85 J without interruption till the 12th November, when another strike occurred in the Law School as in all the other Government schools. As a result of the notice under martial law of the 19th November the students returned to their classes on the 22nd November, but further troubles arose shortly afterwards, the result of which was that 250 out of the total of 295 internal students were excluded from the examination, and thus lost a year.

It is interesting to notice that since its institution in 1892 just over a thousand students have received the diploma of the school. An attempt is made every year to trace the subsequent careei’ of the graduates. It appears that out of a total of 1,002, since 1892,174 found employment under the Ministry of Justice, 56 in other Ministries, and 740 became members of the bar.

YIL—COMMUNICATIONS.

53. General.

The Ministry of Communications was formed in April 1919 to include the following existing, new or proposed. Administrations; Railways, Telegraphs, Telephones. Auxiliary Railways, Post Office, Ports and Lights, Inland Navigation, Main Roads and Bridges, Mechanical Transport, and Air. The Telephone Service had recently been purchased from a private company.

54. Railways, Telegraphs and Telephones. Military operations, first the defence of Egypt and later the advance into Palestine and Syria, made throughout the war very heavy demands upon the Railway Administration. It was unfortunate from the point of view of the railways that the decision to use the Sinai Desert and not the Suez Canal as the main defensive position was not arrived at, while American markets were open and American shipping free. The result was that a severe shortage of locomotives, rolling-stock, and track was felt throughout the period of the war, and it was xxccessary to develop water transport at considerable expense to deal with Egyptian traffic. No new materials of this nature, with the exception of some oil-tank waggons, were in fact obtained by the State Railways during the war; their reserve stocks were used up on military works during 1914 and 1915, and they will not recover for some years from the overwork and arrears of maintenance. In order to economise rolling-stock and coal, the ordinary train service was greatly reduced, and, though it has now been in a considerable measure restored', further improvement will not be possible for a considerable time.

Pares and freight rates have been largely increased to meet the enhanced cost of labour and fuel, but the quantity of traffic has not been appreciably reduced by this measure.

The following table shows the receipts and expenditure of the State Railways during the years 1914-15 to 1918-19 (April 1 to March 31), as well as the number of passengers and tons of goods carried, the train kilometrage, and the cost and earnings per train kilometre:— Keceipts Expenditure Passengers Goods Train kilometrage Cost p(ir train kilom. Earnings per train kilom 19U-15. i 1915-lG.

£E £E Tons' millieraes milliemes 3.138,555 2,070,077 22.42-1,159 5,317,248 14,(536,283 141 214 3,667,932 2,159,588 25,907,831 5,284,020 15,547,882 139 236 1916-17.

4,379,977 2,966,755 30,867,749 6,392,965 17,172,712 173 255 1917-18. 1918-19.

4,919,248 3.149,629 26,918,964 5,726,763 15,813,527 199 311 6,888,303 3,610,915 26,931,754 5.388,226 14,923,992 242 462 During the disturbances of March and April 1919 the railways suffered severely. The lines were cut in about 200 places and 63 stations suffered damage to greater or less extent. The cost of repairing the actual damage to works which has not been so heavy as at first expected will amount to approximately £E. 44,000, to which must be added some £E. 22,000 for repairs to telegraphs. Owing to the scarcity of materials, repairs have taken a long time to carry out, and much inconvenience has thus been caused. The actual loss to the railway receipts owing to the entire or House of Commons Parliamentary Papers Online. Copyright (c) 2006 ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved.