The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-20 00:00:00

SCINDE.

The report of the directors states that during the
half-year ending Dec. 31, 1866, the traffic on the
railway, notwithstanding the serious interruption
caused by the unusually heavy rains which fell in
the month of August last, contrasted favourably
with that of the corresponding period of the pre-
vious year. The total traffic receipts on the line
from the 13th May, 1861, to the 31st Dec., 1866,
amounted for passengers, &c., to £74,591, and for
goods to £386,651, total £461,245. The working
expenses amounted to 5402,:357, or 87.23 per cent.
of the receipts, leaving the net revenue for the five
years and a half £58,888, or 12.77 per cent. of the
gross receipts. The traffic returns for the year 1866
amounted to £100,348, against £82,818 in the year
1865, showing an increase of £17,530. The work-
ing expenditure amounted to £83,268, or 82.98 per
cent., against £78,425, or 94.70 per cent. in the
same half year of 1865, showing an increase of
£4,843. The result was regarded as satisfactory,
when it was considered that the traffic was almost
entirely suspended from the sth August to the 13th
Sept. last, nearly six weeks. During the half year
ending Dec. 31 last, the gross receipts amounted to
£46,478, and for the same half of 1865 to £43,456,
showing an increase of £3,014, the weekly average
being £1,787 against £1,671 in the same half of
1865. The traffic receipts for the past half year
averaged £l6 7s. 11d. per mile per week, and the
receipts per train mile were Bs. 61-d., the number of
train miles run having been 108,566. Since the
commencement of the present year a great improve-
ment had taken place in the traffic. The receipts
for the quarter ending the 31st of March amounted
to £34,184, or an average of £2,629 per week.
In the week ending the 20th of January, the re-
ceipts amounted to £4,355, being nearly £l,OOO in
excess of the highest sum realised in any previous
week since the opening of the line. The total
goods arriving in and forwarded from Kurrachee by
the railway during the past half year amounted to
64,998 tons, the down traffic being 38,113 tons and
the up traffic 26,885 tons. The number of passen-
gers carried was 70,171, against 52,613 in the cor-
responding half of 1865. The working expenses
amounted t0£40,127, against£39,462 in the corres-
ponding half of 1865. The expenses of the locomo-
tive department were still excessive, being nearly
half of the whole expenses. The area of Kurrachee
harbour had been increased since 1858 from 70 acres
to upwards of 100 acres. The population of the
town and camp of Kurrachee in 1854 was 40,776,
and in 1865 it had increased to 60,000. The capital
account showed that 1,810,037 had been expended.
The company's steam flotilla on the Indus during
the past half year maintained its accustomed regu-
larity ; there had been 34 voyages in all made by
the vessels of the flotilla. The total receipts of the
steam flotilla :for the past .four years and eight
months amounted to £36,398 for passengers, and to
V 89,280 for goods, &c.—total, £325,678; Ithe
working expenses amounted to £239,218, or 73.45
per cent. of the receipts, leaving the net revenue
£86,460 or 26.55 per cent. on the grow receipts.
The net revenue was subject to a deduction of 17
per cent. per annum on the eitimated cost of the
working fleet for insurance and depreciation. The
expenditure of the steam flotilla on capital account
amounted to £568,016.