The statement made at the meeting of the Southern Railway
by the chairman, Brigadier-General the Hon. Sir Everard Baring, produced a good impression on City circles, the view, taken on the Stock Exchange of the prospects of the company being fairly hopeful. Quite wisely, the chairman made his comparison of figures not with the abnormal year of 1926, but with that of 1925, and on this basis of comparison he was able to show thatthere had been a considerable saving in expenditure, while the reduction in revenue was trifling having regard to the fact that the company had suffered an abnormal loss of receipts from two circum- stances quite beyond its control, the Continental service from Folkestone to Flushing having been diverted to Harwich, while another loss of revenue to the_ company was, of course, occasioned by the competition on the part of the City and South London Tube to Morden. That the decline in revenue in spite of this diversion of traffic should be so trifling is testimony to the growth of the company's revenue in other directions and is probably also the first fruits of the electrifica- tion schemes.
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