STREET CAR PROFITS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 770, 19 March 1910, Page 10

STREET CAR PROFITS.

DUNEDIN AND WELLINGTON COMPARED. WELLINGTON'S ADVANCING A telegram .which appeared in. yesterday's Dominion gave a few figures show--ingtho profits made on the Dunedin trams for the year ended March 20. For the sake of comparison, the message is reinserted as.follows;—

"The Dunedin Electric Tramways tor t the , year. ended March 2', show receipts to, have been £65,799,-and working expenses £36,401. The profit amounted to £29,398,. giving a return of 9 per cent. on. the'capital expenditure of £300,000. The revenue shows an increase of £2522 over tho previous year, while the mileage run shows an increaso of 7798 miles. The total number of passengers carried was 11,380,472. This was the most successful year since the inauguration of the service."

Anyone reading this telegram without wasting thought upbri the subject might very easily be induced to think that Dune'din had a very good thing on. with its trams, ■ and at tho same time might vaguely wonder why Wellington' with its larger population is not doing as wellwhy wo cannot realise 9 .per cent, profit on the capital valuer i Nothing is so easy as -to give a- false impression with figures —figures which 1 may in. themselves be correct, yet are incomplete. It is like a witness who speaks the truth, but , not the whole truth. So staggering' was the alleged profit that a Dominion representative sought enlighteriment-and found it. The mdssage gives the receipts as £65,799 and the working expenses as £36,401, leaving a "profit" of £29,398. The word profit is hardly correct, inasmuch as it represents the gross difference " between revenue and working expenditure without detailing its interest account, whioh, if included, would greatly reduce the return on capital expenditure. As against Duriedin's receipts for the. year, Wellington's receipts for the year ended March 31, 1909, were £136,436,. and the , excess of revenue over working expenses. . ..for the same period was £44,763—but that was not profit. The profit made by our trams ing the year 1908-9 amounted to £5934, or about 1,1-13 per cent, on a (approximate) oapitaUexpenditure of £554,854.. ■< Were Wellington , to send .out figures as Dunedin has'.dpne, our .'excess of revenue , over , expenditure'would give a return of over 8 per: cent;, but that is altogether misleading'to.,the.man who reads as he runs. . ..Another, comparison will be found of in.terost. The Dunedin frame carried 11,380,472 passengere during the jear just ended. The Wellington trams carried 21,679,902 passengers duriiig the year 1908-9; and the year now drawing to a close Ghows a big increase on those.' figures/-. ■■

A FOUE-WEEKLY EETTON. The gross revenue from the Wellington trams for the four weeks ended March 2 was £11,817, a sum .£952 larger than was taken diirin" corresponding period last year.' The.working expenses tor the four weeks was .£74109 or £213 more than .was the. case . during that period last year,. so that an additional £952 was received at an outlay of an additional £213. The gross revenue for the eleven, months of the year was £127,805, £1863 more than for the same period last year. Assuming that the returns for the hnaL four ..weeks of the year equal-those for the four weeks ended March-. 2 (and they should be,'even, better, as the Easter season will' be included), the gross revenue,.for the year.-ehduld be very little' short of-£140,000..:". i