§ SIR BERNHARD SAMUELSON (Oxfordshire, Banbury)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether his attention has been called to a widely-circulated statement in the Press, to the effect that the Budget of Sir Auckland Colvin shows a loss of between £ 1,000,000 and £2,000,000 sterling on the not revenue of the Indian Railways; whether that statement is correct; and, if incorrect, can he give the actual or approximate result of the working of those Railways?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)The excess of payments over receipts in the Revenue Account of Indian Railways is estimated in Sir Auckland Colvin's Budget for 1887–8 at Rs.l,38,37,000, or less than £1,000,000 sterling. The payments are enhanced by the fact that capital for the earlier lines was borrowed, or guaranteed, at 5 per cent, and that interest is being paid on lines which are not yet opened. The general result of the working of Indian Railways is not unsatisfactory. During the last year for which the Returns are complete, the net earnings on State lines amounted to 5.53 per cent on the total capital outlay; on the Great Indian Peninsula to 6.72 per cent; on the Bombay Baroda to 8.07 per cent; on the Rajputana Malwa to 6.97 per cent; and on all the Railways opened in India together to 5.91 per cent.