BLED BY BRANCH LINES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 30 March 1931, Page 8

BLED BY BRANCH LINES

DOMINION RAILWAYS BURDEN ON THE PRIMARY INDUSTRIES ‘ Whpt are you going to do about your railways?” asked Mr VY. Rees teiTi'eys, a * mem bur of the advisory co.imiitiec attached to the British Minisliy oi Transport. in an address on

“Transport Problems.' Mr Rees Jctfrcys is a visitor to Wellington and spoke at a Rotary Club gather.a;;. The relation between rail and * road t rtt ns port was a pressing ptcblem in all purls of the world, said Mr Rees JeliYeys The ."peeiai evils that attacked a socialistie Sla.e weie the undue growth of bureanciaiy and the. unnecessary expenditiire of public funds on purposes which had <eased to he remunerative. There were about sixty millions invested m New Zealand railways, and when .schemes' already sanctioned were completed it would be nearer seven.’.'/ millit,ns.

Under a conservative system of finance three millions a year should bo found to meet depreciation and obsolescence. Adding two millions for interest charges on unpaid capital, Xew Zealand sustained an annual loss of five millions on its railway ventures. That loss fell on the primary producers —the farmers.

It was clear from the report of the Reilvjhvs Commission tlnvl many miles of railways had been built, in tins country which had never paid and could never hope to pay, said Mr Rees Joffreyc. Many branch lines were bleeding the main line system to death, and in the face of the figures given any Government or authority which authorised any further expenditure out of borrowed money not only undertook a great responsibility to the people of the country, but to those who were asked to lend the money. Any country which spent money on unremunoratrve railways under present conditions was imposing a very heavy burden upon its citizens and particularly its primary industries.