The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-31 00:00:00

RAILWAYS IN INDIA.

A correspondent of the Inverness Advertiser, signing
himself W. Campbell, late of the Punjaub Railway, writes
under date Aug 21st, as follows :—" I have just received a
copy of Mr. Danvers' report, from which I beg to send
you for insertion one or two quotations, which I think
may interest your readers. Mr. Danvers, in his summary,
says as follows :

' The present sanctioned system of guaranteed rail-
ways comprise a length of nearly 5,000 miles, of which
about two-thirds have been finished. One-third of the
whole will probably have to be made with a double line
within the next five or six years, before which time the
4,944 now in course of construction will be opened. It is
estimated that this system will cost about £81,000,000, of
which sum £60,860,000 has been raised, and £60,645,000
had been expended on the lst of May, 1866. The ex-
penditure in this country has amounted to about
£22,000,000; in India, to £38,600,000. Materials to the
value of £17,622,172, and weighing about 2,883,635 tons,
have been sent from hence. The proprietors of Indian
railway stock and debentures now number 39,466, of whom
2,933 have been added during the past year.
The gross receipts during the year ending June 1865
were £3,122,480, as compared with £2,303,288 in the pre-
vious year. The working expenses, £1,565,437 as against
£1,322,656. The nett profits were, in 1863-64, £840,704;
in 1864-65, £1,341,550.

44 The receipts from goods increased from £1,834,951 to
41,844,904.

" The number of passengers were—in 1863-6411,631,683,
n 1864-65 about 12,500,000.

"By the beginning of the year 1869 continuous railway
communication between Madras, Bombay, Calcutta, and
Delhi will be established,"

During my journey last year through the cotton districts
in India, I observed immense piles of cotton and other
goods at railway stations waiting the arrival of waggons to
convey the traffic to seaport towns to be shipped to Eng-
land. It was found perfectly impossible to meet the
demand for rolling stock. In reference to which Mr.
Danvers states that "at some of the stations on the Fist
Indian Railway such was the demand for trucks, that it is
supposed bribes were given to secure a preference ; and it
was proposed by a committee appointed to apply a remedy,
that the trucks should be put up to auction, ignoring alto-
gether the established rates. This would not have been a
proper arrangement, and it was accordingly decided to fix
higher charges generally:, The rolling "stock is inade-
quate for the present traffic. Orders have been given for
418 engines, the delivery of which will, however, be spread
over three or four years. There were 412 ships employ, d
in 1865 in conveying rolling stock, and sleepers, and stores.
The number of ships employed since the commencement
of railway works in India is 4,246, of which 44 were' lost."
" A sum of nearly £16,000,000 has been paid by the Go-
vernment during the last 15 years to the railway compa-
nies as interest on the capital raised by them. Of this
sum about £4,900,000 has been received back by the Go-
vernment from the earnings of the companies. It appears
that 94 per cent. travel in third, 4.18 travel in the second,
and 112 in the first class," from which it will be seen that
"cheap fares are stronger than caste."
Under the head of " accidents for the year 1864, it ap-
pears that of about 13,000,000 passengers, 18 or 1.39 per
million were killed."

" With respect to the future, it cannot but be seen that
there is much in the present condition of these uudertak-
iugs to encourage the hope that success and prosperity are
before them."

You will please observe that " the sum which it is now
estimated will be expended on the undertakings as at pre-
sent sanctioned is upwards of £81,000,000," but this sum
does not include lines of railway which were surveyed last
year, and which are now under consideration- -two of
which aro most important missing links of the railway
system in India, namely, the Indus Valley Railway from
Kottree to Mooltan and the Lahore and Peshawur Rail-
way. The latter line will pass through, or have a branch,
to the Salt Range, and have its terminus in the fortress
which is about to be erected at the entrance of the Khyber
Pass.

I will not trespass any further on your space, but simply
state that Mr. Danvers, who is Government Director of all
the Indian railways, has written a report so full of impor-
tant matter, so comprehensive in all its views, and so just
and enlightened in all his decisions, that the managing
officers of the railway sygtem, and others interested in the
prosperity of India, must feel that the Government have
place the right man in the right place.