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55. Trends of various Railway activities are indicated below by comparing peak earnings with those of the current year:—
Peak earnings prior to 1938. Source. Earnings 1938 Amount Year obtained. Passenger Traffic. $. $ Terminal Through 227,697 443,159 1937 Sectional Through 80,753 179,705 1937 Transit 17,136 Local (all stations) 486,344 704,183 1933 Local (Shum Chun only) 146,269 438,167 1933 Local (all stations except Shum Chun) 340,075† 271,630 1932 Goods Traffic. Terminal Through 95,315 1937 Sectional Through 53,477† 23,738 1934 Transit 413,599† 52,465 1937 Local 28,193 34,031 1927 Miscellaneous. Rent and Incidentals 308,909† 62,137 1937 Foreign Train Haulage 109,475 289,641 1935 † A new record.56. General Expenses advanced by $11,459.17 or 6.50% over 1937 figures, on account of payments made under Personal Emoluments to meet the salaries of the acting Manager and Chief Engineer and additional staff.
57. Personal Emoluments allocated under Traffic Expenses were exceeded by $4,123.04, due to the necessity of engaging extra staff to cope with the enormous increase in volume of goods traffic.
58. Running Expenses rose by $113,204.90 or 50.43%. This was attributable mainly to the jump in the price of coal from $12.44 to $21.96 per ton which caused the original vote for this commodity to be exceeded by $123,973.29.
59. Expenditure on Maintenance of Way and Structures fell from $189,590.79 to $118,817.52, or 59.56%. This was due to the large outgoings on account of typhoon damage last year.
60. The Accounts Department had to face an arduous task throughout the year, ascribable principally to the fact that it acted as a Clearing House for both through and transit traffic. Gross cash receipts were $4,666,420.64 as against $1,981,175.44 last year, an increase of 135.54%, due almost entirely to the growth of transit traffic. To cope with this extra work, it was necessary to strengthen the staff by three additional clerks. When normal conditions have been restored, it is extremely probable that the even greater financial responsibilities will devolve on the Department.
61. At the request of the Chinese Section of the line and the Canton-Hankow Railway, the British Section undertook to prepare all division sheets for transit traffic. This arrangement facilitated settlements of monthly traffic accounts and enabled payments on account to be made by about the 20th of each month.