THE RAILWAY ACCOUNT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18322, 12 February 1923, Page 8

THE RAILWAY ACCOUNT.

HOLIDAY PERIOD RETURNS.

GREAT RISE IN REVENUE. OVER £230,000 IN PROFIT. [by TELEGRAPH.—-PRESS association.] , ■WELLINGTON. Saturday. Receipts exceeding working expenses by £232.262 are shown by the Railway Department's working ' account for the four weeks ended January 6. Tho net revenue for the period to November 11 was £78,730, Details for the various sections for the last period are:

NORTH ISLAND. . Receipts. Expenses. Wbangwei . . . . £6,303 £6,195 Kaihu .. .. .. 872 535 G-iaborne . . . . .. 3,518 1,951 Main lines and branches 876,344 210,736 Totfcls ~ .. t. £387,039 £218,418 SOUTH ISLAND. Receipts. Expenses. Main line* and branches £205,319 £147,090 Westland .. .. .. 15,983 13,398 Weetport 7,368 - 5,14-3 Nelson .. .. .. 2,023 2,091 Picton . . . . ... 3,262 2,821 Lake Wakatipu steamers 1,155 928 Totals.. . , . . £235,114 £171,473 Grand totals .. £622,153 £889,891 "The total revenue from April 1 to January 6 was £4,912,592, and the* expenditure £4,262,409, the , working profit being £650,183. For the corresponding period of 1921-22, the totalis were: Revenue, . £5,021,009; . expenditure, £4,872,225; with a profit of £148,785. ' Following is a comparison of the net earnings or losses , for the North and the South Island systems for each four weekly period to date, with the corresponding returns for last year:—

North Island. South Island. To 19111. 1922. 1921. 1922. April 29 £58.047 £64,229 £10,432 £85,949 May 27 . 13,821 28,812 18,203* 26,849 June 24 . 13,333 15,716 23,405* 2,751* July 22 .. 18,826* 9,205 85,798* 8,822* Aug. 19 . 9,498* 14,308 42,785* 4,979* Sept 16 • 20.081 44,094 27,021* 3,431* Oct. 14 .. 85.270 493 36,977* 6,249* Nov. 11 .. 27,704 70,548 20,771* 9.217 Dec- 9 .- 43,981 79,339 21,309* 610* Jan. 6 .. 129.399 163,621 45.757 63,642 Totals £318,813 £541,366 £170,030* £108,815 •Loss. The capital invested in opened lines at March 31, 1922, was £39,309,097, and the cost of unopened lines at that date £5,380,651. Counting the interest charge on the cost of opened lines at 31 per cent., the amount for the current year will be £1,474,091. The expenditure on North Island railways was £19,391,080, and on the South Island railways £19,363,326. The balance of £554,691 represents tho department's stock of stores for construction works. If the latter item is divided equally between the two systems, the amount to be earned by the North Island railways to pay interest would be £737,566, and that to be charged against the South Island system £736,525.