§ MR. PERKS (Lincolnshire, Louth)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what is the total gross income of the Uganda Railway from the opening of the line up to the 31st December last, or to such date as Returns have been received; how much of such income is represented by passenger or goods traffic carried for the Uganda Protectorate or the British Government; and also what is the total amount of expenditure incurred upon revenue account during such period; what is the total expenditure actually incurred upon the construction of the sections of the railway already opened for traffic, and what further expenditure will be incurred in the completion and alteration of such sections; what is the length of mileage of the railway which has been relaid or altered consequent upon an alteration of the original gradient from 1 in 50 to 1 in 100, or otherwise; and what would be the cost of altering the gauge of the railway from 3 ft. 3 in. to 3 ft. 6 in., so that the Uganda Railway may be of the same gauge as the Egyptian railways, and traffic and rolling stock may be thereby interchanged.
§ * MR. BRODRICKThe Revenue Accounts up to end of 1899 were presented to Parliament in July, 1899. (See Africa, No. 6, 1899.) The accounts for 1899 will be ready to present next July. Up 760 to 30th June, 1899, the figures are as follows:—Gross income passengers and stores (excluding railway construction), Rs. 961,258, or £64,084; of which passengers and stores carried for Protectorate earned Rs. 411,473, or £27,431; general public traffic amounted to Rs. 549,785, or £36,653. The expenditure on the portion opened for traffic could not be separated from the total expenditure without great labour. There has not been any alteration of gradients from one in fifty to less steep ones since construction was commenced. The cost of altering the line to 3 feet 6 inches gauge, including altering the rolling stock, would probably amount to about £500,000.