RAILWAYS YEAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20254, 14 May 1929, Page 11

RAILWAYS YEAR.

EXPANSION OF. TRAFFIC.;

GENERAL MANAGER'S REVIEW.

EXCEPTIONAL EXPENSES,

"Unlike most railways we arc able this year to show increase in both the number of passengers carried by our services and the tonnage of goods conveyed," says Mr. H. H. Sterling, general manager of railways, in a review of the operations during the financial year, published in the Railways Magazine. "The increase in operating revenue, amounting to £181,486, is sufficiently substantial to indicate genuine progress in the development of traffic during the past 12 months. I anticipate that when the figures for subsidiary services are available the revenue increase will be found to bo considerably higher. "Tho total number of passenger journoys made by train was over 200,000 more than last year, and the tonnage of goods and livestock was 7,600,000 tons, or 300,000 tons more than the railways have ever previously carried in one year. Efforts to Obtain Business.

"Naturally this improvement in the quantity of business handled has not come about by mere chance. Some has been due to the good season for primary products, but much of the increase can be traced directly to the special methods adopted to create new traffic and attract previously existing business to the rail. Although the general tariff has been maintained without material alteration special use has been made of its cheap rate provisions in the arrangement of excursions of various kinds, and where the circumstances warranted variation from the standard freight rates to serve important lines of goods the necessary changes havo been made. But most- important of all in building up business has been tho spirited manner in which tho staff generally have responded to the opportunities afforded for making the service pleasing to clients and their keenness in watching for chances to secure traffic.

Improvements in Services. "During the year many improvements have been introduced, such as the provision of night expresses in the South Island, additional passenger trains in the Taranaki and Hawke's Bay districts, and luggage checking from and to the home at the principal centres. The expansion of road services, while to some extent duplicating rail facilities, has enabled certain economies to be effected in train operating, while helping to increase the total number of passengers carried by the Railways Department. . The benefit obtained from widening the scope of our low rate passenger fares has been twofold. Although more passengers have had to be carried to secure an equivalent return of revenue the increase in numbers has been sufficient not only to- supply this but also to counteract largely the general tendency in recent years toward a falling passenger revenue. The further advance is that our action in this direction has enabled us to give a still greater measure of service to the community. We have received many appreciative references to this aspect of our efforts. These show that we have improved the prestige of our system—a position that must have a stimulating effect on our business generally." Increase in Expenses.

Referring to expenditure Mr. Sterling says: "The general results on this count are not so favourable, due mainly to the department's taking over during the year many miles of new track that have been unable at the outset of their operations to furnish a return equivalent to the general average of the lines previously operated. Expenses incidental throughout the Dominion to the change-over period from the old to the new workshops have also been heavy; highly competitive conditions have made the securing of traffic more costly, and improved train services have added to transport expenditure. These are factors that are not to be denied. We can but palliate their effects, and the results as above indicated show that our efforts in this direction have not by any means been in vain."