THE RAILWAYS POSITION.
A claim was made by the Minister of Railways, in a statement published yesterday, that "big things in the way of economy" had been done, but he was careful to avoid any promise, that the service would ' be restored to solvency even by the combination of economies and higher , charges. Measures taken under the j former heading have affected three < of the department's monthly ac- t counts. Tn the 12 weeks, expenses i have declined by £130,000 in com- , parison with last year, but revenue | j has decreased by £170,000: for £l ( saved in expenses, the department has lost £l -2s 8d in revenue. Never- ~ theless, the position is not as bad as it was. In the first 16 weeks ' of the year, the net earnings were lower by £70,000 than in the corres- | ponding period of 1020, a retrogres- t sion of nearly £20,000 a month, in 1 the last 12 weeks, the decline has r been just over £20,000, or barely c £7OOO a month. Moreover, the last J account actually shows, in spite of r. an alarming contraction of earn- 1 ings. a net gain of £IBOO. That 1 modest figure is presumably sym- 1 bolic of the "big things" that Mr. ° Veitch and his officers have been J 1 doing. But even if the month's r achievement—the reduction of losses " from £21,1:36 to £lo.299—can be re- n garded as evidence that the railways \ are "round the corner," there is a 0 long lane still to be traversed. The a Minister of Railways is pledged by I 1 the Budget to produce a net profit 8 from the service this year of £1,.{80,000. To do so, lie and his officers must secure in the remaining 2! weeks £1,212,000 of net t revenue, more than double the amount earned in that period last year. Tf they fail, the Budget will , be wrecked, because customs revenue is not going to come to the " rescue as it did last year, but will S| itself fall far short of the esti- M mate. Moreover, the Government " cannot claim the whole of the work- ( ' ing profits for the aid of the Bud- T get. unless it ignores the warnings " of its own Royal Commission. The ir first charge upon them will be r< appropriations for essential reserves 0! and for the replenishment of the working capital, exhausted by the 1 I" Government's action last year and j is the year before, in demanding from sc the department dividends that had 1! not been earned. These important c ' matters were overlooked by Mr. ,f Veitch in his statement. lie claimed !|| general approbation for (lie Govern- w nient s policy of frankly facing its m own responsibilities and of telling 15 the public the whole truth, and expressed aversion to the word and 'y presumably (lie principle of "de- \ Y politicalising" Iho railways. Tf the in word has come into common use, the s ' Minister is the only authority for its J." introduction. He has adopted an ugly word to slight a sound principle at 'nit it is a vain artifice. It. is idle cl to talk of telling the whole truth without mentioning the fact that ,a with earnings falling far short of the speculative forecast, the Govern- "r ment can neither apply the financial It reforms required by the Royal Com- as mission nor balance the Budget. ! <h These are responsibilities that can-t a not be evaded by playing with words j J')', as Mr. Veitch has done. at
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20721, 14 November 1930, Page 10
Word Count
590THE RAILWAYS POSITION. New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20721, 14 November 1930, Page 10
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