RAILWAY PROMT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16848, 13 May 1918, Page 4

RAILWAY PROMT.

LESS THAN LAST YEAR.

. MINISTER'S EXPLANATION. The railway accounts (published on" Friday) showed a decrease in revenue of " £113,110 and an increase in expenditure of £116,042. In explaining this Mr. W. " H. Herries, Minister for Railways, said :— ; The increased expenditure is largely due to the fact that in the previous year ~- the war bonus of one shilling a day for ... railway employees was not charged to the. Railway. Department's accounts, but, in common with the bonus paid to Civil ser- ,: vants, /was charged to a separate account., in the Consolidated Fund. Had this bonus, been charged to the railway account dur- . ing the year ending March 31, 1917, a sum of £189,606 would have had to be added" to the working expenses account. ~ '~ During the year it was decided that , the bonuses payable by each Department'' should -be paid -by- each 'Departments consequently , the - Railway ■ Department! •was debited during the year with the" amount of £190,440 on war bonus ac- 4 count; and also with the additional allow- * ance to married men to meet the increased '"' cost of living, which began on December " : 8, and amounted to £39,398, making;a--total bonus and" allowance of £229,838, '', debited to the railways account, which was not so charged during the previous year,,, and which was not taken into consideration when the Estimates were framed./ ">■■:- As the allowance to married men will he in operation for the whole of the current . financial.year, it can safely be estimated that the total amount paid in the form of bonus to railwaymen and of allowance* to ; married railwayman will be considerably i over £300,000 by March 31 next. The great increase in the cost of material, especially coal, must also be taken into consideration. On the other . hand, savings 'have ' been . effected owing ■ to the contraction of the personnel of the staff; otherwise the expenditure would have been much greater.. The results of the- year are regarded as very satisfactory, even allowing for the 10 per cent, increase imposed in 1915 and the' second 10 per cent, imposed in November last year, of. which the Department V got only four . months' advantage, and - when the curtailment of services,' due to • the exigencies of the war and the shortage of oversea shipping, which affects the railway revenue in the same manner as it does the Customs revenue, are taken into consideration.

Though the net returns fall short of the - previous year's magnificent returns, it . must be remembered that last year's returns were easily a- record for the Do- '- minion, for the railways in the period , ended March 31, 1917, gave a return of £5 5s lid per cent. The following table shows the net ' revenue and the interest on the cost of the open lines and the percentages of "V working expenses to earnings for the . year before the war .and the war years :—

Int. on Pj. of._ cost of "working Tr. ended Net open exs. to March 31. Rev. lines. earnings. 1914 ... 1,163,005 3 12 3 71.24 1915 ... 1.185,002- 3 10 7 71.14 ',' 1916 ... 1,637.473 4 14 4 64.00 1917 ... 1,873,946 5 5 11 60.97 1918 ... 1,644.794 412 0 64.91 -