18G8. VICTORIA. VI OTO RIAN RA-ILWAYS. REPORT OF THE BOARD OF LAND AND WORKS FOR THE YEAR J;~~DING 31sT .J?ECEMBER, PRESg~TED TO BOTH HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT B)'" HIS EXCELLENCY'S COMMAND. "UJ.! Rutborilll: JOHN l<'ERRES, GOVERNMENT PRINTER, :!lfELBOU~NE. No. 46. " " APPROXIMATE COST OF REPORT. MOUN'I. ~---1--·-·--~--· Oost of l'reparatlon, abont 25£I·· . 0 d.0 Printing, (I,OliO copies) 120· i ll 0 £ --:-1~~ o ------------------------------------------~~------------------~--~ - REPORT. DEPARTMENT OF VICTORIAN RAILWAYS, Secretary's Office, 15th June, 1868. To HIS ExCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR IN COUNCIL. SIR, I have the honor to present t9 Your Excellency the Report of the Board of Land and Works upon the Department of Victorian Railways for 1867. DEBENTURE CAPITAL. DEB!!NTIJ!lll CAJ.'ITAL. 2., The Debentures issued, taken' at par, amounted at 31st December, 1867, to £8,618,100, Return No. 3. being the total amount of the several loans authorised for the construction of Victorian Railways, aod the net premiums amounted at the same· date to £256,652 2s. 9d., making a total of £8,874,752 2s. 9d., the whole of which has been expended. The net revenue for the year ending 31st December, 1867, is £284,960 14s. ·4a, or 3·31 perneturn No, s. cent. upon the Debenture Capital. 3. Since the lst July, 1864, when traffic was closed on the Essendon Railway, proposals for the sale of that line to the Government have at different times formed the subject of negociations with this. Depa.,rtment; and during· the. past year terms for the transfer of the line were so far agreed to, that the purchase was r,ecommended for the consideration of the Legislature. On the 23rd July, 1867, an. offer from the Directors. of the Essen don Railway Company to sell their line to the .Government for.£25,000 was.submitted on their. behalf. to the Legislative As8embly, who, on an adjourned debate, approved .of its being .considered in .Committee. On the 2nd August the House affirmed the expediency.of the.line being .purchased and opened for traffic, .the purchase-money being fi~ed at.a.sum not exceeding £22;500 •.. These resolutions were finally reported to and adopted by the Legislative Assembly on the Sth.. August.· · 4. As the racecourse traffic <?n this line .was that from which the principal returns were looked for, and as the spring meetings were approaching, frop1 which also enhanced receipts were anticipated from the presence of his Royal_ Highness the D;uke of Edinburgh, it was considered des~able that the Government should be at once placed in possessi?n of the line for· the purpose of repairing the permanent way to the racecourse platform; and, under articles of agre'ement for the purchase, dated 26.th. August, made between th~ Board of Land and Works and the Essendon Railway Company, the Government.obtained.possession of, the line, payment of the purchase-money being made con­ tingent .upon ~e amount. be~g .approprm:too for that purpose .by ,the Legislature. · 5. Repairs and additions'ind.ispensable to the safety and acCommodation of this traffic were thereupon cru:ried out by . the Department, the cost of vv:hich, amounting, 'at 31st December, to £10,970 4s., forms a portion of .the expenditure on capital account, and has been charged against l!.etumNo.4. the votes for the Rervice of the year. 4 !TAL CAPITAL ACCOUNT. >UNT~ ><o.-4. 6. The total expenditure from. all funds amounted, at 31st December, 1867, to £10,855,759 8s. 6d., and this includes the finaJ payments to the representatives of .M:essrs. Cornish pori,p.3, and Bruce, the contractors for the construction of the Sandhurst line, whose claims I stated in my ·last Report were then pending. The following ar~ the details of the settlement arrived at :- . ' £ 8. d. "·· Bc4. 7. The amount claimed by the contractors was originally 304,763 8 8 But at the trial the following items were ofcitted :- lt., 1865. Reductions by adjustment of prices on certain sections ;- J!! s. · d. withdrawn by petitioners 1,260 17 0 ., ISGG. 25 per cent. interest on £282,331. 9s. 6d.,. amount of worlr . executed after the Government opened the line for public' 'traffic ;-withdrawn by petitioners · ••• 70,582 17 4 Amount of retained percentages ;-~dmitted by the Govern- ment, subject to certain deductions ' 17,000 0 0 Balance of cash deposit ;-admitted as above ] 0,000 0 0 _._..,.,;,._ ... 98,843 14 4 Leaving an amount of ...