arose in some respects from carrying a very largo
amount of traffic over a single line. There was
another reason in the large amount they paid for
wages to Europeans. Every engine-driver must
be a European. The wages they gave were
£lB a month, which was double the amount
paid in Europe. When they considered that
less work was done for the money, the cost
of sending men out to India, and other
matters, the average cost of European labour in
India was 5 to 1 in England. In the revenue account
of the Bengal division they would perceive that
£86,000 had been expended on the locomotive de-
partment, which was 25 par cent. of the working
expenses. Of that amount £38,000 was Ler wages
of veginedrivers and cleaners. The expenditure had
engaged the ecrious consideration of the Beard, and
they had called the attention of their officers to the
subject. Again, in the revenue account of the rail-
way in the North-\Vest Provinces, there was a
heavy.eharge for fuel—X4l,ooo, or about 33 per
cent of the total expenses. Of that sum £24,0^0
was the cost of coal, coke, and wood. This included
a charge for loss of weight in wood fuel, which be-
longed to the previous half year. This item brought
him to a point in reference to the alternative line
propose.d a long time since by the Board for passing-

ti.rougii a C.itriet of c's..-uat,y
es:al deposits, with the view of supplying thei en-
gines with excellent coal. The Government at last
had avarsc-rated to i~dopt eftithirtargi7irireir. The line
or male up,ii cue; Le 0 0 :ea,•n a- Three
routes from their mein line to the coal deposits had
been surveyed by their engirecre, and ho supposed
by the end of the year the Gov:rumen:, would come
to some d,C1.1011 as to the route. It would shorten
the distance for carrying through traffic by nearly
100 miles, and save the expenee of doubling the
circuitous portion of the main lino between the
points of junction with the proposed new line. They
had not yet disposed of their large flotilla, as it was
not easy to find purchasers. If out of the £584,000
expended on those vessels and their machinery they
should bo able to place a comparatively small sum
to the credit of capital, the rest would be amply
covered by the advantage already gained of being
enabled to complete the line so much sooner by the
aid of the flotilla than they possibly could without
it. The establishment of the audit department in
India hcd realised all their anticipations as to the
satisfactory audit of the accounts. Nothing was ex-
pended without the sanction of the Government offi-
cer, and the interests of the shareholders were pro-
tected. He believed the statement of the accounts
was a fair and faithful record of what was done in
India. There was also an audit committee, consist-
ing of members of the Board, to examine every.
thing. They had a bill now before Parliament
which would be submitted to the proprietors for
their approval at the proper time, in compliance
with the standing orders of the House of Lords.
They sought power in it to alter the times of hold-
ing the annual and half-yearly meetings, holding
them a mouth or two later to give time for the pre-
paration of the accounts. They proposed to esta-
blish a savings-bank for their army of servants in
India, which he had no doubt would be of great
advantage to them. They also proposed to ask for
power to raise seven millions of additional capital,
which, with the 20 millions already authorised, and
three millions borrowing power, would mako an
even sum of 30 millions. The cost of the lino and
works from various circumstances had been much
greater than was originally anticipated. The
price of materials and labour had since
they commenced greatly increased in amount.
Had Government permitted the terminal station
at Howrah two or three years ago to be en-
'urged to accommodate the immense traffic in the
manner proposed by the directors, a considerable
saving in the cost would have been effected; and
this was also the case with regard to the delay of
other necessary works. The traffic on the line had
reached £34 per mile per week, and the directors
were now anxious to provide ample station accom-
modation and working stock to earn £4O per mile
per week, This rendered a large portion of the
proposed additional capital necessary. The effects
of the great changes in the economy of India had
been to enlarge its resources, and if the railway
company intended to realise theadvantaga of a large
traffic on their lino they must provide the means of
carrying and accommodating it in every respect.
Mr. MORGAN said if they were to realise more
than the 5 per cent. guarantee the working expenses
must be Teduced from 60 per cent. to something like
50 per cent,, and if they were to
Pay a large divi-
dend they must secure the coal trafEe,
Mr. lIARTRIDGE wished to know whether the
cost of the new line intended to pass through the
coal deposits was included is the proposed
£7,000,000 of additional capital,
The CITAIRMAN said they bad put down
£2,C00,000 for that purpose, and L 1,000,000 for
paoprtorwtiaosathe retir-
uonfanthime
°muesli;
adoptedline.
retir-
ing directors and auditors were reelected, and Mr.
doubling
vrnere
Godfrey was elected an auditor.
A vote of thanks to the chairman concluded
the
proceedings.

SIR MOSES MONTEFIORE.-At the rooting of
the Margate Town Council on Wednesday, an ad.
dress of congratulation to Sir Moses Monte Sore on his safe
return from his late mission to Morocco in behalf of his
persecuted countrymen was moved by the Msyor and una-
nimously adopted, a deputation being at tho same time taps
pointed to wait on Sir Moses and make arrangements for
its presentation. A similar address has also been adopted
1
at a meeting in Ramsgate, near which place the worthy
baronet resides,

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