HIGHER YIELD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23718, 26 July 1940, Page 9

HIGHER YIELD

RAILWAY REVENUE

TWELVE WEEKS' FIGURES WORKING PROFIT £404,000 [by telegraph OWN correspondent] WELLINGTON, Thursday An improvement of £42,524 is shown in the net railway revenue for the fourweekly period ended June 22, compared with the corresponding period last year. The net revenue was £76,688, against £34,164 last year, and a working loss of £26,709 in 1938, Gross revenue for the whole system was £798,581, an increase of £86,124, and expenses were £721,893, representing a rise of £<13,600.. Operating profit on the North Island railways was £39,180, or £22,001 more than last year's figure, while the position of South Island lines improved by £18,198, a profit of £13,895, replacing a loss of £4303. In the North Island gross revenuo rose by £60,560 to £433,303, and expenses by £38,559 to £394,123. In the South Island revenue, at £266,564, was £29,380 higher, while expenses increased by £11,152 to £252,669. Net revenue from miscellaneous services was £23,613, an increase of £2325. Gross revenue was £98,714 and expenditure £75,101. For the 12 weeks of the current financial year the working profit was £404,117, compared with £256,517 last year, an increase of £147,600. Gross revenue was £2,580,061 and expenditure £2,175,944, increases of £282,285 and £134,685 respectively. CHARGES AND RETURNS I DOUBTS ABOUT FUTURE [by telegraph—special reporter] WELLINGTON, Thursday "I am not so confident of the position of income and expenditure, and I would like to feel that the extra tariff charge of 10 per cent had produced a better return than it has,' said Mr. A. E. Jull (Opposition—Waipawa). referring to the financial result of last year's •railways operations, when the estimates of the Working; Railways Account for the current year were under consideration in the House of Representatives to-day. Mr. Jull said that in December, 1938, a tax of £1,000,000 a year was imposed on the users of the railways by the increase in the tariffs. The expenditure, he considered, was on the nigh side. Tlie revenue had increased by 9 per cent where the increase in the tariff was 10 per cent, and expenditure had increased by 4J per cent. The net revenue was only £487,000 higher than for the previous year. The Minister would have to see that ho did not have further to increase the taxation on the people using the railways in order to produce a better result. The Minister of Railways, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, said that for the 15 weeks ended July 13 the gross revenue of the railways showed an increase of £340,000 over the same period last year, and net revenue an increase of £117,000. So there was reason to believe that the department would be able to show better results this year than last. DRINKING ON TRAINS [BY TELEGRAPH —SPECIAL REPORTER] WELLINGTON, Thursday A complaint about the amount of drinking which he said took place on railway trains, and particularly, but not solely, excursion trains, was made by Mr. J. A. Roy (Opposition—Clutha) when the estimates of expenditure of the Working Railways Account were before the House to-day. "On certain trains drinking is a very serious matter," said Mr. Roy. "I don't say that it takes place on all trains, but it does particularly on trains going to football matches and on some of our troop trains."

In reply, the Minister of Railways, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, insured Mr. Roy that the complaints would be investigated.