FINANCIAL DRIFT

Northern Advocate, 7 June 1933, Page 5

FINANCIAL DRIFT

AUSTRALIAN RAILWAYS BOLD RESTORATION PLAN. ■ UNIFIED CONTROL. SEPARATION FROM POLITICS. (United Press Association—By Electric TelegraphCopyr igh t.) (Received 9 a.m.) MELBOURNE, June 6.

Bold measures to rehabilitate the railways of the Commonwealth were contained in a statement submitted to the Transport Conference in Melbourne to-day by Mr. J. A. Perkins, Federal Minister of the Interior.

! Mr. Perkins explained that the Commonwealth Government desired the State Governments to consider the practicability of amalgamating all the railway systems under one control, removed from, politics. Preferably the controlling body should be a national railways corporation, to be established under special charter, and to comprise representatives of all the states.

Also it was proposed to w r rite off about £112,000,000 of over-capitalisa-tion.

The Minister said concerted measures must be taken in order to cheek the drift, as the aggregate losses of the railways throughout Australia were nearly £300,000 more than the Income tax collected by the state.

Equally necessary was it to secure control of competitive means of transport. A suggestion has been put forward that competitive transport passenger services should be taxed, in order to contribute toward the liquidation of the proposed railway “dead assets” fund.

The conference, which is being attended by ministers from all the states, is regarded as one of the most important held In Australia.