NON-PAYING RAILWAYS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIV, Issue 4, 5 January 1903, Page 5

NON-PAYING RAILWAYS.

TENDERS TO BE CALLED FOR

MAINTENANCE.

"For several months past," observed Mr Bent, Victoria railways, to a pressman, "I have been considering whether it is possible to make some of the lines \\>iich at present are nonpaving return sufficient revenue to pay for working expenses. I have before me a list of lines which do not even pay the cost of working, much less interest on capital expended. The total loss to the country on these lilies is £172,000 a year. Take as an instance the line from Avoca to Ararat. The total revenue for the last financial year was £1714. The maintenance charges alone amounted to no less than £2166! The traffic expenses were £629 and the locomotive expenses £906, making a total expenditure of £3761. I have called for a return showing the number of men employed in the maintenance of these non-pay-ing lines. It is absurd that we should be paying high wages to men for keeping in order a line that js merely a burden upon the people of the State. As a result of my enqiriries, I have decided to call for tenders for the maintenance of each of these lines. I propose also to put women in charge of some of the stations instead of men. In many instances I find now that a woman does the work better than a man drawing £150 or £200 a year."