RAILWAY REVENUE

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 118, 20 April 1936, Page 2

RAILWAY REVENUE

A GENERAL INCREASE. PALMERSTON NORTH FIGURES. A general increase iii business at the Palmerston North railway station lor the financial year ended March .31 is revealed m tue annual statement tor this centre. A large me,ease in the number; of passengers travelling from Palmerston North is recorded, ihe actual figures being 149,144 for the past year and 142,193 for the previous twelve months —an increase oi 6951. This represents an advance in revenue fi om £35,951 to £39,348 (or £3397). Moot of this increase lias taken place during the past six months. a In the goods traffic there was an increase ot 222 tons in the quantity handled and a considerable increase in the revenue of both the'outward and inward goods sections. In the former, £00,60/ was tue amount of tue revenue compared with £54,192 the previous year: The inward goods section showed an even greater increase, the figures being £78,225 in 1934-35 and £86,688 in 1935-36 —an increase of £S4G3. The total increase in the goods traffic amounted to £9923. The annual statement also reveals that there was the large increase of 1170 in the number or bales of wool transported; this is explained, perhaps, by the fact that farmers had been keeping their wool in the shed awaiting a rise in values. The number of cattle handled also increased by 4329, but in the sheep figures a decrease was shown of 3lßn. This is not considered of any special significance as this section is subject to violent fluctuations. The revenue from the parcels traffic increased from £4208 to £4242. EASTER BUSINESS. The traffic for Easter, 1936, shows a considerable increase when compared with the corresponding period of 1935. There were 1613 ordinary tickets issued this Easter, an increase of 167 on the previous year and an advance in revenue from £366 to £435. Peculiarly enough, however, although 2930 excursion tickets were issued this year compared with 2541 in 1935, there was a loss in revenue of £l2. This is explained by the fact that there was a heavy increase this year in the purchase of cheap weekend excursion tickets.