The number of passengers reported as carried by the railways in the year ending June 30, 1903, was 694.891,535, indicating an increase of 45,013 030 as compared with the year ending June 30. 1902. The passenger-mileage, or the number of passengers carried 1 mile, was 20,915,763,881, having increased 1.225,826 261.

The number of tons of freight reported as carried (including freight received from connecting roads and other carriers) was 1,304,394,323, which exceeds the tonnage of the previous year by 104,078,536 tons. The ton-mileage, or the number of tons carried 1 mile, was 173 222,278,993, the increase being 15,932,908,940. The number of tons carried 1 mile per mile of line was 855,447, which figures indicate an increase in the density of freight traffic of 62,096 ton-miles per mile of line.

The average revenue per passenger per mile for the year mentioned was 2.006 cents, the average for the preceding year being 1.986 cents. The average revenue per ton per mile was 0.763 cent. This average for the preceding year was 0.757 cent. Earnings per train mile show an increase both for passenger and freight trains. The average cost of running a train 1 mile appears to have increased between 8 and 9 cents. The ratio of operating expenses to earnings, 66.16 per cent, also increased in comparison with the preceding year, when it was 64.66 per cent.

A summary of freight traffic, classified on the basis of a commodity classification embracing some thirty-eight items, is continued for the year under review.