TRANSPORT BOARD YEAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21505, 31 May 1933, Page 10

TRANSPORT BOARD YEAR

The accounts of the Auckland Transport Board for ] 932-33 reflect the difficulties of the times. They also show evidence of the various devices adopted by public bodies to offset falling revenues. The board budgeted for a deficiency of £21,137, but managed to complete the year with an adverse balance of only £10,931, which, the chairman claims, can fairly be reduced to £8748 by drawing on the sum of £7394 set free by conversion of its £IIO,OOO loan to meet accrued interest charges on it. The better result is not the consequence of increased revenue, but of various savings. Chief among them is a sum of £18,750 resulting from a statutory reduction of the sinking fund on the £1,250,000 London loan from 2| per cent to 1 per cent. There are also various savings in interest, though the total amount paid under that head exceeds the estimate by over £3OOO. On the revenue side the traffic receipts are £528,864, against an estimate of £540,900, and an actual return of £572,900 in the previous year. The estimate included a sum of £10,500 expected to'result from an increase in the price of concession cards, decided upon at the beginning of the year. The accounts do not show how far this expectation was realised, but the actual fares collected in tramcars and omnibuses were lower by £44,000 than in 1931-32. For the current year an estimate of £526,750 in revenue is offered, with traffic receipts at £519,000. However, the manager is confident that expenditure can be kept within limits sufficiently to assure there shall be no greater deficiency than £9582. In reaching this result the board will be helped by the fact that the sinking fund reduction already mentioned will operate for a whole year, the 20 per cent cut in interest on local body debt held in New Zealand will bring a small saving, and under legal advice, interest on the £1,250,000 loan will be paid in New Zealand currency no matter where the bonds are held. The most encouraging note in the forecast is that revenue is believed to be stabilising itself at the low level if has reached. If this is correct, formidable though the difficulties faced may be, the board has the advantage of knowing the magnitude of the problem with which it must grapple.