'XXII/8 Baghdad Railway' [‎76r] (147/194)

Cutting from tht
Address of Publication
Issue dated_ 1/ ■ /’ '71
The Anatolian and Bagdad Railways. —From the
report of the Anatolian Railway and its daughter com
panies for the year 1912 it appears that the war, in its
first period, at any rate, has had no adverse effects on
the earnings of the company. Indeed, for the first
time the railway as a whole has not been required to
call upon the Turkish Government to provide kilo-
metric guarantees, and has instead handed over to
Turkey 25 per cent, of the excess of the returns above
the guarantee. Despite the fact that during the whole
of October the line was used exclusively for military
1 purposes, the gross receipts rose to i 8 , 840 ,ooof
(i 5 ,ioo,ooof a year ago). After the subtraction of
working and extraordinary expenses, and the share of
I the Turkish Government ( 992 , 166 ^, the net receipts re
mained at io,i 62 , 648 f, as compared with 8 , 196 , 595 f a
year ago, allowing a rise of \ per cent, in interest to
5 ^ per cent., and an increase in carry-forward from
38 i,ooof to 6 n,ooof. The Bagdad Railway paid an
interest of 5 per cent., the same as last year. 1 he
length of the Bagdad Railway now being worked is
given at 609 kilometres, as compared with 238 a year
ago; that of the Anatolian Company remains un
changed at 1,032 kilometres. Over the prospects of
Turkey’s economic progress in Asia Minor the report
is very optimistic. The development, it suggests, will
be now even more rapid, since the whole interest of
the Government will be concentrated on the Asiatic
provinces. The harvest prospects, it sa\s, are quite
favourable, despite the lack of labour.