RAILWAY RETURNS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 907, 29 August 1910, Page 4

RAILWAY RETURNS.

» We have not until ' to-day had space for our usual monthly analysis of the railway returns. The Gazette of last Thursday contains the figures for the four weeks ended July 23 last—the fourth four-weekly period of the current fiscal year. The gross revenue from all lines for the four weeks totalled £229,025 and the expenditure £ 175.702, leaving a net return of £50,323, as against a •not return of £46,636 for the corresponding period last year. The following table shows the division of revenue and expenditure between North and South: Net Revenue. Expenditure. Revenue. £' £ £ North ... 116,980 89,153 27,533 South ... 112,039 . 89,250 22,789 The full significance of this excess of gross and, net revenue in .the North over the gross and net in the South will be realised when it is remembered that the Northern results are obtained from a very much' smaller system than the Southern .system. This~point is made clear by the following table: . Net Miles of Net revenue railway, revenue, per mile. £ £ s. d. North ... 1,150' 27,533 23 8 10, South ... 1,574 22,789 11 9 6 Apart from their further testimony to the huge superiority of the North as a railway field, the figures are notable for the fact that they disclose an unusual slump in the South. At this season of the year the South Island lines generally do'much better than the lines in this island. But, as we have seen, the net revenue from them was in the total, as well as in relation to mileage, .less than that fl-om the Northern lines. The revenue from the 1323 miles of "main lines and branches" in' the South (£87,725) actually decreased by £500 during the four-wccklj; period as compared with the 1909 figures,, while the expenditure increased by over £5000. The revenue from, the 1075 miles of "main lines and branches" in the North (£113,838) was over_ £17,000 greater than last year, while the expenditure increased by £6500 odd.- For the whole sixteen weeks of the fiscal year the net returns are as follow: Neb , Revenue. Expenditure revenue. £ £ £ North ..'. 512,270 351,981 160,295 South ... 53:3,090 350,167' 170,932 For the corresponding period last year' the figures were: ■ • ' Not Revenue. Expenditure, revenue. £ • ' £ '■£ North ... 460.370 333,113 133,257. South ... 527,327 310,866 186,161 There has been an increase of over £27,000 in the case of the North and a decrease of nearly £10,000 in the case of the South. It begins to appear highly probable that the. .'year •may end. with a return of 5 per cent from' the North, while the South may fall below 3 per cent. In any event there cannot, now, be anything but a- more glaring disparity than, ever between the returns of- the two systems.