The herald., 1894-12-05

lines and tha purchase money paid TO
district railways built by local syndi
cates and taken over by the govern
ment; also the ccst OF rolling stock ant
equipments.
The large mileage OF railway in pro.
portion to population. the locality o
the latter along the coast mainly, tn,
active competition of water carriage, the
very short distances over which traffi,
can be carried, the importation by ses
OF the great proportion of mercantile
products which are used by the inhab-
itants. the extension OF the railways ia
land to mountains and pastoral districts
almost devoid of settlement. together
form such q combination of circum-
stances adverse to the railway system
as probably has no parallel in any other
country. The imposition of rates for
carriage has also to be largely guided by
the peculiar circumstances attending
colonial settlement.
These 194S miles OF railway produce d
Q groes annual revenue Of el,172. .793
(s5 676, ,3lS.l2). the net revenue being
ei37. .434 ($2,l17, 1886. "equal to @
dividend OF e2 lis Sd per cent on the
total cost OF all opened lines to that
date"
The working expenses OF the lines for
the year ending March 81. 1894,
amounted to e735. .359. absorbing 62.7
per cent Of the receipts; but as the
cost of improvements in renewing rsils
and in reconstructing rolling stock and
more permanent structures is borne by
working expenses, they are thus made
to appear heavier than they would 9TH
erwise do.
For the past year the tonnage of the
principal products was wool, 101, $40
tons; timber and hrewooG, 267, $50 tons !;
grain, All, ,l9l tons; minerals, 1854 ,53S
tons. The receipts from passenger trsf-
ic were e402,0l9. including season tick =
cts, ELS $40.
The average revenue per mile Of rail-
way, wac s6l9, 3s I'd, and the average
expenditure G3S4, 90 Sd train mile,
respectively. Perhaps the cost Of main
tenance per mile for the last year was
9I40 3s Cd.
The passenger fares are generally at
the rate Of 21ad Is cents) per mile
frat class, and 12sd (S14 cents) per
mile second class; the return fares cali
culated at one-third increase on these
rates. For suburban and local traffic.
hnUaunp tho
some cases of Communication tickets be-
ing as low as 7sd az cents) first
class. and I'D Il cent? second claes per
mile,
The estimated population of New
Zealand is 676.749, only about twice as
many people as there are in the city OF
San Francisco alone. There are 2.sS
miles of railway in New Zealand open
to each 1000 of population. Ofthe pop
ulation Of New Zealand, 4l,993 are
Maoris and 4O44 Chinese.
The ratee Of wages are az followe:
Farm laborers, 4s Sd to Ss per day. with
out board; plowmsn. from rs to los,
ditto; reapers from So to los; shepherds,
with board, per annum, from e4O to eS5;
sheep shearsrs, with board, per 100
sheep, from los to 20s; bricklayers. from
7s to los per day. without board car.
penters, painters, plumbers, Wheel
wrights. plasterers. masons. from 81 to
los Z; general lsborers, 5s to So.
From 50 to $3.50 day is not bad
wages for the artisans named, and 81 to
IS. ($1.25 to 50 per day. for common la
borers is as high a rate of wages as paid
in California.
The estimated annual cost of living
per head in New Zealand is 495 81 Id,
as compared with G22 16s I'd in the
United States.
Under all these circumstances it would
not seem utterly impracticabls for the
people Of Southern California to build
200 miles of railway from Los Angeles to
the San Joaquin valley to compete with
the Southern Pacific monopoly and di-
vert tine trade Of Central California to
it's natural outlet through this city over
transcontinental lines or by
water from San Pedro.
Los Angelen is the natural metropolis
Of Southern California and can become
the actural metropolis Of California if it
will undertake to parallel the Southern
Pacific into Central California. the trade
Of which ia directed to San Francisco
only by force Of rcumstances over
which the people at present have no
control.