LOSS OF £855,000.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20263, 24 May 1929, Page 12

LOSS OF £855,000.

YEAR'S RAILWAY RESULTS.

INCREASE IN NET EARNINGS. | ADDITIONAL INTEREST CHARGE. [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] WELLINGTON, Thursday. A working profit, of £1,399,656 is shown by the Railway Department's working account for tho year ended March 31, as compared with £1,349,847 in the previous year and £1,495,553 in 1926-27. The amount of interest due to the Consolidated Fund has not yet been stated, hut taking the figure given in the Budget last year, £2,255,000, the loss on operation is £855,344. The subsidy from the Consolidated Fund, £498,936, reduces tho deficit to £356,403. Following is a tabulated statement of tho results compared with those for the previous year:— 19°7-23 1923-29. Increases. ■Receipts .. £8.034,970 £8,249,039 £211.009 Expenses . . 6,685,123 G. 161,-60 Net revenue £1,349,847 £1,399,656 £49,809 Interest .. 2,130,867 2,255,000 124,133 Loss .. £781,020 £855,344 £74,324 Subsidy . . 489.563 498,936 *9,3i-S Deficit . . £291,452 £356,103 £04,936 "Increase in subsidy. Tho gross receipts from railway operation in tho North Island were £4,465,745, which is £103,843 moro than in 1927-20, while tho working 'expenses, £3,567,442, woro higher by only £35,915. Ibo net revenue accordingly increased by £67,928 to £898,305. Revenue from the South Island railways was £3,059,119, an increase of £77,177, and working expenses £2,807,136, an increase of £36,544. Tho increase in net revenue by £40,633 mado the year s total £251,983. Tho accounts of tho subsidiary services —which include road motors, refreshment rooms, dwellings and miscellaneous revenue—are not apportioned between the two islands. The total receipts _ were £724,175, and tho expenses £474,800. The respective increases were £33,050 and £91,801, so that the net revenue declined by £58,751 to £249,370. The loss for the past year the heaviest ever recorded, except in 1921-22, when there was a deficit of £1,021,000. Results for successive years since then have been as follow: — Net Revenue. iO3 ?' o , • • i£ 1,225,305 ;£2B4,3^c> 1009.04 . „ 1,580,445 * 1,567,100 87,18b o ; •• 1,632.793 280.51s 1926-"7 "* •• 1,498,553 514,880 1927-23 :: 1928-29 . . • • 1.399,656 Ifcoo.JU •Surplas. The amounts of not revenue shown for the last four years are ol the subsidy from the Consolidated Fund m respect of unprofitable branch lines and isolated sections. Taking thi", into account the final results are as follow: Loss. Subsidy. 1925-26 . . £230,518 £359.540 - 'o'rSn iqor. or 544.880 445.221 99,659 1927.08 ' ; 781,020 459.568 291,452 1928-29t ! ! 555.344 498,936 306.408 Totals £2,461,762 £1,793,265 £668,497 ♦Surplus, of which £58.000 were transferred to reserves. i Approximate.

The results for the latter period, in the first three years of which the railways wero controlled by a. board of management, are not strictly comparable with those for preceding years. Under the separate railways budget system the department has been required to produce a higher rate of interest, and also to make provision for reserves and for superannuation fund subsidies, which wero formerly not charged against the department. Up to 1924-25, the policy rate of interest, upon which the calculation of the final result is based, was 33 per cent. Since then the department has been required to pay 4 1-8 per cent, on the greater part of its capital, and the actual rate of interest, exceeding 5 per cent., on capital raised tinder the Railways Improvement Authorisation Act. Reserves accumulated during the three years under the board of management totalled £969,783.