Although the full figures relating to railway finance for the year ended 31st March are not yet available, I have pleasure in announcing a record four weeks' traffic during the period ending 2nd March and a gratifying further improvement as indicated by the preliminary returns for the remainder of March.

The trend of traffic generally led me to anticipate, in a message published some months back, that our revenue for the year would end up well, but the figures are definitely better than expected. A notable feature is that the improvement applies to all classes of traffic and to all sections of the line.

I desire to record my special appreciation of the efforts of all concerned in the production of such a splendid result.