ABSTRACT
Funds for the construction and equipment of the railway were provided partly by interest-bearing loans and partly by sums advanced by the Colonial Government from surplus revenue, which are free of interest. The number of passengers in 1938 was lower than in 1929; but passenger traffic amounts to only 8½ per cent. of the railway revenue, and the very large increase in public goods ton-mileage was met without any addition to working expenditure. Tanganyika’s foreign trade fell during the worst period of the world depression to half its value in 1929, and this could not fail to affect railway revenue. Coaching receipts suffered more than goods receipts and – as in other colonies – never recovered to the 1929 level. Coffee, hides, and skins and sisal also recorded substantial increases, the tonnages railed at the end of the decade being double those at the beginning.
