RAILWAYS STATEMENT

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 12821, 16 August 1939, Page 1

RAILWAYS STATEMENT

The Hew D. G. Sullivan, Minister of Railways, presented the Railway Statement in the House of Representatives yesterday and stated: “The financial year ended 81st March, 1939, has been a record year for railway business, the gross revenue —for the first time in the Dominion’s history—exceeding £ 9,000,000, the actual amount being £ 9,345,387. This is all the more notable following ,a year which also established a record in gross operating earnings. The gross earnings for the year totalled £ 9,345,387 and the gross expenditure £ 8,644,324, leaving £701,063 of net earnings, an increase of £ 68,266 over the net earnings of the previous year, after placing £ 990,495 out of revenue to the credit of the various Depreciation, Reserves, and Equilization Accounts. The total expenditure (£ 8,644,324) was £ 642,935 more than in the; previous year, due mainly to the payment of wages at higher rates, higher prices for coal and stores, and the cost of handling the increased business. .

The bet revenue of £ 701,063 is equivalent to 1.23 per cent of the capital, and the amount set aside out of revenue for 'depreciation, alone is £ 698,678, equivalent to 1.19 per cent of the capital. In addition, reserves set aside out of revenue for track-renewals, slips, floods, and accidents, betterments, insurances, and workers’ compensation amounted to £ 291,817. The improved net financial return was helped by an increase of. 10 per cent in fares and freights in the latter months of the financial year. I anticipate a marked improvement in the net earnings of the Department during the present financial year, for the first sixteen weeks of which the net revenue earned will be approximately £ 200,000 greater than for the corresponding period of last year, notwithstanding that there is a day less in this year’s accounting period.

In the current financial year my preliminary estimate is £of a total net revenue of £ 1,250*000, and the figures for the first sixteen weeks exceed that preliminary estimate, which, of course, takes into account the general activity in the building and manufacturing industries and the increased passenger traffic anticipated from the Dominion’s Centennial Exhibition and Celebrations. The railway policy at present being pursued is based on the belief expressed in my 1937 Railways Statement that if the railways were to give a modern service capable of retaining and increasing traffic on a quality .basis improvement ; of the lines to carry the traffic was a first necessity. The use of heavier locomotives, the running of faster and more frequent trains, and the provision of smoother and more comfortable travel are all dependent on line-improvements, including stronger bridges, easier grades, more generous curves, more duplications, and a larger number of extended crossing places to meet the increased density of the traffic. It is not merely the intensification of traffic on existing lines for which adequate provision must be made. The many important extensions of the railway-lines now in the hands of the Public Works Department and soon to become part of the working railways .mean additional traffic to the existign lines as wel las territories they open or link up. These IH= elude the Kirikopuni-Dargaville link of the North Auckland railway; the Paeroa-Pokeno railway to put the rich Hauraki and Bay of Plenty districts in closer touch with Auckland; the Waikokopu-Gisborn© portion of the Gisborne-Napier railway to link Poverty Bay with the main railway system of the North Island; the Wha-ranui-Parnassus railway, linking the Picton Section with the South Island Main Trunk railway; and the Inanga-hua-T© Kuha line to link the Westport Section with the main South Island. railway system. , Comparing the year 193 6 with 1939, the whole rolling-stock posi-

RECORD BUSINESS TOTAL AMOUNT £9,345,387

tiou shows a marked improvement, both in the quality and quantity of the vehicles of all types on the system, including larger and more powerful locomotives, new and improved passenger cars, multiple-unit power coaches and trailers, and the latest type of standard rail cars. There has been a big increase in the number of all types of wagons, particularly those needed for the conveyance of general goods and- livestock. Our wagon-capacity in the past three years has been increased by 19,000 tons, and the total number of wagons of all classes has increased by the equivalent of 1,729 fourwheeled wagons. In the year ended 31st March, 1939, the Railway Workshops constructed 1,373 wagons, 39 passenger cars, and 5 standard rail cars, and this year I anticipate their output will give us the following new roll-ing-stock: 6 Kb locolnotives, 10 Ka locomotives, 9 electric locomotives, 4S passenger-cars (including airconditioned cars), 1 rail car, and 1,292 wagons. Of these, 415 wagons have already been completed, as well as a Ka locomotive, a Kb locomotive, an electric locomotive, and 11 passenger cars. in addition, 40 J locomotives and 10 rail cars ordered from Great Britain will arrive during the current ‘year. At least 30 of these locomotives and 2 rail cars are expected to arrive before December. The successful operation of rail cars of types evolved by our own engineers and built by our own craftsmen has been one of the most notable developments in the modern service offered by the Department. It is helping to turn the tide of traffic back to the rail. So marked indeed has been its progress' that the full effect of rail-car evolution would be difficult to predict; but I can safely say, from our experience with them up to the present, that in their ultimate development,, whether singly or as multiple-unit trains, they will prove invaluable as an aid to the development of the more backward portions of the country in providing transport of a frequency, comfort, sped and convenience not conceivable by any other practicable means in the territories they will serve.' For the year just ended the nine cars already in use (seven on the Wairarapa t route, North Island, and two .on the Midland route, South Island) ran nearly 400,000 miles and recorded a passenger-mileage of over 8,000,000.

Already the new, larger, and heavier type, the Department’s standard rail car, has been running successfully for several months on the Wellington-New Plymouth route, and provides a very attractive service supplementary to that of the mail-trains. I was also able to provide a complete service of standard rail cars to work a full passenger service on the Napier-Wairoa line, which was taken over by the. Department on the Ist July. Even in the first weeks of operation the popularity of this new form of transport in the newly-open-ed territory is being strongly demonstrated. A total of sixteen of these cars (some of which are being imorted) will be running in various parts of the Dominion during the present year, and the response and reactions from their operation has been entirely satisfactory and is a tangible guide to the programme for construction and distribution of units of this nevr arm of the railway service in its work of providing suitable transport to aid in further national development and in improving still more the amenities of Dominion travel. « Secondary industries in particular will benefit from the operation of the new freight schedules, which are so based as to facilitate the widerange distribution of their products. In view of the present and prospective developments in the field of secondary production it is satisfactory to record that the principals of important manufacturing industries have expressed their approval of these adjustments, as have many chambers df commerce and local bodies. What has been done is in line with the most advanced thought in trans - - port rating in other countries, and producers and the business community alike have welcomed this new and equitable rearrangement of the railway tariff. In conclusion, let me again express my appreciation of the efficiency with which the General Manager (Mr G. H. Mackley), his assistants, and staff throughout the Service have carried out their work during the year. I know that the public have appreciated the high quality of service rendered, and I believe that in the current year, which includes the period of maximum work involved for the railways by the Centennial Year Exhibition and Celebrations,* the Department will be able to meet every, call upon it with equal satisfaction to the users of the Railways.