THE RAILWAYS POSITION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20721, 14 November 1930, Page 10

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