RAILWAY REVENUE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22211, 11 September 1935, Page 15

RAILWAY REVENUE

IMPROVEMENT SHOWN CAPITAL CHARGES NOT MET DEFICIENCY OF £1,243,395 GENERAL TRAFFIC INCREASE [BY TELEGRAPH —SPECIAL REPORTER] WELLINGTON, Tuesday Although the financial position of the New Zealand railways is steadily improving, the general taxpayer will be called upon this year to meet, a deficiency of £1,243,395. This position was disclosed in the annual report of tire Railways Board tabled in the House of Representatives to-day. The capital invested in the Dominion's railway system at March 31 amounted to £5-1,089,190, the interest charges on which last year totalled £2,330,886. The net payment into the Government account was £1,087,491, or a little less than one-half of the interest due. The gross revenue for the year ended March 31 showed an increase of 4.66 per cent, or £295,217, over that for the previous year. Tho gross expenditure, on tho other hand, increased by 5.59 per cent, or £293,284. Tho total figures were:—Gross revenue, £6,627,928; gross expenditure, £5,540,437; net. revenue, £1,087,491. Operating Costs at Minimum Taking tho system as a whole, the economics of recent years, tho board s report states, have brought operating costs down to a minimum. It followed, therefore, that while the net improvement which had been recorded in the returns during the past four years had been contributed to substantially by the review of expenditure, a point had now been reached when the prospects for future improvement must depend upon efforts devoted to tho further building up of the board's revenue. An indication of tho increased use being made by the public of the system is provided by a study of the revenue figures. Passenger revenue increased by 2.42 per cent, compared with the previous year, goods by 5.81 per cent, and parcels by 3.62 per cent. The revenue from ordinary passenger traffic totalled £1,193,372, as against £1 164,731 in the previous year; season tickets, £175,316 (£171,603); parcels luggage and mails, £292,096 (£281,889); and goods, £4,138,434 (£3,911,245).

The Subsidiary Services Subsidiary services produced a revenue totalling £719,864, the amount the previous year being £703,876. The expenditure on these services was £401,849. The returns for the period wcro as follows, those for tho year 1933--34 being given in parentheses:— Lake Whakatipu steamers, £10,647 (£0617); refreshment service, £79,817 (£73,657); bookstall service, £36,840 (£20,786); advertising service, £30,030 (£32,707); departmental dwellings. £105,338 (£137,238); leases of bookstalls, etc., £17,346 (£15.749); road motor services, £90,278 (£79,184); miscellaneous, £349.562 (£334,938). The expenditure on the refreshment service during the year was £77,680, and that on road motor services £84,606. The report of the board states that the oustanding feature of the railway passenger business in recent years has been the growth of day and special excursion traffic, the revenue index figurQ having risen from 253 in 1932 to 3SB in 1935. The revenue earned during the year was nearly four times as great as that in 1926 Tlie revenue secured by the board for the carriage of mails during tho year amounted to £79,432, an increaso of £2797.

MORE MEN EMPLOYED WAGES TOTAL £3,674,371 THE RAILWAYS SYSTEM [bv telegraph—special reporter] WELLINGTON, Tuesday An increase in the number of men employed in the New Zealand Railways was made during the year ended March 31, states the annual report of the Railways Board, which was laid on the table of the House of Representative? to-day. * At March 31 there were 16,189 employees under the control of the board. The average number actually at work during the year was 16,048, compared with 14,971 in the previous year. Of the former number, 11,835 were permanent employees and 4213 casual. The average number of men on works chargeable to capital was 930, compared with 640 during the previous year. Men employed in the board's workshops were as follows: —Woburn, 1400; Otahuhu, 8G0; Hillside, 750; Addington. 700; total, 3710. The amount distributed in salaries and wages to railway employees during the year was £3,674,371, which constituted the major portion of the board's total expenditure of £5,540,437. These figures indicated that the railway system was the largest labour-em-ploying undertaking in the Dominion to-day. The importance of this aspect was self-evident when it was considered in relation to the ever-pressing national problem of providing reproductive work for the people of the Dominion. An amount of £28,198 was paid under the Workers' Compensation Act to members of the second division who suffered injury.