£205,919 8 11 claimed by the petitioners, in regard. to which issue was joined at the trial. , 8. The verdict of the jury, as corrected by the Supreme Court on certain legal points raised, and after deducting a sum of £1,000 awarded to the Governme~t for waste of plant by the con- 1,t., IS6G. tractors, amounted to £155,261 lls. lld., and this verdict carried with it the petitioners' costs, taxed ;cJlt,! ISGG. at £11,658 ]]s. 9d., making a total Of £166,920. 3S. 8d. j but ultimately, and after ail the necessary .. · documents had be~~ prepared for a~· appeal to the Privy Council, the contractorS agreed to accept rar.,1so7. £107,519 12s:; with interest from the date of agreement, in full of _their claims under this verdict, and to pay their own costs in the action. liar., 1ss1. 9. The contractors further agreed to allow a set-off of £9,441 14s. against the sum of £27,000 held by the Government as the balance of retained percentages and cash deposit,· and to refer to arbitration a claim for 'an alleged overpayment to them on ballast of No: 1 section. The July, 1867. award of the arbitrators on the. question submitted to th_em was to the effect that there had been an overpayment of £9,654 Ss. on this section in April, 1859. 10. To sum' up these results, it may be stated that the amended cla).ms of the contractors at the trial and the subsequent. arbitrati9n amounted in the aggregate to £232,919 8s. lld., and of this sum th~ Government admitted that, apart from the question of fines for non-completion. within the contract time; deductions for overpayment on nietal on No. 1 section, and amounts due to it for engine-hire, £59,777 12s. ld. was due for works, and £27,000 for balance of retained percentages and cash deposit, making a total amount admitted of £86,777 12s. ·ld. The claims of the con­ tractors were settled in full by the payment of £>118,491 15s., which. includes sundry charges for · interest, arbitration expenses, and other items of minor importance. mional Est!- 11. The unexpended· balance of the Loan being insufficient to liquidate this claim, a supple­ ,:1: ~~:7~: mentary vote of £35,000 was placed upon the Estimates of ] 867, "to be repaid out of a loan to be raised for railway works," and at 31st December this ,_ote had been drawn upon to the extent of £27,941 18s. in liquidation of this claim. · · dit!onn1 Esti- 12. Owing also to th!'l position of. the Loan, it has been necessary, during_ the past year, to :~i~~· ~:~ 78~~~ provide on the Estimates for that proportion of the cost of the engineering branch chargeable to 3 vision ' construction, as also for some additionai works at stations, and 'this expenditure during 1867 is , included in the Statement of Receipts and Expenditure on Capital Account. 13. No final settlement. has yet been arrived at with the contractors. for the Geelong and . Ballarat Railway. --- 5 GENERAL REVENUE AcCOUNT. COUNT- 'H. The gross revenue for the past year is £552,031 18s. 4d., and the working expenses ne::;~:':'::'." amount to £267,071 4s., or 48·38 per cent. upon the gross receipts, leaving a net revenue of £284,960 14s .. 4d., or a decrease of £35,076 4s. 5d. compared with the net revenue of 1866, the details of which are thus shown :- Decrease of gross revenue from- .£ s. d. £ s. d. Passengers ... 10,306 18 7 Parcels 298 15 5 Horses, &c. 856 11 7 Rents 574 6 3 Gold escort 151411 Miscellaneous ... 94 15 J1 Goods ... .... 27,345 4 6 £39,492 7 2 Less increase from live stock 1,886 17' 5 Total decrease of gross revenue 37,605 9 9 Deduct decrease of expenditure on- Locomotive charges 584 .15 9 Traffic charges .:. 5,876 16 4 General charges ... 50 8 0 £6,512- 0 1 Less increase of maintenance ------3,982 14 9 Total· decrease of expenditure 2,529 5 4 Decrease of net revenue £35,076 4 5 15. The following is a statement of the amount and percentage decrease of passenger and goods traffic in 1867, compared with 1866 :- Percentage VteTORlAN RAILWAY84 Amount of Decrease. of ··- 1866. 1867 .• Decrease All Lines. l upon 1866. Number of Passengers ... ... 1,132,275 1,1 03,583i ' 30,6901 2•71 Tons cwt. qra. lbs. Tons ewt. qrs. lba. Tons ewt. qrs, lbs. Number of Tons ... ... ... 399,559 li I 13 384,438 0 1 2 15,121 11 0 11 3"78 £ 8, d. £ I. a. £ .. d. Revenue from Passengers, &c. ... 248,721 11 5 236,574 s 9 12,147 2 s 4•88 ·- Hevenue from Goods ··.· ... 340,915 16 8 315,457 9 7 25,458 7 1 7 47 16. With a few ·exceptions, to be hereafter mentioned, a decrease of passenger revenue has taken p\ace at all stations; and there has also been a considerable decrease in the average mileage travelled per passenger, as is shown by the following summary:- 1 ALL LJNEa.· •· Each conveyed Making At an Average Number a.n Average Distance a Total Mileage Revenue per Mile Gross Revenue from Passenger of Passenge;s.