STATE TRANSPORT IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25903, 8 September 1949, Page 5

STATE TRANSPORT IN BRITAIN

Loss Shown In First Year DECLINE LIKELY TO CONTINUE (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, September 7. Britain’s nationalised transport—railways, road services, docks, and waterways—ended its first year of State ownership with a loss of £4.732.824. The first report of the British Transport Commission for the year ended December 31, 1948, summed up the situation as unsatisfactory. and prophesied that “a further deterioration of working results is inevitable" in 1949. The loss of revenue was £1.714,618. but the remaining net deficit of £3,018,206 was incurrc ! by payments of £2,487.741 in capital redemption and £530.465 in special items such as preliminary organisation expenses. The loss of revenue was only a small percentage of the Transport Commission’s turnover, with its gfoss receipts from railways and other undertakings of nearly £492.000.000. The report said that the main reason why the commission came so near to balancing the accounts was that certain important efficiency factors had shown a favourable trend. This meant that the price of transport had risen much less than the working expenses.

The commission forecast that this year's working results would deteriorate because of rising costs of wages, coal, and steel.