Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1871.djvu/704

 668

INDIA.

subscribed for their undertakings ; and, in order to guard against the evil effects of failure on the part of the companies, power was reserved by the Government to supervise and control all their pro- ceedings by means of an official director in England and of officers appointed for the purpose in India. The land required for the railways and works connected therewith was given, and continues to be given, by the Government free of expense, and the stipulated rate of interest is guaranteed to the shareholders in every case, except that of the traffic receipts of the line being insufficient to cover the working expenses, in which event the deficiency is charge- able against the guaranteed interest. Should the net receipts, on the other hand, be in excess of the sum required to pay the amount guaranteed, the surplus is divided in equal parts between the Govern- ment and the shareholders, until the charge to the Government for interest in previous years, with simple interest thereon, has been repaid, after which time the whole of the receipts are distributed among the shareholders. The railway companies have the power of surrendering their works, .after any portion of the line has been opened for three months, and of receiving from the Government the money expended on the undertaking ; and, on the other hand, the Government has the power at the expiration of a period of 25 or 50 years from the date of the contracts, of purchasing the railways at the mean value of the shares for the three previous years, or of paying a proportionate annuity until the end of the 99 years, when the land and works will revert to the Government, unless the railway companies have previously exercised their powers of surrender.

The progress of the railway system in India within ten years is exhibited in the following table, which gives the length of lines open for traffic in each of the territorial divisions, at the end of 1859, 1863, 1867, and 1869 :—

Presidency or Province

1859

1863

1867

1869

Bengal .... North-west Provinces Madras .... Bombay .... Scinde .... Punjaub ....

Total

Miles 142

96 194

Miles 611 292 522 652 114 43

Miles

\ 1,311

772

1,159

109

246

Miles

1,536

840

1,182

111

359

432

2,234

3,597

4,028

The following statement shows the traffic on all the Indian rail- ways in each of the years ended June 30, 1868 and 1869 : —