THE RAILWAY RETURNS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 123, 23 April 1940, Page 6

THE RAILWAY RETURNS.

Tiie Railway Department’s financial year has ended with a net revenue of £1,189,000, or £II,OOO short of the estimate which the Minister hoped, from the nine months’ figures, would be obtained at March 31. The highest gross revenue in the Department’s history is the outstanding feature of the year’s operations, but side by side with this development has been a rise in costs which does not allow for a much greater proportion of the interest bill being met by the railways. The floods of February last affected both sides of the Department’s accounts,' otherwise the Minister believes that the estimate would have been reached. Passenger revenue was higher than last year’s, but it was helped by favourable factors Easter fell twice within the statutory period, Centennial celebrations and the Exhibition attracted numerous train travellers, the restricted use of petrol has caused more people to use the railways, while generally m recent years tlieie has been more travelling by trams. Goods revenue also showed an advance, but the fact must not be overlooked that the ten per cent, increase in freights and fares has been a decided factor in the better returns. Moreover, road freight services have been contracted to conserve petrol. In analysing the position the public cannot overlook the fact that, while the revenue side has largely increased at their expense, the expenditure has grown at such a rate as to be out of proportion. The Department’s employees have risen by nearly 50 per cent, to more than 25,000 since the Government took office without anything like a corresponding increase in earnings until the extra charges were imposed to improve the ratio. Had the expansion in the net earnings kept pace with the expenditure then the Department would be contributing a very substantial proportion of the interest bill on its capital investment.