HUGE ANNUAL LOSS

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 48, 20 November 1930, Page 10

HUGE ANNUAL LOSS

Unproductive Railways THREE NEW LINES The expenditure of loan moneys on unproductive public works, "with particular reference to New Zealand, railway lines under construction, was commented upon by the Hon. T. Shall er Weston, M.L.C., in his presidential address at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Employers’ Federation yesterday morning. Three lines at present under construction, he said, would involve the Dominion in a loss of interest on capital cost and working expenses of £735,000 a year. “At the present time,” said Mr. Weston “three railways are being completed which as far as the expert testimony, goes, will, when completed, involve this pnnntrv in a loss of interest on capital cost and working expenses of £735,000 a year. With the position of Australia before us. largely due to the expenditure of loan moneys upon unproductive public works, with a public and local body debt per head closely approximating to that of Australia, with an anticipated Budget deficiency on last year of £3,000,000, which has to be provided for by increased taxation, with a doubt thrown upon the solvency of our superannuation funds, with the burden of taxation already approaching the limit, when increases must mean simply decreased returns, with a threatened return to pre-war prices for our primary products, the construction of these railways is still proceeding, and the question of whether they should be stopped is being allowed to drift; £735,000 is more than one-fifth of the amount at present derived from our income tax. “Surely Parliament could rise above party differences, forget past promises and opinions, local self interest and that of individual members, and in the interests of the whole country stop the imposition of such a ghastly burden upon New Zealand. The terrible expenditure necessitated during the war has dulled our senses toward amounts. In 1913, with an annual Budget of. say, £11,000,000. the annual loss of £735,000 would have raised unanimous condemnation. Although to-day we have to budget for an annual expenditure apart from railways of approximately. £24,000,000, this loss is just as stupendous and the country is far less able to bear it. “Supposing the expenditure on these railways gives employment to 4000 men for four years.” concluded Mr. Weston, “it would be cheaper to pay these men at the rate of £l5O per year for doing nothing for those four years than to continue the construction of these lines. The amount paid then would -be only £2.400,000, and interest on this sum at 5J per cent, is ouly £132,000 a year, as compared with £735,000 a year, the annual loss on the railways constructed.”