RAILWAY COSTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 78, 3 April 1939, Page 15

RAILWAY COSTS.

REVENUE QUESTION.

FULL FIGURES NOT TAKEN.

REPLY TO MR. HAMILTON.

(By Telegraph—Press Association.)

WELLINGTON, Sunday

'■\i is oingnlm-ly inappropriate and indicates a totally unexpected sense of humour on the part of Mr. Hamilton that ho should have held over his further attempt at footing the people of »w Zealand, insofar as railway matters are concerned, in -order to ensure that it should appear in the Press of the Dominion on the morning of \nril 1, said the Minister of Railways, the Hon. D. G Sullivan, in replying to a further statement by the leader of the National party, the Hon. A. Hamilton regarding railway costs. "Mr. Hamilton made a statement at Lolo.ua that the Hallway Department Vγ "c. P a3 ''"S working expenses," said Mr. Sullivan. "He stated in the clearest possible tonne that for cvdrv £100 earned by the New Zealand Railways for the financial year to date it has co-t £103 9/ to get it. He.has quoted ecrtain figures from the Abstract of htiitistics to substantiate his statement. but he oinifs to mention that the llgnres he quotes are qualified by the Government Statistician by a footnote on pa.'e 22 of the Abstract of Statistics for December, 1938, quoted by Mr. Hamilton, and which roads ae follows excluding, inter alia, road motor services., "If Mr. Hamilton is not aware of the meaning of 'inter alia' his advisers should have informed him that inter alia means 'among other things,' and that the figures shown do not refer to the whole of tlie Department's business. Gross Figures Required. "I would point out to Mr. Hamilton that the only way to obtain a collect percentage of expenses to revenue is to ascertain the gross revenue, to ascertain also the gross expenses, and to •work out the percentages from these figures. This is the course adopted in working out the percentage of expenses to revenue as submitted by me, and these arc the figures used in the annual railway statement of accounts, which must be certified ae correct by the Auditor-General before presentation' to Parliament. "To illustrate the position, I need only quote the following examples:'—Percentage of expenditure to revenue for the portion of business shown by the Government Statistician for the year ended March 31, 1D37, 91.81 per cent; percentage of total working expellees to gross earning, as shown in the annual railways etatcment for the year ended March 31, 1037, 88.40 per cent. For the year ended March 31, 1938, the figures were 96.05 per cent and 92.67 per cent respectively. "It is quite conceivable that under a different eet of circumstances portions of the undertaking excluded from the Government Statistician's figures might ehow a heavy loss, and the percentage of expenditure to revenue for the whole undertaking be higher than those shown in the Abstract of Statistics. It would be ridiculous, then, to claim a false percentage which-coukV not .be.isubstan-. tiated in the revenue return*. "Mr. Hamilton claims the figures of the Government Statistician in the Abstract of Statistics are the only ones available to himself and the public. It is unthinkable that Mr. Hamilton should be ignorant of the fact that there is a

statutory obligation to publish .in the -New Zealand Gazette an abstract of the Railways forking Account, showing the results for each four-weekly period and the current year to date, with comparisons of figures for the previous year. I lie latest information gives complete figures up to February 4, 1939. published 380 GttZette of - March »• 1939, on page

"I am not aware of the sources from winch Mr. Hamilton obtained his figures regarding the increased staff in the Ioco"iiiotive department, but in view of the fact that the total number of engine•n' IV Tnoo ,u0,,,e " aml cleaners at March .11, 19.58, was less than 2.">00. Mr. Hamilton s statement that their number wa* increased by 3232 men in the past four years is so palpably incorrect ae to require no further comment. "In conclusion/' said Mr. Sullivan, "I would like to suggest that in future -Mr. Hamilton should make a close etudv ot the figures in the complete railways returns before making public statements based on information which, on beinanalysed, is found to be only portion of the truth."