THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 1897.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10560, 29 September 1897, Page 4

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 1897.

The departmental report of the railways of the colony for the past year, as just laid on the table of the House presents a very attractive summary. Its most striking feature is the statement tha,t the returns show a profit over working expenses, to the amount of £497,104, or close on half a, million sterling, which allows a sum available for paying £3 3s 10d per cent, of interest on £15,577,392 the capital cost of the railways. As the surplus available for interest last year only yielded £216s per cent, on capital invested, this gives a pleasant increase, however it has been obtained. It is, of course, difficult to analyse figures that are grouped together with the object of presenting the most favourable aspect, but this one feature can be apprehended at first glance by all, and if next year, and several subsequent years, show an equal return for interest without any detriment done to the efficiency of the railways, and to the maintenance of plant and rolling stock in a satisfactory condition, then we shall have reason indeed to rejoice that our railways are nearing the point at which their cost of maintenance and working is no longer a burthen on the (State. In connection with this, it is of course unnecessary to say that a single year's returns are no guarantee of this stage being reached, for it is obvious to anyone that if the .managers of the railway service determined to curtail expenditure in maintaining plant, etc., for a single year, it would be quite as easy to show four or five or even six per cent, available for interest on capital cost. We do not, of course, charge the Railway Department with having done so, but there is certainly something sinister in the expressed necessity for the immediate and special provision of £200,000 for doing and providing various things in the coming year, " which," it is said, "cannot possibly be paid for out of the working ex penseswiuchduringthecurrent year will be seriously taxed an account of extra expenditure which has been and must be incurred" in connection with floods and other damage during the past year. The obvious inference is that many tilings that should havo been done during the past year have been rolled forward to the present year, and the necessity for promptly supplying them will so deplete the Treasury that it will be necessary *o obtain a special vote of £200,000, As the gross increase of revenue over the previous year is stated to be £103,117. and the increase of expenditure £37,686, the net gain of revenue shown is £65,431, which probably might have been easily enough absorbed 'if repairs and supplies had been kept up to the mark from month to month as required, instead of rolling them over so as to demand this huge votfl of nearly quarter of a million for works and supplies— amongwhich are included, as we observe, such things as gas and gas lamps for cars. This increase of profit has certainly the appearance of being delusive, and was apparently obtained by keeping down the expenditure necessary for meeting current wear and tear.

As for the gross increase of revenue from the railways it is satisfactory as showing the gradual and almost rapid increase of the industries and commerce and prosperity of the colony. To credit it to the good management of the railways would be about as reasonable as to credit the increase of the Customs revenue to the excellent management of the Custom House. Throughout all the Australasian colonies there has been this same increase in the traffio on the railways, which is good proof that the whole group is once more steadily forging ahead, after a considerable reign of depression ; and the railways and the Customs are alike the criteria of the revival of trade. Over quarter of a million more passengers have been carried than'in the previous year, over quarter of a million, tons more of goods, nearly half a million more sheep, and in season tickets, parcels carriage, and nearly every other item there has been a similar increase, until there is, something approaching a glut of traffic, and the department complains that "Great difficulty has been experienced in meeting public demands, on account of deficiency of rolling stock, and very general complaints have been made by passengers and traders." This is very bad indeed, and it seems to us that the department should have employed this apparent surplus in meeting the current defi: ciencies in working, instead of presenting it as increased profit for, the year,' and rolling-over the-deficiencies, to be met fey a , special vote of £200,000. Of course this is » usual trick of legerde-

main in. Governmental bookkeeping, but it is too obvious; and for the sake of the temporary illusion, which does not survive the most superficial inquiry, it was not worth while braving the complaints of passengers and traders as to the inability of the railways to overtake' the work. The increase of revenue per train mile—from 7s lfd to la 6|d— though very satisfactory from a revenue point of view, merely means that the cars and the trucks were better filled, and it resulted not from any merit of eood management—for it is admitted that the complaints from traders and passengers were general, but from the revival of industry and trade to which we Lave previously referred. And if the department had only done its duty by the traffic, and instead of hoarding up this £65,431 as a bogus increase of profit, had expended it in meeting the demands of the trading and travelling public, the increase of mileage revenue might possibly have been shillings instead of pence. The saving of that sum to swell the seeming profit, has been clearly a ponny wise and pound foolish policy, for while it prevented the department from overtaking the wants of its customers, and so lost traffic and revenue on the railway to possibly as large an amount, the demands which it would have met still remain unsatisfied, and will require to be met by this special vote of £200,000.

Another attractive but illusory item in this railway report is that of the comparison of the percentage of costs in working with that of previous years, The increased traffic should not, of course, entail equal increase in working expenses; but the decrease in expenditure is palpably caused by the neglect of the department to keep up the service in a thoroughly efficient working order. In last year the expenditure bore to the receipts a percentage of 63"51, while this year the percentage of expenditure was only 61'35 of revenue, or more than 2 per cent. less. Nobody, of course, is deceived by that representation. The saving of expenditure was palpably made by starving the service, to tho annoyance and injury of the customers, and neglecting the plant and rolling stock which have to be still made good by borrowing £200,000. Of course, it is the duty of the department to present the railway statement in as rosy a tint as possible, and especially to show profits and surpluses, for these of all things impress the minds of the people with the evidences of success. But everybody knows that the railway service is doing but little comparatively to extend the settlement of the country, and it is a pretty general conviction that it neverwill effectually serve development until it undergoes a radical reformation. Hates of passenger fare from forty to seventy times the actual cost of conveyance, rates of freight that make it impossible in up-country districts to raise ordinary agricultural produce at a profit, all tend to huddle the people together in the cities and to dwarf the very principle of colonisation. Mr. Cadman is probably as good a Minister for Railways as could be found in New Zealand subject to the conditions of the existing system, and his faithful and unwearying efforts have no doubt given as good a return for the year's working as the present system is capable of. But it is greatly to be regretted that we cannot have a practical test of the zone and stage system of railway conduct, so long and earnestly advocated by Mr. Vaile, and which has proved such an incontestable success in the extraordinary growth of traffic on the Hungarian railways.