1867.J The Means of Transit in India. 31 



was subsequently authorized to enable it to be taken through Caroor 

 and up the right bank of the Cauvery, to join the Madras Kailway 

 at Errode. 



The length of rail in course of construction by the eight com- 

 panies above mentioned is 4,944 miles, of which 3,332 miles were 

 in working order on the 31st March last. The capital estimated to 

 be required for the completion of the several undertakings already 

 sanctioned is 81,000,000/., of which 60,645,000Z. has already been 

 expended. The traffic on the principal lines during the years 

 1865-66 exceeded the most sanguine expectations, and it is clear 

 now that the traffic on them will be enormous, and that for some 

 time to come it will increase in proportion to the means provided 

 for carrying it. The passenger fares are low as compared with 

 European rates, yet it appears that out of the total number of 

 passengers carried, amounting to between thirteen and fourteen 

 millions during the year, 94 per cent, travelled in the third, 4*78 in 

 the second, and only 1*22 travelled in the first class. A sum of 

 about eleven millions sterling has now been paid by the Govern- 

 ment as guaranteed interest, over and above the amounts received 

 from the earnings of the railways ; and although it will be some 

 time before so large an advance can be recouped, the condition of 

 some of the railways gives reason to hope that, at any rate, a con- 

 siderable portion will ultimately be repaid. Moreover, the free 

 conveyance of the mails, and the reduction in the expense of trans- 

 porting troops and stores, will effect a considerable saving, and the 

 indirect gain to the State, arising from the greater security afforded 

 to the country and the impulse given to commerce and agriculture, 

 is incalculable. 



Adverting to the probable early completion of the main lines of 

 communication connecting the port of Bombay with the Presidencies 

 of Calcutta and Madras, the North-western Provinces, and the 

 Punjab, it was recommended by the recent select committee of 

 the House of Commons on the subject of East India communi- 

 cations, that in future the mails for India should be conveyed to 

 Bombay alone, and that the separate postal service between Eng- 

 land and Madras and Calcutta should be discontinued. By this 

 means a saving of several days would be effected in the communi- 

 cations between those places and this country. 



In addition to the foregoing guaranteed railway companies, two 

 companies, named respectively the Indian Branch Kailway Com- 

 pany, and the Indian Tramway Company, have been formed for the 

 purpose of constructing light lines of railway without the assistance 

 of a prehminary guarantee from Government. 



The Indian Branch Bail way Company, in 1863, laid down a 

 line, about 27 miles in length, with a gauge of 4 feet, from Nul- 

 hatte, a station on the East Indian Railway, 144 miles from 



