$5.6m Surplus For Railways

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32394, 5 September 1970, Page 44

$5.6m Surplus For Railways

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, Sept. 4. The Railways Department had a working surplus of $5.6m for the year ended March 31, 1970, and earned a net profit of $3.7m, according to the annual report tabled in Parliament today by the Minister of Transport (Mr Gordon). The previous year the department had a working surplus of $3.5m. Revenue increased 10.8 per cent to a new record of $99.7m and expenditure rose 8.8 per cent to $94.1m. In his introduction td the report Mr Gordon said that even better results must be sought in future if the railways were to be able to finance essential capital requirements, including the payment of interest and repayment of loan money, without recourse to national development loan capital. Current depreciation was not sufficient to finance the capital expenditure necessary to allow the department to

provide the services to which it was best suited and which were cheapest for the New Zealand economy. The two Cook Strait rail ferries increased their profit with a record 1049 return trips. They earned $5,891,031, compared with $5,322,865 in 1968-69. Expenditure rose to $4,495,176, resulting in a net profit of $1,395,855, compared with $1,101,537 the previous year.