The Amazing Argentine: A New Land of EnterpriseFraser, John Foster
History
The Amazing Argentine: A New Land of Enterprise
Fraser, John Foster
Argentina -- Description and travel
Passenger traffic is, in fact, a main feature of the Buenos Aires Great
Southern Railway. On the Monday following the Easter holidays in 1913
trains with no fewer than 102 sleeping coaches arrived at the company's
termini in Buenos Aires. Of these, fifty were from the fashionable
bathing resort at Mar del Plata. The special feature of this Mar del
Plata service is, that during the season as many as three heavy trains,
composed of sleeping cars, are run nightly, in addition to afternoon
expresses, formed of luxurious parlour cars, which run three days a
week. In 1913 35,964 return tickets were sold to this watering place 250
miles from Buenos Aires. In the same year parcels and excess baggage
represented 291,608 tons, though it should be stated more than half this
amount was for milk, butter, and cream. The number of tons of goods
carried in 1909 was 4,852,379; in 1913 the tonnage was 7,977,663. Live
stock carried in 1909 were 5,576,983, whilst in 1913 the number was
6,562,951. Fully 50 per cent. of the live stock received at the
slaughter-houses for consumption in Buenos Aires, and by the freezing
establishments for export to England in the form of frozen or chilled
meat, is dispatched from southern stations. The bull that obtained the
championship in 1913 at Palermo, and fetched the world-record price of
£7,000, was born on Señor Pereyra Iraola's estate at Pereyra station on
the Great Southern Railway.
Practically the whole of the zone served by the Great Southern Railway
in the Province of Buenos Aires is adaptable to the growing of cereals
generally, with the exception of maize, which is limited to the
districts nearest Buenos Aires. The authorised capital of the Southern
is £53,525,530, and that issued amounts to £48,981,530. The net receipts
for 1913 (June 30th) amounted to £2,870,349, and the dividend for the
year was 7 per cent., which has been maintained for the last fifteen
years, being, indeed, as high as the law will permit. The company's
rolling stock, comprising some 15,000 vehicles, was recently valued at
£7,437,654. The general manager of the company is Mr. Percy Clarke, the
doyen amongst English railway officials in Argentina, and a man of
charming personality.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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