D—2

Details of goods traffic and comparisons with last year's figures follow : j - ; - -

The traffic was divided over the system as under:—

The increase in tonnage on the Nelson section was due largely to cement traffic. The following table of group commodities, broadly classified, shows the percentage •of each to the total tonnage handled, viz. :—- Per Cent. Products of agriculture .. .. 6-93 Animals and products-.. .. .. .. 16-60 Products of mines .. .. .. .. 29-42 Products of forests .. .. .. _ g• 87 Benzine and oils .. .. .. 3-32 Cement .. .. .. .. 1.49 Manures .. .. .. ~ 9-88 All other commodities ~ .. .. .. 23-49 Total .. .. .. .. .. 100-00 The principal variations in goods traffic were as follows : Increase. J Decrease Commodity Tons. Commodity— Tons Timber.. .. .. .. 11,503 Fodder .. .. .. ..10 665 •• •• 46,867 Fruit .. .. 9^49 Benzine in tankers .. .. 24,669 Grain .. " 21'393 £ utter 6,528 Lime, agriculture .. ." 56'689 Cement 27,938 Meat, fresh .. .. 10 '609 Cheese . . .. .. .. 4,093 Meat, frozen for export .. . 4'444 firewood and posts .. .. 10,606 Road-metal .. 3'030 Manures and phosphates .. .. 158,154 Milk by-products.. .. .. 6,800 | Wool .. .. .. .. 5,713 | General merchandise .. .. 80,697 | mom iS°, rseS j cattl ?'. calves ' and P ] 'g s increased by 83,970 head, but there was a decrease in sheep of -484,424 head, resulting m a decrease of 13,698 tons in live-stock traffic as a whole.)

9

— 1950. 1949. Variations. Revenue £ 12,434,487 £ 11,747,129 1 £ +687,358 Per Cent. 5-85 Total tonnage Tons. Tons. Tons. 9,948,261 9,666,130 +282,131 2-92 Net ton-miles Number. Number. Number. 1,021,137,543 970,756,819 +50,380,724 5-19 Average haul Freight revenue per net tonMiles. Miles. Miles. 103 100 +3 3-00 s. d. s. d. s. d. mile 0 2-92 0 2-90 +0 0-02 0-69 Freight revenue per freighttrain mile 26 7-96 25 7-88 + 1 0-08 3-92 Freight revenue per thousand gross ton-miles (freight) 92 4-45 91 0-80 + 1 3-65 1-43

Section. Tons. 1 Variation With 1949. | Revenue. 1 Variation With 1949. North Island main line and branches .South Island main line and branches Nelson Section Number. 5,335,396 4,583,154 29,711 Number. +314,516 -37,208 +4,823 Per Cent. 6-26 1 0-81 19-38 £ 7,980,502 4,435,201 j 18,784 | £ +572,977 + 110,015 +4,366 1 Per. Cent. 7-74 2-54 30-28