FACTS AND FIGURES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12620, 1 October 1901, Page 3

FACTS AND FIGURES.

FROM GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. (Contributed.) the railways. The annual report and balance-sheet tbo year ending March 31 last, laid befo the House by the Minister of Railways, Sir J. G. Ward, is a highly interesting and satisfactory one, and, proves cone usive y that reasonable reductions in fares 'ana freights tend to increase business, and consequent thereon, increased; revenue. Hut while giving every credit to the new and enlightened policy introduced by bn J- • Wand, there is still ample room for a tcrward continuance of that policy, and I fee sure that the result in the future will amply bear out that disclosed in last years bal-ance-sheet, viz., that additional facilities given to the travelling public, combined l with low fares and freights, so fax from reducing revenue, will only add to it, and that the expansion of traffic thereupon ensuing will return a handsome surplus to the Department. The charges on the Lyttelton-C'hiist-ohiurch line are far too high, and a reduction of freights oh this section of the New Zealand railways would prove most remunerative to the Department. At present a large portion of coastal traffic rightly belonging to Christchurch is secured by Wellington and Dunedin, in consequence of there being no rail charges to contend with at those ports, and if rates were reasonably lowered from Christchurch to Lyttelton a large portion of this traffic y/ould pass over the railway which now /misses it entirely. In the annual report the Minister states his intention of taking off the penalty rate imposed on the Rimutaka incline, and in all fairness I cannot see why the penalty rate imposed for the Lyttelton tunnel should any longer be enforced as a bar to the commerce and industries of Christchurch, more especially when it is considered that the Lyttelton-Christchurch railway was made entirely from Canterbury money, and never cost the general Government a red cent. With regard to the question of additional rolling stock and locomotives, I «m more than pleased to note that Sir J; G. Ward recognises the importance of extending and enlarging our railway workshops, so as to enable the whole of this class of work to be done in the colony, thus giving employment to our mechanics and 1 artisans instead of sending the money out of the, country. There can be no question, as to the quality of the local workmanship, as experts consider the carriages and locomotives made at our workshops to be far superior to those imported; /, With such a capable Minister at the head of affairs I feel sure our railway reveniie will increase more in the future than it his ever done in the past two cr three years, and I trust the portfolio of the Minister of Railways will long continued© be held by Sir J. G. Ward. And now to figures.

On March 31, 1901, there were 2212 miles open for traffic, and the number of stations and stopping places on the time-tables 829. The rolling stock consisted 0f305 loopmotives, 603 carriages, 10,858 vans, etc., 8121, tarpaulins. There ware 20,496 rails, a»d 410,742 sleepers relaid during the year. The total number of employees was 7793. ' , , The following tickets were Issued at' the oheap excursion rates; Christchurch 249,094, Dunedin 135,854,; Wellington arid Napier 98,148, Auckland 97,762, Invercargill 68,423. _ The traffic returns of The principal stations were as under;

The gross revenue for the year was £1,727,256,-and towards this amount the Canterbury- section contributed nearly one-, fourth, viz., £411,000, being only £22,000 less than the whole of the; Taranaki, Wellington and Napier sections. / . ' , THE POST AND TELEGRAPH DE- ■ PMITMENT. The annual report to -March 31, 1901, is on a par with that of the Railway Department, :showing - once again that -increased facilities to the public and reduction - in rates all tend to increased 1 business, and although the result, from a financial point of view, has not been so - satisfactory ’ as in the Railway Department, this was never expected, on a reduction per letter from 2£d to a Id; in fact, a very heavy loss was anticipated.- '•'But results have falsified this expectation, the deficiency estimated at £BO,OOO only amounted to £43,000, and there is every reason to believe total loss will soon be made up. New Zealand may well be proud of being the first country in the world to introduce the universal penny post, a r.d the Postmaster-Gen-eral, Sir. J. G. Ward, who initiated and successfully carried through this great reform, well deserved the distinction conferred upon him by his Royal Highness the Duke cf York. The total revenue of the Post and Telegraph Department for the year /was £503,855 19s 6d, the expenditure £418,271 16s lid, thus showing a -balance to credit of £85,564 2s 6d., No fewer than 36,185,045 letters. were posted during 1 the year, equal to 47.39 letters to each head of population. The number of telegrams was 3,898,128, an increase of 428,497 ; 635,852 money orders were issued and received, of a value of £2,257,201; '490,505 postal" notes were issued, of the value of £154,454; £4,170,428 15s 3(1 was deposited in the Post Office; Savings Banks, and £3,827,416 7s 3d withdrawn. The amount at credit of depositors on, Dec. 31, 1900, was £5,809,552 5s 3d, of which ChristChurch held £1,071,797, with depositors numbering 38,205, Wellington £955.520 and 37,022, Auckland £397,716 and 26,115, Dunedin £868,738 and 28,451. At the close of the year there were 7249 miles of telegraph line and 20,682 miles of wire, while the telephone exchanges had 8210 connections. The total number of officers on the staff was 3715. There were 16,111,221 books and pattern packets, 1,236;183 letter-cards, 1,858,064 post-'carc|s, 12,347,374 newspapers, and 199,220 parcels posted in the colony -during the ; year. There were, 131,846 dead letters dealt withby the Department, of which only 4900 were destroyed, the balance being returned to- the writers, and as showing how carefully these are examined, 582 were : found to be wrongly, addressed, 25 to have been posted with previously used stamps, and 10 to have libellous addresses.

The value of articles found in itttera opened by the Dead Letter Office and returned to senders, -where practicable, amounted to £‘1,174 7s sd, consisting of post office orders, bank drafts, cheques, promissory notes,, postal notes, stamps, bank notes, gold and silver. Among the articles found were steamer tickets, a Christchurch Exhibition medal, j pawn tickets, share certificates,' .watches, i rings, brooches, and jewellery of all kinds, a Canadian 5 cent piece and a Transvaal shilling. Thera were 237 telegraph and. 754 telephone offices open at the tjlose of the year. r . ■ The foregoing, figures give one A. faint idea of the enormous amount of work done by the Post and Telegraph Department,

and dons so well that one very seldom hears of any complaints. LANDS AND SURVEY REPORT.The following table of expenditure, and revenue for the year may prove of interest to Canterbury people; '

Station! ' c3.p_g.. n 3 IS 3 u qt S QSfc Season Tickets. Number. 2. ifl Q) o o m a> . os Chris tohurch-Lyttclten 445,832 11,787 176,888 Dimedin-Port Chatmera 321,832 8,095 152,012 Invercargiil-Blufi 183,886 1,915 82,^96 Wellington-Te Aro ' . 184.493 7,671 62,334 Napier-Spit . . ,. 56,643 942 22,363

Expended Land on Hoads E avenue and for the Bridges. ' Ifear. ' £ . £ Canterbury • , ■ 8,014 105,510 Otago and ‘Southland ■ife'.oon • . • Hawke’s. Bay . ■ 36,199 9,277 31,835 94,871 19,133 30,293 Taranaki ... ■ • • . 33,037 30,753 Marlborough 13,833 24,160 .Westland . • ■ • 11,432 Wellington . . ■ - . Auckland . ' 72,033 92,255 5y,!<!U7 59,221