1 AUGUST 1931, Page 32

RAILWAY DIVIDENDS.

The dividend announcements (hiking the week by the Metropolitan and Southern Railway companies were generally regarded in the market as somewhat disappointing, though, of course, the published heavy declines in the traffic returns had prepared stockholders for unsatisfactory statements, and in the case of these two companies, and also in the case of the London and North-Eastern, considerable economies have been effected in the working expenditure. Nevertheless, there is little in the Railway statements published so far to encourage hopes of a turn in the tide as regards gross revenues. Of course, the railways would participate in any improvement in general trade, but quite apart from industrial depression, it is evident that the companies are still feeling very severely the effect of the road competition. A. W. K.