THE RAILWAYS PROFIT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVII, Issue 114, 15 May 1936, Page 6

THE RAILWAYS PROFIT.

The railways profit for the year is close to the Budget estimate and nearly equal to the figures of the previous two years. It thus appears that the railways have reached a level of stabilised returns about half-way between the boom and slump earnings, or, roughly, equivalent to the average of the past 10 years. They are to-day paying a little over a million of their interest bill, and the remaining million and a half is being carried by the taxpayer. A profit of less than 2 per cent on a sixty million concern is an exceedingly low return, but when compared with the still lower yield of railway systems in many countries it appears somewhat more satisfactory. These have been lean years for railways. The shareholders in British lines

have had to be content with dividends as low as 1 per cent, and in America mauy have lost their capital as well. In New Zealand the lowest point touched was in 1930-31, immediately before the Railways Board took control, when the net revenue fell to £688,700. Fortunately the Board, in its brief five j'ears of existence, was able to bring about a substantial improvement in the position, even while the depression deepened in the Dominion, and lately gross revenue has been expanding in line with the improved conditions.