For some time it was considered that Indian railways were a very paying concern, but this fallacy has received most emphatic quietus. It is proved from records that the East Indian Railway, which is the most prosperous of all Iudixn railways, has earned, on a capital of 66.18 crores, 8 per cent during the last year, without working expenses. At pre-Bent it is owned by Government, and worked by a Company, who have a share in the profits. E: even years ago, when Government took it over, it was in debt to the amount of 24 crores, which debt has since then been reduced to nine crores. Not including eight State lines leased to Companies, Government at present owns 43 lines. Of these, ten show that they are working at a profit to Government, while the rest show a loss, aggregating one cror: of rupees. This speaks for itself. In the last year, those railways which are working at a loss absorbed all the capital brought in by the profitable ones, and the entire Indien railway system found itself 2 per cent net to the bad. The total loss to Government since the commencement has been no less than 43.35 crores; the most expensive of all the lines being the North-west, which is purely a military one. Out of all the losings to Government, this line alone is responsible for 50 per cent. Besides having sunk in it 50.70 crores, Government spends annually no less than one crore on its upkeep. The only use this rail can be is in the remote contingency of a frontier scare, or for repelling the Cossack, One reason that railways do not pay is because the class of people that travel in India are mostly third and second-diss passengers, and these cannot afford to pay as much per mile as can the travelling classes at home. With you in China, when you have opened more new lines,' you will probably face the same problem, and it will be interesting to see how you will solve it. The Government of India are now considering schemes for the construction of light feeder railways, trid to Keep up snd ought at the same narrow gauge, which will cost less to build
time to meet the requirements of the public,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.