BIG RAILWAY CENTRE

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 253, 20 September 1930, Page 2

BIG RAILWAY CENTRE

PALMERSTON NORTH TRAFFIC. ADDITIONS TO FACILITIES. Stating that they bear ample testimony to the development and constant progress of the city and district, the president of the Chamber of Commerce (Mr M. H. Oram) includes in his annual report the following returns of traffic for the Palmerston North station for the years ended March 31, 1929, and 1930: “Outwards figures for 1930:—Passengers 124,158, season tickets 580, revenue £69,512, cattle 3809, pigs and sheep 38,599, timber 573,200 feet ; revenue £50,034, parcels and miscellaneous £6090, total £115.636. Figures for 1929: Passengers 122,139, season tickets 663, revenue £59,028, cattle 4573, pigs and sheep 31,019, timber 148,500 feet, revenue £45,074, parcels and miscellaneous £6004. Total £110,106. “Inwards traffic for 1930:- —Cattle 7005, sheep 138,423, timber 10,670, 400 feet, other goods, 70,001 tons. Figures for 1929: Cattle 9172. sheep 127,754, timber 10,563,300 feet, other goods 71,242 tons. “The outwards traffic shows an increase of 2019 passengers and £494 in revenue. Cattle decreased 664 sheep increased 7580, timber 424,700 feet, other goods increase 19,084 tons. Revenue increase £4960, miscellaneous £B6. The total revenue increased by £5530. The inwards traffic shows a decrease of 2167 increase of 10,669 sheep and pigs, increase of 1U7,100 feet of timber and increase of 1241 tons of all other goods. IMPROVEMENTS.

“The improvements which I mentioned in my last report have been almost completed. Four additional railway sidings have been added to the shunting yards at the south end of the goods shed; a new road giving cart access to merchants and others using the loading siding was laid down between Cook Street and the goods shed. The loading bank at the north end of the goods shed, which was too small to cope with the traffic, lias been extended to enable 14 wagons instead of two being dealt with at the same time. “The flood lighting of the station yards was completed ending the year. New and up-to-date sheep and cattle yards were erected at the corner of West and Church Streets, and a belt of trees and shrubs has been, planted along the Church Street frontage of the yards. The old engine shed has been renovated and the new engine shed at West Street is now being erected.” THE DOMINION SYSTEM.

“The question of the administration of the New Zealand railways is one that must be causing increasing concern to ail sections ot the community,” adds the report in dealing with the Dominion system as a whole. For the weeks ending June 21, 1930, there is a falling off of passengers of 6.1 per cent, and in tonnage oi goods handled of 6.2 per cent, compared with the corresponding period of 1929. For the broken period April 1 to June 21 the tonnage of goods declined by 6.6 per cent, while passenger traffic shows a slight gain over a similar period of the preceding year. Operating revenue for the period is down 1.3 per cent, and operating expenditure up 4.6 per cent, compared with 12 months ago showing a percentage of expenditure to revenue as at June 21, 1930, of 92.17.”