HUGE RAILWAY LOSSES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20365, 20 September 1929, Page 11

HUGE RAILWAY LOSSES.

LINES IN AUSTRALIA.

THE ACCUMULATED DEFICITS.

£35.346.150 IN II YEARS. [niOW OTIS OWJI COnEESTQNDEXT. ] STDUE7. Sept. 12. The publication of the annual report of tie Eailway Gomnnsfioners of New South Wales revealing another huge loss in one of the. mast depressing periods in the State history has directed attention to the serious losses suffered by all the-State railways in the Commonwealth during the past few years. Queensland, with an accumulated deficit on its railways of £14.986,884, is in the worst position, while Victoria, the only Bystem to show a profit on the last ten years' working—a profit of £295,548—is in the best position, and the best is nothing to boast about, considering the enormous amount of capital that has been invested by the State.

An examination of the figures over the j Lost XI years shows that the combined \ railway systems of Australia did not show j a profit. Instead, the people had to find j £31,119,862 to balance the vanouß State j railway ledgers, and £35,556,150 if there | is added the loss on the Commonwealth j railways, which are to the nature oft de- j velopraantal lines, and cannot be expected to pay for many years to come. As a matter of fact they are not expected to pay; the lass has to he made up hv the general taxpayer. For a community of 6,000 r 000, witib a debt cf and taxation of • £l4- a head, to have to find more than 10s a head to maae up railway deficits is a serious matter, and snggests what is already known —that all is aot wail with the finances of the Commonwealth.

From 1913 to 1328 Queensland and Tasmania did not cmce balance their railway ledgers. Sew South Wales and South AasfcraEa had eight deficits, Western Australia seven deficits, and Victoria six deficits.. In most of* the instances the Eurnlnses were small and the deficits very larsre. Already the commissioners of the New South Wales system hare warned the pnhEc that a * deficit for the current year is certain. These results are being achieved on a'rising revenue, and that is a feature of the finance of the railways that is causing such grave concern.

Beveirae and. Worfcing Expenses. ! One authority in Melbourne, discnssing the position, said:—"'E'en grraniiag the railway managers their contention thai. as road traffic had taken revenue from them they have net done so badly. In the 11 years under review the aggregate' State railway revenues increased by __ a fraction under 100 per cent. In New South Wales receipts more than doubted, and that Stale now collects some £20,000,000 from the users of its railways. The total State railway revenues 1;;iA year amounted to £47,585,175, as against £23,045,752 in 1913. This in T a country whose population increased By only 20 per cent." Working expenses have, of course, jproe up in irmch the same .proportion. The total -working expenses or the State railways last year amounted to £37.320,552, as compared with :n ISI3-' A discrepancy, however. is shown in the proportion" ~ of' "wtwiring- expenses ta revecoc- had. the tinereaße on botfr sidea fif 'the ledtrer beea equal, should have remained the same. This is regarded -as prtsving one of two : things. Either the railways .expenditure is greater than it should be or the charges are too low. Whether the' railways charts are iioo low is not so much a matter ei calrniaiion as of .ascertaining the ability of the railway users to bear any increased cosL Success oi Motor Systems. It seems certain, in view of the success of tie various motor systems, that- an increase in railways charges would bo a fatal move as far as ths railways are

concerned, and the only alternative seems to be the use of tbe pruning knife, .Already that knife has made some drastic cats in New South Wales and Victoria at least, and these have brought onpopn-

iarity to the respective Governments. "The working expenses in Western Austedia are the lowest, in the Coimr.on-

wealth, and there seems to be no reason wbv a similar ratio should not be achieved in 'the other States, except Tasmania. The raOwav position in Tasmania, tbe 'Cinderella' State.' is well nigh hope-

less, through its own peculiar _ circumstances. Tasmania is still losing its popu-

laiion, while all the other • States are

gaining.'* - . . , , It is likely that the Chef Commissioner in New South Wales, Mr Fraser, will retire shortly,, and that the Government will seize the opportunity of patting a business man. in charge Mr. Fraser has done a great deal in making the New Sonth Wales railways ih'e most efficient, in the Commonwealth, but after all be is an engineer, and the question arises whether a man trained in an engineering school can devise means of making the railways pay when they have reached their present pos-tion.